Hollywood Fats was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

, active in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Biography

Hollywood Fats was born Michael Leonard Mann in Los Angeles, and started playing guitar at the age of 10. While in his teens, his mother would drive him to various clubs in South Central Los Angeles to jam with well-known blues musicians when they came to town. Hollywood Fats' father was a doctor and his siblings went on to become doctors and lawyers. He met Buddy Guy

Buddy Guy

George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...

 and Junior Wells

Junior Wells

Junior Wells , born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist...

 who gave him the nickname. Hollywood Fats toured with James Harman

James Harman

James Harman is an American blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter. Music journalist, Tony Russell, described Harman as an "amusing songwriter and an excellent, unfussy harp player".-Biography:...

, Jimmy Witherspoon

Jimmy Witherspoon

Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...

, J. B. Hutto, John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...

, Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...

, and Albert King

Albert King

Albert King was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing.-Career:...

.

During the 1970s and 1980s he worked with the blues harmonica

Harmonica

The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...

 player and singer James Harman

James Harman

James Harman is an American blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter. Music journalist, Tony Russell, described Harman as an "amusing songwriter and an excellent, unfussy harp player".-Biography:...

. He played on a number of his records

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 including Extra Napkin's, Mo' Na'Kins, Please and Live in '85. Other guitarists with whom he played included Junior Watson

Junior Watson

Junior Watson is an American jump blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Watson is regarded as an influential West Coast blues player. He was a founding member of the blues band The Mighty Flyers and, starting in the early 1980s, he performed with the band for a decade. He also performed with Canned...

, Kid Ramos

Kid Ramos

Kid Ramos is an American electric blues and blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Thompson has released four solo albums since 1995 on Black Top and Evidence Records...

 and Dave Alvin

Dave Alvin

Dave Alvin , is a guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has been one of the leading proponents of 'roots' or 'American' music, bringing together elements of rock-and-roll, blues, rural and tejano music....

.

Hollywood Fats was invited to be a sideman

Sideman

A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...

 to Muddy Waters and later met the harmonica player Al Blake

Al Blake

Al Blake is a retired American professional wrestler, known by his ringname Vladimir Petrov, who wrestled in North American regional promotions including the Universal Wrestling Federation and the National Wrestling Alliance, most notably as a member of...

. Blake had just moved to Los Angeles from Oklahoma. In 1974, Hollywood Fats and Blake formed a band consisting of pianist Fred Kaplan, Richard Innes on drums and Canned Heat

Canned Heat

Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...

 bassist Larry Taylor

Larry Taylor

Larry Taylor is an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee Lewis...

 called the Hollywood Fats Band.

For a King Biscuit Flower Hour

King Biscuit Flower Hour

The King Biscuit Flower Hour was a syndicated radio show presented by the D.I.R. Radio Network that featured concert performances by various rock artists.-History:...

 concert on September 7, 1979, which was later to be released on record, Hollywood Fats played the lead guitar in Canned Heat.

The Hollywood Fats Band released a self-titled album in 1979, the only album under their name. The band broke up not long after and Hollywood Fats continued to play with Harman's band, and The Blasters

The Blasters

The Blasters are a rock and roll music group formed in 1979 in Downey, California, by brothers Phil Alvin and Dave Alvin , with bass guitarist John Bazz and drummer Bill Bateman. Phil Alvin explained the origin of the band's name: "I thought Joe Turner’s backup band on Atlantic records – I had...

 in 1986 replacing Dave Alvin.

Hollywood Fats also played with a non-blues band called Dino's Revenge from 1985 through 1986. He recorded three songs with Dino's Revenge as well as playing several live performances. The band consisted of Marshall Rohner

Marshall Rohner

Marshall Lambert Rohner was a guitarist whose credits include: TSOL, The Cruzados, Jimmy and The Mustangs, Kenny Brown and Dino's Revenge....

 of TSOL

TSOL

TSOL is an American punk rock band which formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California. TSOL is short for True Sounds of Liberty although they are rarely referred to by their full name....

 as well as Kevan Hill, Butch Azevedo and Steven Ameche

Steven Ameche

Steven Ameche is an American entertainment lawyer and filmmaker.Ameche began his career as a musician playing with such notables as Janet Jackson, Philip Bailey, Gary US Bonds and many others. In 1983 Ameche was asked to perform as an actor–musician on MGM's television series Fame. It was the first...

 all of The Twisters.

Hollywood Fats died of a heroin overdose in 1986 in Los Angeles at the age of 32. At the time of his death, he was playing with the James Harman Band, the Blasters and Dino's Revenge.

The band reunion

Around 2002, the remaining original members of the Hollywood Fats Band were reunited with young Kirk Fletcher on guitar, and recorded some new material. The first of the recordings came out on Al Blake's solo album Dr. Blakes Magic Soul Elixir released in 2002. This new version of the band started calling themselves the Hollywood Blue Flames. They released two albums under their name from Delta Groove Productions

Delta Groove Productions

Delta Groove Productions is a blues record label based in Van Nuys, California. The company Delta Groove Productions, Inc. was founded by Southern California-based producer, concert promoter and harmonica player Randy Chortkoff...

. The second album Road To Rio came with a CD titled Larger Than Life which consisted of previously unreleased live recordings of the original Hollywood Fats Band.

Discography

Year	Title	Label	Remarks
1979	The Hollywood Fats Band	PBR	The original release
1993	Rock This House	Black Top	Re-issue of the 1979 album
2002	Hollywood Fats Band	CrossCut (German)	The complete 1979 recordings
2006	Larger Than Life	Delta Groove Productions	Unissued live recordings
2008	Hollywood Fats & The Paladins - Live 1985	TopCat Records TCT6082	Recorded live at the Greenville Bar & Grill, Dallas Texas, December 1985
1986	Dino's Revenge - Live at Madame Wong's - 1986	Falco Productions	Recorded live at Madame Wong's West, Santa Monica, CA - November 1986