Happy Birthday, Aaron Neville!

R&B and soul vocalist Aaron Neville was born in New Orleans on January 24, 1941, into one of the most prolific music families of the City. Neville has recorded as a solo artist, with his brothers Art, Charles and Cyril as The Neville Brothers, and he is the father of singer and keyboard player Ivan Neville, and vocalist and rap artist Jason Neville. In addition, his uncle, George "Big Chief Jolly" Landry, was lead singer of the Mardi Gras Indian group The Wilde Tchoupitoulas. 

During the course of his career, he has had four platinum albums and four Top 10 hits, including three that went to #1 on the Billboardcharts. Neville’s debut single, “Tell It Like It Is”, was #1 on the Soul chart for five weeks in 1967. In 1989, Neville recorded the album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind with Linda Ronstadt, which included the #1 Grammy-winning hits “Don’t Know Much” and “All My Life”. In 1991, his cover of “Everybody Plays the Fool” reached #1, and some of his other hits include “Don’t Take Away My Heaven”, “Can’t Stop My Heart From Loving You (The Rain Song)”, and “Hercules”. In 1993 and 1994, Neville ventured into country music, and recorded Patsy Cline’s 1961 hit “I Fall to Pieces” with Trisha Yearwood, resulting in a Grammy Award for the duo in in 1995. Neville made additional collaborative recordings over the years, and he continues to perform and tour to the delight of his league of fans worldwide! Today we celebrate this musical great’s birthday!

Celebrating the Birthday of Snooks Eaglin

Guitarist and vocalist Fird “Snooks” Eaglin was born in New Orleans on January 21, 1937. Not long after his first birthday, Eaglin lost his sight due to glaucoma. At about five years of age, his father gave him a guitar, and he taught himself to play by listening to and playing along with the radio. Mischievous as a child, Eaglin was given the nickname "Snooks" after a radio character named Baby Snooks. In 1947, at the age of 11, Eaglin entered a radio talent contest, and in 1950, he dropped out of a school for the blind to become a professional musician. Two years later, he joined a local band started by Allen Toussaint called the Flamingoes. Eaglin played both the guitar and the bass parts simultaneously on his guitar, and he stayed with the band until they disbanded in the mid-1950s. 

His vocal style was reminiscent of Ray Charles, and he played such a wide range of songs and styles of music, sometimes within the same concert, album, or song, that he was nicknamed “The Human Jukebox.” He usually did not prepare set lists for his live shows, playing songs that came to him on stage and taking requests from the audience. Amazingly, his musical repertoire was said to include 2500 songs. Though he had a lengthy career spanning nearly five decades, Eaglin’s recording and touring as a solo artist were inconsistent. Over the years he worked with luminaries such as James Booker, Dave Bartholomew, Ellis Marsalis, Professor Longhair, and the Wild Magnolias. He was at his most consistent between 1987 and 1999, when he recorded five albums and recorded with other artists including Earl King and Henry Butler. 

Eaglin was scheduled to make a comeback appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in the spring of 2009, but sadly he passed away on February 18, 2009. Today we celebrate the life and legacy of one of New Orleans’ own.

Photo by: Masahiro Sumori - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sumori

Celebrating the Birthday of Allen Toussaint 1/14

Pianist, songwriter, arranger and record producer Allen Toussaint was born in Gert Town in New Orleans on January 14, 1938. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, described as "one of popular music's great backroom figures". Many musicians recorded Toussaint's compositions, including “Whipped Cream”, "Java", "Mother-in-Law", "I Like It Like That", "Fortune Teller", "Ride Your Pony", "Get Out of My Life, Woman", "Working in the Coal Mine", "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky", "Here Come the Girls", "Yes We Can Can", "Play Something Sweet", and "Southern Nights". He was a producer for hundreds of recordings, among the best known of which are "Right Place, Wrong Time", by his longtime friend Dr. John ("Mac" Rebennack), and "Lady Marmalade", by Labelle. Toussaint was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009, the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2013 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama In 2016, he posthumously won the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player title at the Blues Music Awards.Sadly, Toussaint passed away on November 10, 2015, while on tour in Madrid, Spain.

Photo by Henryk Kotowski

Celebrating the Birthday of Danny Barker

Guitarist, banjo player, singer and author Daniel “Danny” Barker was born in New Orleans on January 13, 1909, and performed as a rhythm guitarist for several bands throughout the 1930s, including Cab Calloway. Throughout his career, he played with noted artists including Jelly Roll Morton and Sidney Bechet, as well as touring with his wife, singer Blue Lu Barker. From the 1960s, Barker's work with the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band was pivotal in ensuring the longevity of jazz in New Orleans, producing generations of new talent, including Wynton and Branford Marsalis who played in the band as youths. Barker passed away on March 13, 1994, but his music lives on! Today we appreciate his many contributions to the City and music we love.

Happy Birthday, James Andrews!

Trumpeter and vocalist James Andrews was born in New Orleans on January 12, 1969, into an accomplished musical family. Andrews is the grandson of Jesse Hill, older brother (and mentor) to Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, cousin to Glen David Andrews and the late Travis "Trumpet Black" Hill. Andrews was raised in the Tremé neighborhood, and played in a number of brass bands before launching his own band, James Andrews and the Crescent City Allstars. In 1998, he released the album Satchmo of the Ghetto, which was produced by Allen Toussaint and featured Dr. John.

In 2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina, James Andrews was one of the first musicians to return to New Orleans following the flooding. Only 17 days after the hurricane hit, he and his brother, Trombone Shorty, played at Jackson Square and at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park at a later show, Andrews was the first to declare "We’re gonna rebuild this city, note by note."

Let’s celebrate with this inspirational artist, and wish James a very happy birthday!

Photo: James Andrews - The Big Time Stuff -Album Cover

The Bummers at The Smell in L.A. on 1/10/2020

New Orleans band The Bummers has never been one for genre conventions. Instead the four piece group crafts their style out of unlikely pairings: the jagged riffs of vintage metal with the raw attitude of trap; the breezy melodies of pop paired with their own brand of nihilistic humor; North-eastern punk meets New Orleans Frenchmen street vibes. Featuring vocalists/guitarists Sean Doyle and Ben Shooter, bassist Clay Hakes, and drummer Max Berdik, The Bummers formed in 2014, materializing out of countless dorm-room jam sessions. The band gained a following playing at historic New Orleans venues like Tipitina’s, One Eyed Jacks, and Gasa Gasa, all the while cultivating a euphoric live concert experience. Onstage, The Bummers thrive on a sort of controlled chaos – emerging from trash cans, diving into the audience, venturing into spontaneous jams, all well perfectly capturing the in-your-face feel of their original material.