March 5

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...

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.

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....

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."

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.”

Frank Mendenhall was born March 14, 1948 in Camden, Alabama. With one of the most angelic falsetto voice in the Zydeco, Southern Soul, and Blues nation, and one of the few Southern Soul performers to...

Joe Simien, esteemed Creole Accordionist, was born on October 3, 1923, in Le Beau, Louisiana. He moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1950's where he pioneered and kept Louisiana Creole music alive...

Archie Bell, lead singer of Archie Bell & the Drells from Houston, Texas, was born on September 1, 1944 in Henderson, Texas. Archie Bell grew up in Houston, Texas in a household that included seven br...

Carlton Frank, one of the last of the old-time Creole fiddlers, died February 5, 2005, at the age of 74 at a hospital in Jennings, Louisiana. His music lives on through his recordings. In 2001, Keith...

Huddie Ledbetter, better known to the music world as “Lead Belly” was born January 20, 1889, in Mooringsport, Louisiana (near Shreveport). Lead Belly was the only child of Wesley and Sally Ledbetter....

Eddie Shuler, renowned pioneering Southwest Louisiana recording engineer, died on July 23, 2005 at the age of 92 at Emory East Side Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia of complications from a recent heart at...

Alton Rubin, known to the Zydeco Nation as Rockin' Dopsie "the Prince of Zydeco", died on August 26, 1993 in Opelousas, Louisiana of heart failure at the age of 64. He was married Alvina LeBlanc and h...