Pierre Dewey LaFontaine Jr., known professionally as Pete Fountain, born July 3, 1930, in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, died August 6, 2016, in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, was an American jazz clarinetist. Fountain took up the clarinet as a child on a doctor's recommendation to strengthen his lungs. Fountain co-founded the Basin Street Six in 1950, played with the Dukes of Dixieland in Chicago in 1954, and performed with Al Hirt at Pier 600. Fountain achieved national prominence joining the Lawrence Welk Orchestra in 1957, performing solos on The Lawrence Welk Show on ABC including a jazz rendition of “Silver Bells”. Signing with Decca Records, Fountain produced 42 albums, including the 1968 studio album For the First Time with Brenda Lee, which reached number 187 on the Billboard 200 chart, and published the autobiography A Closer Walk with Pete Fountain. Fountain operated the French Quarter Inn and Pete Fountain's Jazz Club in New Orleans, co-founded the Half-Fast Walking Club, and performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Fountain received an honorary degree from Loyola University New Orleans in 2006, and was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame in 2008.
