Let’s play Guess Who.

Who lives on the Gulf Coast, owns String Along in Orange Beach and plays gigs with his wife, Jackie?

If you’re from the area, you probably guessed Top Hat.

Something even locals may not know is the famous Top Hat’s real name is Kenneth Thomas — but he was born Kenneth Duhon.

“There are two heroes here,” Top Hat says. “My mom, Nancy Selena Davis, who kept me, and the woman she confided in — Betty, the wife of the man who got her pregnant.”

Top Hat says he was made in Louisiana, born in Long Beach, California and raised in Texas.

The story

“A long time ago, my mother got together with a musician, Earl Kenneth Duhon,” Top Hat says. “It was one time and then she finds out he’s married. She knows the man’s wife, Betty, too. Betty and my mother got to talking one day and Betty says ‘you’re pregnant aren’t you?’”

Betty wanted to help with bringing up Nancy’s baby, but the father had no idea Nancy was carrying his child.

“Mother’s family told her she needed to give the baby up, and she took off pregnant with me,” Top Hat says. “She went to California, unmarried and worked several jobs. My mom’s a tough ole gal — a tough Cajun woman.”

Nancy Davis had Kenneth Duhon in a Long Beach hospital. Years later, Nancy met a sailor named Jerry Thomas from Texas. The couple married and moved back to Texas. Kenneth Duhon was 12 years old when he was adopted by Jerry Thomas.

“My name changed,” Top Hat says. “That’s part of the problem. I went from Kenneth Duhon to Kenneth Thomas.”

The father

Although he knew there was another father somewhere, Top Hat didn’t go looking for him.

“I didn’t worry about it because I didn’t want to interrupt anyone’s life. I knew Jerry Thomas wasn’t my real father,” he says.

About 16 years ago, Betty told her three daughters about a woman named Nancy Davis that had a child whose father was theirs as well. Their father didn’t know about this baby. They were unsure of the gender, but knew there was another baby with the father Earl Kenneth Duhon. The daughters came together and wrote letters to every Nancy and Selena Davis they could find.

“They’re looking for me, but can’t find me,” Top Hat says. “My mother’s and my name changed to Thomas.”

The Duhon sisters moved to Louisiana, New York and Texas—looking for a Nancy Selena Davis and her child.

“My Aunt Rita Davis passed away about seven months ago, and this threw up a red flag,” Top Hat says. “The daughters noticed this was the same name as Nancy’s sister.”

There were 10 Nancy Thomases in the area, and a letter was sent to each of them.

“One day, my mom got a letter asking if she was Nancy Thomas, formerly Nancy Davis,’” Top Hat says. “They found my mother. The letter asked her to call the daughters back and she did. One of the daughters called her back and asked if she had a child out of wedlock at a certain time. Mom said she did.”

Fast forward

My wife Jackie came into the room a few weeks ago and told me to sit down. She said my mother called.

“I’m thinking, ‘here’s the bomb. Mom’s dying or something like it,’” Top Hat says. “Mom told Jackie I have a father, three sisters and a brother.”

Top Hat’s father, Earl Kenneth Duhon, lives around Central Park, his three younger sisters, Jeanine, Penelope and Rebecca, live in Texas and his younger brother Gregorio lives in Venezuela.

“Here’s the kicker: all of them perform and sing — my father and everybody,” Top Hat says. “I’m blown away. I can’t believe someone has been looking for me — and they found me, and they play music!”

The Duhon daughters never told their father they were looking for his long-lost child until they found him.

“They flew my father down, and my sisters and I met in Wimberley, Texas a few weeks ago. My father didn’t know I existed until I met him. Mother met them, too.”

Top Hat communicates with his sisters and father daily. He tells them “good morning” and “good night” every day.

“These are some awesome people,” Top Hat says. “When my sisters all sing together, they sound like The Lennon Sisters. My dad played the piano and I played my guitar with them. I love ‘em and am so grateful.”

Betty passed away in 2005, but her legacy lives on. She helped Top Hat find his family and new music, without him knowing anything about it.