Wolfman Jack Wiki:
“Born in Brooklyn, Smith was a fan of disc jockey Alan Freed, who played a role in the transformation of African American rhythm and blues into rock and roll music. Freed originally called himself the “Moondog” after New York City street musician Moondog. Freed both adopted this name and used a recorded howl to give his early broadcasts a unique character. Smith’s adaptation of the Moondog theme was to call himself Wolfman Jack and add his own sound effects.
In the early days, Wolfman Jack made sporadic public appearances, usually as a Master of Ceremonies (an MC) for rock bands at local Los Angeles, California clubs. At each appearance he looked a little different because Smith hadn’t decided on what “The Wolfman” should look like. Early pictures show him with a goatee; however, sometimes he combed his straight hair forward and added dark makeup to look somewhat “ethnic”. Other times he had a big afro wig and large sunglasses. The ambiguity of his race contributed to the controversy of his program. It wasn’t until he appeared in the 1969 film A Session with the Committee (a montage of skits by the seminal comedy troupe The Committee) that mainstream America got a good look at Wolfman Jack.
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Wolfman Jack died of a heart attack in Belvidere, North Carolina, on July 1, 1995. The day before his death, he had finished broadcasting his last live radio program, a weekly program nationally syndicated from Planet Hollywood in downtown Washington, D.C. Wolfman Jack said that night, “I can’t wait to get home and give Lou a hug, I haven’t missed her this much in years.” Wolfman had been on the road, promoting his new autobiography Have Mercy, The Confession of the Original Party Animal, about his early career and parties with celebrities. “He walked up the driveway, went in to hug his wife and then just fell over,” said Lonnie Napier, vice president of Wolfman Jack Entertainment”
