John "Deacon John" Moore (born June 23, 1941) is a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

and

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

musician, singer, actor, and bandleader. Moore was given the name "Deacon" by one of his band members.

Biography

Moore grew up in New Orleans' 8th Ward. He plays guitar and is the brother of the Creole scholar Sybil Kein. He is a cradle

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. His daughter is the publisher Lisa C. Moore. He was active on the New Orleans R&B scene since his teens, and became a session man on many hit recordings of the late 1950s and the 1960s, including those by

Allen Toussaint Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descr ...

Irma Thomas Irma Thomas ( Lee; born February 18, 1941) is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans". Thomas is a contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, but never experienced their level of commercial succ ...

, Lee Dorsey,

Ernie K-Doe Ernest Kador Jr. (February 22, 1933 – July 5, 2001), known by the stage name Ernie K-Doe, was an American rhythm and blues, R&B singer best known for his 1961 hit single "Mother-in-Law (song), Mother-in-Law", which went to number 1 on the ''Bi ...

, and others. His band The Ivories at New Orleans' Dew Drop Inn attracted an enthusiastic following, sometimes upstaging visiting national acts Moore was hired to open for. While highly regarded locally and by his fellow musicians, lack of hit records under his own name kept him from the national fame achieved by a number of his peers. In 2000 Moore was inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame. He is featured in the documentary segment ''Going Back to New Orleans: The Deacon John Film'' and the concert CD, ''Deacon John's Jump Blues'' (2003). he remains a local favorite on the New Orleans music scene. On July 25, 2006 Moore became president of the local branch of the

American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) trade union, labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in N ...

. On April 10, 2007, Moore's son Keith was shot and killed at the age of 42, in New Orleans. Keith was locally famous in New Orleans as ambient noise artist, Jambox Pyramid, and member of the punk band Manchild. In addition, Keith co-founded the experimental music event Noizefest in 2005 with local producer Sir Stephen, as an alternative, modern addition to the Jazzfest festivities. In January 2008, Deacon John was selected to close the Inauguration of Louisiana Governor

Bobby Jindal Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 55th governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Republican Party, Jindal previously served as a U.S. representative from Louisiana from 2005 t ...

by performing "

God Bless America "God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin during World War I in 1918 and revised by him in the run-up to World War II in 1938. The later version was recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song. "Go ...

" with the 156th Army Band and a Navy fly-over of jets, and later headline the Governor's Inaugural Ball. In 2008, in ceremonies and performance at the

New Orleans Center for Creative Arts New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, or NOCCA, is the regional, pre-professional arts training center for high school students in Louisiana. NOCCA opened in 1973 as a professional arts training center for secondary education, secondary schoo ...

, Deacon John was inducted into The

Louisiana Music Hall of Fame The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (LMHOF) is a non-profit hall of fame based in Baton Rouge, the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana, that seeks to honor and preserve the state's music culture and heritage and to promote education about the sta ...

Acting career

Moore had his first taste of acting 1987 by appearing in the horror film '' Angel Heart''. Moore did not appear on the big screen again until 2013 when he had a cameo in another horror film, '' The Last Exorcism Part II''. Moore also guest starred in a few episodes of '' Treme'' during 2010.

Discography

*1990 ''Singer of Song'' (Singer of Song) *1999 ''Live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1994'' (RedBone) *2003 ''Deacon John's Jump Blues'' (Vetter) ''CD & DVD''

Filmography

References

External links

Deacon John's Jump BluesNAMM Oral History Interview with Deacon John Moore
March 19, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Deacon John 1941 births American bandleaders American rock guitarists American rock musicians American rock singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Rhythm and blues musicians from New Orleans Living people American tambourine players Singers from Louisiana Guitarists from Louisiana 20th-century American guitarists African-American guitarists 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers African-American Catholics