August 22

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...

Fernest Arceneaux, lead accordionist for Fernest and the Thunders, was born on August 27, 1940 to a large sharecropping family based in Lafayette, Louisiana. He learned to play an accordion owned by h...

Albert John Lewis, lead accordionist for Al Rapone & The Zydeco Express died peacefully in the arms of his loving wife Alice of 45 years Thursday August 30, 2018 in Pacifica, California. He partnered...

Southern Soul and Blues singer Isaac “Big Ike” Martin died on August 31, 2003 from complications from a gastric bypass operation in his hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana. Big Ike became lead singer...

Willis Prudhomme, lead accordionist of Willis Prudhomme & the Zydeco Express died on Monday, August 31, 2020 from complications of COVID-19. Willis Prudhomme was one of twelve children and grew up as...

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...

Marvin Matthew Sease Sr., Southern Soul and Blues Legend died of pneumonia at River Region Medical Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on February 8, 2011, eight days before his 65th birthday. His music...

Highly respected and sultry jazz and blues singer, Ms. Dakota Staton, (pronounced STAY-Ton) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 3, 1930. She began singing and dancing at the age of 7 She rece...

Ellas “Bo Diddley” Bates, known to the world as “Bo Diddley” died on June 2, 2008 at the age of 79 of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida. Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley and one of mor...

Mark Matthews, the oldest surviving Buffalo Soldier in the United States Army, died on September 6, 2005 age of 111. While working at a racetrack in Kentucky, he met several Buffalo Soldiers, and when...

James Joseph Brown, commonly referred to as "The Godfather of Soul" and "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business", died on December 25, 2006 at approximately 1:45 a.m. from congestive heart failure r...

Freddie "Big Roger" Collins, native of Bayou Chicot, Louisiana and Houston Bluesman died on October 2, 2001 at the age of 66."Big Roger" Collins hosted a blues show on KPFT in Houston, and organized "...