Pete Fountain Autographs
Pierre Dewey LaFontaine Jr. (July 3, 1930 – August 6, 2016), known professionally as Pete Fountain, was an American jazz clarinetist.
LaFontaine was born to Pierre, Sr. and Madeline, in a small Creole cottage-style frame house on White Street (between Dumaine Street and St. Ann Street) in New Orleans. Pete was the great-grandson of a French immigrant, François Fontaine, who was born in Toulon, circa 1796, and came to the U.S. in the early 19th century, and died on the Mississippi Gulf Coast circa 1885. Pete's father, a truck driver and part-time musician, changed the family name to Fountain.
He started playing clarinet as a child at the McDonogh 28 school located on Esplanade Avenue. As a child, young Pete was very sickly, frequently battling respiratory infections due to weakened lungs. He was given expensive medication but it proved to be not very effective. During a pharmacy visit, Pete's father began a discussion with a neighborhood doctor who was also there shopping and talked with him about his son's condition. The doctor agreed to see the boy the following day. After a short exam, the doctor confirmed the weak lung condition and advised the father to try an unorthodox treatment: purchase the child a musical instrument, anything he has to blow into. The same day, they went to a local music store and, given his choice of instruments, Pete chose the clarinet (after first wanting the drums, which his father declined per the doctor's orders). At first, Pete was unable to produce a sound from the instrument, but he continued to practice and eventually not only made sounds and eventually music, but greatly improved the health of his lungs.
Read more about Pete Fountain on Wikipedia
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Current items with a signature of Pete Fountain
These are the most current items with a signature of Pete Fountain that were listed on eBay and on other online stores - click here for more items.
Traded items with a signature of Pete Fountain
The most expensive item with a signature of Pete Fountain (Rare Autographed Pete Fountain 50th Anniversary Half Fast Marching Group Poster) was sold in July 2025 for $1,000.00 while the cheapest item (Great Characters of New Orleans Signed By Pete Fountain Blaine Kern) found a new owner for $0.99 in December 2023. The month with the most items sold (8) was November 2019 with an average selling price of $7.99 for an autographed item of Pete Fountain. Sold items reached their highest average selling price in October 2021 with $575.00 and the month that saw the lowest prices with $0.99 was November 2013. In average, an autographed item from Pete Fountain is worth $15.00.
Most recently, these items with a signature of Pete Fountain were sold on eBay - click here for more items.