|
Rod Bernard
Rod Bernard () was an American singer who helped to pioneer the musical genre known as "swamp pop", which combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun and black Creole music. He is generally considered one of the foremost musicians of this south Louisiana-east Texas idiom, along with such notables as Bobby Charles, Johnnie Allan, Tommy McLain, and Warren Storm. Life and career Bernard was born in Opelousas, Louisiana. His parents were French-speaking Cajuns from working-class backgrounds and, as a child, he imbibed the traditional Cajun French music performed in his grandfather's dancehall, the Courtableau Inn, located in nearby Port Barre. There, he heard the music of noted Cajun musicians Aldus Roger, Papa Cairo, and Jimmy C. Newman, as well as zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier, all of whom would exert a strong influence on Bernard's music. Around age eight, Bernard obtained his first guitar (an acoustic Gene Autry model) and, around 1950 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Service Corporation International
Service Corporation International is an American provider of funeral goods and services as well as cemetery property and services. It is headquartered in Neartown, Houston, Texas, and operates secondary corporate offices in Jefferson, Louisiana (near New Orleans). SCI operates more than 1500 funeral homes and 400 cemeteries. Company history Robert L. Waltrip founded the company in 1962. SCI began as a small network of funeral homes and cemeteries in the Houston area. SCI, Alderwoods Group, and Stewart Enterprises emerged from the 1990s as the three largest companies in the industry. On , SCI owned and operated 3,823 funeral service locations, 525 cemeteries, 198 crematoria and two insurance operations located in 20 countries on five continents. In 1999, SCI also introduced its Dignity Memorial branding. Between 2002 and 2006, SCI reduced its net debt (total debt minus cash) by more than , increased operating cash flow, and simplified its field management organization ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Singing
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singing as the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. Other common definitions include "the utterance of words or sounds in tuneful succession" or "the production of musical tones by means of the human voice". A person whose profession is singing is called a singer or a vocalist (in jazz or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung accompaniment, with or a cappella, without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble (music), ensemble of musicians, such as a choir. Singers may perform as Soloist (music), soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument (as in art songs or some Jazz, jazz styles) up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Many styles o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), was an American musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music that arose from Creole music, with R&B, blues, and Cajun influences. He sang and played the accordion. Chenier won a Grammy Award in 1983. Chenier was known as the King of Zydeco, and also billed as the King of the South. Biography Chenier was a native of Leonville, Louisiana, near Opelousas. He spoke Louisiana French as a first language. Chenier was exposed to music growing up, as he accompanied his father, Joseph Chenier, a farmer and player of the single-row diatonic accordion, to dances. His uncle, Morris Chenier, played fiddle. Musical influences that he cited from radio were Muddy Waters, Peetie Wheatstraw, and Lightning Hopkins, while local influences included Creole musicians Claude Faulk, Jesse and ZoZo Reynolds, and Sidney Babineaux. Clifton began playing accordion around 1947, and by 1950 was playing in a club in Basile with his broth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zydeco
Zydeco ( ; ) is a music genre that was created in rural Southwest Louisiana by French speaking, Afro-Americans of Creole heritage. It blends African and Caribbean rhythms, blues and rhythm and blues with music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles, such as la la and juré. The main instruments are accordion and a zydeco rubboard, washboard, scrubboard or vest frottoir. Characteristics Zydeco music is typically played in an uptempo, syncopated manner with a strong rhythmic core, and often incorporates elements of blues, rock and roll, soul music, R&B, and early Creole music. Zydeco music is centered on the accordion, which leads the rest of the band, and a specialized washboard, called a vest frottoir, as a prominent percussive instrument. Other common instruments in zydeco are the electric guitar, bass, keyboard, and drum set. If there are accompanying lyrics, they are typically sung in English or French. Many zydeco performers create original zydeco compositions, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy C
James Cochran , also known as Jimmy C, is an Australian-born English artist best known for his urban narrative paintings and for his drip painting style. Early career In the late 1980s Cochran contributed to the development of the graffiti scene in Adelaide and went on to coordinate a number of community arts projects aimed at giving "aerosol art" a broader acceptance in the community, and to teach painting techniques to adolescents interested in the art form. In the 1990s he adopted the alias "Jimmy C", and become well known for his aerosol art murals and his work in city and regional communities across Australia. Artistic development After completing his arts degree in 1997 and then his Master of Visual Arts at the University of South Australia in 2002, Cochran became known for his urban realist narrative paintings, painted in oil, and often depicting the marginalised human subject in the context of the urban environment. He sometimes used religious or mythological alle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Papa Cairo
Julius Angelle "Papa Cairo" Lamperez (born July 27, 1920 New Orleans, Louisiana – d. November 13, 1999 Crowley, Louisiana) was a popular guitarist, lap steel guitar, steel guitarist and country string band artist in Louisiana and southeast Texas during the 1930s through the 1950s. He would later be known as the first person to write the tune "Grand Texas" which would later be popularized by Moon Mullican and Hank Williams as the song Jambalaya (On the Bayou), Jambalaya. Biography Lamperez was born in New Orleans but raised in Crowley. By 1932, at age of 12, he learned to read music and play the fiddle and became good friends with Joe Falcon and Cleoma Breaux. He married Bessie Short. In 1934, he formed the Daylight Creepers band along with guitarist Bill Redlich and fiddler Erby Thibodeaux. Their music was broadcast on KVOL. When not playing music, he played football and loved boxing. He disbanded the group and in 1937, he joined Joe Werner and the Louisiana Rounders playi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldus Roger
Aldus Roger (February 10, 1915 – April 4, 1999) was an American Cajun accordion player in southwest Louisiana, best known for his accordion skills, and television music program. Early life Aldus Roger was born in Carencro, Louisiana and learned to play the Cajun accordion at age eight. Savoy 1984, p. 194. His father, Francis Roger, didn't want him to play accordion; however, he would borrow it and play in the barn. Lafayette Playboys Roger led the Lafayette Playboys for over twenty years. During the late 1950s and 1960s, he hosted his own music program ''Passe Partout'' on KLFY-TV 10 in Lafayette. Among his many recordings are "KLFY Waltz," "Channel 10 Two Step," "Mardi Gras Dance," and "Lafayette Two Step (1964)." He also recorded a Cajun French version of Hank Williams country-and- western hit "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" (which Williams in turn had based on the Cajun tune "Grand Texas"). He recorded several albums, one with Rounder Records entitled "Aldus Roger & the Lafayett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Barre, Louisiana
Port Barre (BAH-ree) is a town in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. The town began in 1760 as an Indian trading post at the place where Bayou Teche flows out of Bayou Courtableau. The population was 2,055 at the 2010 census, down from 2,287 in 2000. It is part of the Opelousas– Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Port Barre takes its name from Alex Charles Barre (born 1746, died 1829); it was not incorporated under this name until 1898. In 1733, the semi-nomadic Opelousas Indians petitioned the French colonial government to send traders to their district. In 1760, a couple of coureurs des bois set up a trading post at a landing where the bayous meet. In 1765, Jacques Courtableau, a wealthy landowner, gave land grants to 32 Acadian immigrants. That same year, he sold Charles Barre a large parcel of land, including the site of the first trading post. The post later became known as Barre's Landing, then Port Barre. It thrived as a port town before th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cajun French
Louisiana French (Louisiana French: ''français louisianais''; ) includes the dialects and varieties of the French language spoken traditionally by French Louisianians in colonial Lower Louisiana. As of today Louisiana French is primarily used in the state of Louisiana, specifically in its southern parishes. Over the centuries, the language has incorporated some words of African, Spanish, Native American and English origin, sometimes giving it linguistic features found only in Louisiana.Thomas A. Klingler, Michael Picone and Albert Valdman. "The Lexicon of Louisiana French." ''French and Creole in Louisiana''. Albert Valdman, ed. Springer, 1997. 145-170.Thomas A. Klingler.Language labels and language use among Cajuns and Creoles in Louisiana" Ed. T. Sanchez and U. Horesh. ''Working papers in linguistics'' 9(2), 2003. 77–90. Louisiana French differs to varying extents from French dialects spoken in other regions, but Louisiana French is mutually intelligible with other di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy McLain
Tommy McLain (born March 15, 1940) is an American swamp pop musician, best known as a singer but who also plays keyboards, drums, bass guitar, and fiddle. Career McLain first began performing in the 1950s, along with country singer Clint West. The two were both members of The Vel-Tones in the late 1950s and the Boogie Kings in the 1960s, and they recorded a duet, "Try to Find Another Man", in 1965. He also performed on Dick Clark's ''Caravan of Stars'' in the 1960s and DJed at Louisiana radio station, KREH. McLain's greatest fame was with his recording of the song " Sweet Dreams", which hit No. 15 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1966. It reached No. 49 in the UK Singles Chart the same year. He also wrote Freddy Fender's hit single, "If You Don't Love Me Alone (Leave Me Alone)". McLain appears along with the Mule Train Band in the film ''The Drowning Pool''. McLain continues to perform in the American Deep South with his backing group, the Mule Train Band. In O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnnie Allan
Johnnie Allan (born John Allen Guillot, March 10, 1938) is an American pioneer of the swamp pop musical genre. Career Born in Rayne, Louisiana, United States, Allan, a Cajun, grew up in a musical family, and at age six obtained his first guitar. (His mother, the former Helen Falcon, was the goddaughter of Joseph Falcon and Cleoma Falcon, the first Cajun recording artists, and sometimes played rhythm guitar for their live performances.) By age 13, Allan was playing with Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys, a traditional Cajun music band. About two years later, he switched to Lawrence Walker and the Wandering Aces, another traditional Cajun band. In 1956, he saw Elvis Presley perform live on the Louisiana Hayride music program, and shortly afterwards Allan began to play rock and roll music. In 1958, he left Walker to form the Krazy Kats. That same year he recorded "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" for Jin Records of Ville Platte, Louisiana. He later recorded for Mercury Records and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Charles
''This is an article about the singer-songwriter. For the Maine gubernatorial candidate, see Robert B. Charles'' Robert Charles Guidry (February 21, 1938 – January 14, 2010), known as Bobby Charles, was an American singer-songwriter. Early life An ethnic Cajun, Charles was born in Abbeville, Louisiana, and grew up listening to Cajun music and the country and western music of Hank Williams. At the age of 15, he heard a performance by Fats Domino, an event that "changed my life forever," he recalled. Career and highlights Charles helped to pioneer the south Louisiana musical genre known as swamp pop. His compositions include the hits "See You Later, Alligator", which he initially recorded as "Later Alligator", but which is best known from the cover version by Bill Haley & His Comets, and " Walking to New Orleans" and " It Keeps Rainin'", written for Fats Domino. "(I Don't Know Why) But I Do" was an early 1960s song that Charles composed, which Clarence "Frogman" Henry had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
