March 4

Bo Diddley releases his monumental first single, “Bo Diddley” b/w “I’m a Man,” on Checkers Records on March 2, 1955. “Bo Diddley” b/w “I’m a Man,” topped the R&B chart for two weeks.

Zydeco musician Chirs Ardoin, lead singer and accordionist of Chris Ardoin & Nu Step Zydeko was born on March 7, 1981 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Chris Ardoin helped pioneer and develop the "Double Cl...

Clifton Chenier won a Grammy Award at the 26th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording for his 1983 album "I’m Here."

Southern Soul & Blues singer Jacqueline "Jazzy Jackie" Neal was murdered by her ex-boyfriend James White on March 10, 2005 in the "T-Nails" beauty salon on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana....

Rockin’ Sidney won a Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording for his 1986 single "My Toot Toot." from his third album “My Zydeco Shoes Got The Blues.”

David “Fathead" Newman was born in Corsicana, Texas on February 24, 1933. His family soon moved to Dallas, Texas where they settled and David stayed through graduating Lincoln High School. During his...

On Wednesday, October 2, 1929, Douglas Bellard and Kirby Riley became the first rural Afro-Creoles from Southwest Louisiana to commercially record Louisiana Creole music on Vocalion and Columbia Recor...

Southern Soul and Blues artist, Aubles “O.B.” Buchana was born to L.C. and Marina Buchana on January 17, 1972 in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Alvin Batiste, a widely respected jazz clarinetist, composer and educator who played across the musical spectrum, from traditional to avant-garde styles, and was a prolific figure on the jazz festival...

On October 18, 2007, South African reggae singer, Lucky Dube was killed in the Johannesburg, South Africa suburb of Rosettenville shortly after dropping two of his seven children off at their uncle’s...

One of the Zydeco Nation’s mainstay figures and unsung mentors, Joseph Wilfred Chavis died on Friday, May 7, 2010 at the age of 65 in Houston, Texas. Wilfred Chevis was born in Church Point, Louisiana...

Thomas Andrew Dorsey, the father of gospel music, died on January 23, 1993 in Chicago, Illinois at the age of 93. He is interred there in the Oak Woods Cemetery. Earlier in his life he was a leading b...