Died On This Date (September 6, 2012) Wardell Quezergue / New Orleans R&B Legend

Wardell Quezergue
March 12, 1930 – September 6, 2011

Photo by Chris Granger

Wardell Quezergue was without a doubt one of the most important figures in New Orleans R&B for the better part of the last 60 years. It was during the ’40s that Quezergue began making his mark on the music world as a member of Dave Bartholomew’s band.  After a stint in the Army band in Korea, he settled back in New Orleans where he formed his own group and label, and began arranging pieces for the likes of Fats Domino and Professor Longhair.  As Quezergue’s reputation as an arranger and producer grew, so did the list of artists who wanted to employ his services.  Over the year’s that list grew to include the likes of the Dixie Cups (“Iko Iko”), Jean Knight (“Mr. Big Stuff”), Aaron Neville, Paul Simon, the Spinners, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, and Dr. John for whom he produced and arranged the Grammy-winning Goin’ Back To New Orleans.  Sadly, Quezergue lost most of his possessions to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but a fund-raiser by many leading musicians helped him get back on his feet.   Wardell Quezergue was 81 when he died of congestive heart failure on September 6, 2011.

Thanks to Harold Lepidus of the Bob Dylan Examiner for the assist.

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Wardell Quezergue

Died On This Date (October 12, 1998) Raymond Myles / New Orleans Gospel Legend

Raymond Myles
July 14, 1958 – October 12, 1998

Raymond Myles was acknowledged by his New Orleans’ musical peers as perhaps the greatest gospel talent of his generation. The testimonials to his greatness as a singer, pianist and choir director came from no less than Harry Connick, Jr., Aaron Neville, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint. Myles devoted his life to addressing vital social issues that impacted his community and affected him personally. From his impoverished beginnings in the everyday violence of New Orleans’ housing projects, he became a dedicated public school music teacher whose commitment to young people steered many of them away from ruin during a murderous crack epidemic in New Orleans during the nineties. “But as hard as he tried, Raymond never felt that his community embraced him with what he considered to be God’s unconditional love,” said Leo Sacks, who produced his only full-length studio album, A Taste of Heaven, and is directing a documentary called A Taste Of Heaven: The Heartbreak Life of Raymond Myles, Gospel Genius of New Orleans, now in production (raymondmylesmovie.com). “These feelings of isolation and disconnection reflected a lifetime of struggle with his elders in the black church, a struggle that boiled down to their refusal to fully accept gay worshipers.”  In his short, turbulent life, Myles performed as such prestigious music events as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Newport Folk Festival. Tragically, his dramatic journey from a childhood of abject poverty to the brink of international music stardom was cut short when he was murdered during a carjacking outside the French Quarter on the night of October 11, 1998.  A career criminal from New Orleans was sentenced to 20 years in Louisiana’s Angola state penitentiary for being an accomplice to the killing.  So beloved was Raymond Myles that when he was laid to rest, only Mahalia Jackson and Louis Armstrong drew more mourners to their Crescent City funerals.



Died On This Date (March 12, 2010) Rockie Charles / New Orleans’ “President of Soul”

Rockie Charles (Born Charles Merrick)
November 14, 1942 – March 12, 2010

Photo by Joseph A. Rosen

Rockie Charles was a beloved New Orleans R&B singer and guitarist who had been called “The President of Soul.”  Born into a musical family, Charles was schooled in reading and writing music at a very young age.  As he grew older, he generally won local talent competitions and occasionally shared the stage with the likes of Aaron Neville and Ernie K-Doe.  He formed his first band while still in high school and by the late ’60s he was playing the chitlin’ circuit, opening for some of the biggest names in R&B at the time.  Like many traditional R&B artists, Charles’ career slowed down during the ’70s as local clubs began booking disco acts, but he experienced a nice renaissance during the ’90s.  Since then, he was a popular draw throughout the region’s music festivals, and had been working on a new album at the time of his death.  On March 12, 2010, Rockie Charles, 67,  died of cancer.