Louisiana's Le Roux
Encyclopedia
Louisiana's LeRoux is a pop (rock) band founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
, USA that saw its heyday from 1978-1983. Their best known songs were "Take a Ride On a Riverboat" with its 4-part a capella intro, the regional smash "New Orleans Ladies", "Nobody Said It Was Easy (Lookin' For the Lights)" (their highest charting single), "Addicted", and "Carrie's Gone". Their music, though pop-oriented, combined many elements such as funk
, R&B, Dixieland jazz
, rock
, and some Cajun
-flavoring, thus defying a pigeonhole into one definable category, like many other diverse Louisiana artists common to an area known for its many musical influences and tastes. The band continues to perform live throughout the U.S., mostly at fairs and festivals in the Louisiana area.
, signed a deal with Capitol Records
as The Jeff Pollard Band. Leon Medica, the band's producer and bassist, had presented a demo tape to Paul Tannen at Screen Gems
-EMI
while doing a session in Nashville and making trips to Colorado
to contribute bass parts to a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
album at William McEuen's Aspen
recording Society Studios. McEuen, Tanney and Attorney John Frankenheimer helped Medica secure the contract with Capitol.
By early 1978, they had changed their name to Louisiana's LeRoux, which refers to roux
, a Cajun
gravy base used to make gumbo
. The band was originally composed of: Jeff Pollard (vocals, guitars), David Peters (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Leon Medica (bass, backing vocals), Tony Haselden (vocals, guitars), Rod Roddy (vocals, keyboards, synthesizers), and Bobby Campo (horns, percussion, violin, backing vocals). All of the songs on the self-titled 1978 debut album were sung and written by Pollard except the big, "New Orleans Ladies", which was written by Medica and Hoyt Garrick. It reached #59 on the Billboard
Hot 100 in the summer of 1978. Two more albums followed (Keep The Fire Burnin in 1979, and Up in 1980), but after neither was able to expand the band's fan base, they were dropped by Capitol.
Starting with the Jai Winding produced Up, they dropped "Louisiana's" from their name and became simply "LeRoux". At this point they began to move towards a more AOR
friendly sound. In 1981 they signed with RCA
and issued their 4th LP, Last Safe Place, which was their highest charting album and included their only Top 40 single, "Nobody Said It Was Easy(Lookin' For the Lights)" , which reached #18 in early 1982. The followup single, Addicted, reached #77 that summer.
Other changes were in store as Campo and Pollard both quit later that year, with the former returning to school to complete his Master's degree in music and the latter renouncing rock music to enter the Baptist
Christian ministry, where he remains today. Fergie Frederiksen and guitarist Jim Odom
took over for Pollard on the 5th album So Fired Up (which was released in January 1983) and contained the minor charting "Carrie's Gone" (#79), which Odom and Frederiksen had written after Frederiksen's break up with actress Carrie Hamilton
, who was Carol Burnett
's daughter. It wasn't enough to keep them from being dropped by RCA and the band called it quits by 1984. Frederiksen then stepped in to replace(former Levee Band member) Bobby Kimball
in the band Toto
.
After releasing a greatest hits compilation entitled Bayou Degradable: The Best of Louisiana's LeRoux in 1996, the band decided to play more live shows in the southern US and along the Gulf Coast and have been doing so ever since. By 1997, new members Boo Pourciau (drums, vocals), Nelson Blanchard (keyboards, vocals) and Steve Brewster (percussion) came in to sub for Peters, Roddy and Campo whenever the increased tour schedule conflicted with their other duties. Campo left the band again soon after and Mark Duthu replaced Brewster in 1999.
In 2000 the newer members appeared alongside Peters, Roddy & Campo on a new release Ain't Nothing But a Gris Gris.
Knapps left the group at the end of 2005 and Courtney Westbrook was lead singer in 2006 before Terry Brock(formerly of Kansas
and Network) took over in 2007. In 2010 Terry was replaced by Keith Landry and David Peters was replaced by Randy Carpenter.
After the group's heyday, guitarist Tony Haselden became a Nashville songwriter in the late '80s and penned the country hits "It Ain't Nothin'
" for the late Keith Whitley
, "That's My Story
" for Collin Raye
, "Mama Knows
" for the group Shenandoah
and many others. Bassist and producer Leon Medica resides in Nashville and is in high demand as a studio musician and songwriter.
Members of LeRoux backed up Tab Benoit on his Brother to the Blues and Power of the Ponchartrain CDs, recorded a live DVD and CD in Nashville with Tab in early May 2007, and toured nationwide with him in 2007 and 2008.
On October 10, 2009, during their performance at Tab Benoit's "Voice of the Wetlands" Festival in Houma
, Louisiana, LeRoux was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame
as their 50th Inductee.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, USA that saw its heyday from 1978-1983. Their best known songs were "Take a Ride On a Riverboat" with its 4-part a capella intro, the regional smash "New Orleans Ladies", "Nobody Said It Was Easy (Lookin' For the Lights)" (their highest charting single), "Addicted", and "Carrie's Gone". Their music, though pop-oriented, combined many elements such as funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, R&B, Dixieland jazz
Dixieland Jazz
Dixieland Jazz was a Canadian music television series which aired on CBC Television in 1954.-Premise:The series host was Trump Davidson, a cornet player. He also hosted a radio music series on CBC's Trans-Canada Network.-Scheduling:...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, and some Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
-flavoring, thus defying a pigeonhole into one definable category, like many other diverse Louisiana artists common to an area known for its many musical influences and tastes. The band continues to perform live throughout the U.S., mostly at fairs and festivals in the Louisiana area.
Albums
In 1977 several former members of a group called the Levee Band, who had been playing as backup players for Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Clifton ChenierClifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier , a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983...
, signed a deal with Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
as The Jeff Pollard Band. Leon Medica, the band's producer and bassist, had presented a demo tape to Paul Tannen at Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
-EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
while doing a session in Nashville and making trips to Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
to contribute bass parts to a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded...
album at William McEuen's Aspen
Aspen
Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...
recording Society Studios. McEuen, Tanney and Attorney John Frankenheimer helped Medica secure the contract with Capitol.
By early 1978, they had changed their name to Louisiana's LeRoux, which refers to roux
Roux
Roux is a cooked mixture of wheat flour and fat, traditionally butter. It is the thickening agent of three of the mother sauces of classical French cooking: sauce béchamel, sauce velouté and sauce espagnole. Clarified butter, vegetable oils, or lard are commonly used fats. It is used as a...
, a Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
gravy base used to make gumbo
Gumbo
Gumbo is a stew or soup that originated in southern Louisiana during the 18th century. It consists primarily of a strongly-flavored stock, meat or shellfish, a thickener, and the vegetable holy trinity of celery, bell peppers, and onions...
. The band was originally composed of: Jeff Pollard (vocals, guitars), David Peters (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Leon Medica (bass, backing vocals), Tony Haselden (vocals, guitars), Rod Roddy (vocals, keyboards, synthesizers), and Bobby Campo (horns, percussion, violin, backing vocals). All of the songs on the self-titled 1978 debut album were sung and written by Pollard except the big, "New Orleans Ladies", which was written by Medica and Hoyt Garrick. It reached #59 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100 in the summer of 1978. Two more albums followed (Keep The Fire Burnin in 1979, and Up in 1980), but after neither was able to expand the band's fan base, they were dropped by Capitol.
Starting with the Jai Winding produced Up, they dropped "Louisiana's" from their name and became simply "LeRoux". At this point they began to move towards a more AOR
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
friendly sound. In 1981 they signed with RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
and issued their 4th LP, Last Safe Place, which was their highest charting album and included their only Top 40 single, "Nobody Said It Was Easy(Lookin' For the Lights)" , which reached #18 in early 1982. The followup single, Addicted, reached #77 that summer.
Other changes were in store as Campo and Pollard both quit later that year, with the former returning to school to complete his Master's degree in music and the latter renouncing rock music to enter the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Christian ministry, where he remains today. Fergie Frederiksen and guitarist Jim Odom
PreSonus
PreSonus Audio Electronics, Inc. is an American manufacturer of recording and live sound equipment, founded in January 1995 by engineers Jim Odom and Brian Smith, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
took over for Pollard on the 5th album So Fired Up (which was released in January 1983) and contained the minor charting "Carrie's Gone" (#79), which Odom and Frederiksen had written after Frederiksen's break up with actress Carrie Hamilton
Carrie Hamilton
Carrie Louise Hamilton was an American actress, singer, and playwright. She was the daughter of comedienne/actress Carol Burnett and producer Joe Hamilton.-Life:...
, who was Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
's daughter. It wasn't enough to keep them from being dropped by RCA and the band called it quits by 1984. Frederiksen then stepped in to replace(former Levee Band member) Bobby Kimball
Bobby Kimball
Robert Troy "Bobby" Kimball is an American singer, best known as the longtime frontman of the rock band Toto.- Early life:...
in the band Toto
Toto (band)
Toto is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The group currently consists of Joseph Williams , David Paich , Steve Porcaro , Steve Lukather , Mike Porcaro , and Simon Phillips . Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard...
.
Recent activity
In 1985 most of the band (sans Pollard & Frederiksen) got back together to do annual concerts in and around New Orleans with new singer Randy Knapps. Odom and Peters were also part of the group Network, who recorded the song "Back in America" for the movie European Vacation that came out that same year.After releasing a greatest hits compilation entitled Bayou Degradable: The Best of Louisiana's LeRoux in 1996, the band decided to play more live shows in the southern US and along the Gulf Coast and have been doing so ever since. By 1997, new members Boo Pourciau (drums, vocals), Nelson Blanchard (keyboards, vocals) and Steve Brewster (percussion) came in to sub for Peters, Roddy and Campo whenever the increased tour schedule conflicted with their other duties. Campo left the band again soon after and Mark Duthu replaced Brewster in 1999.
In 2000 the newer members appeared alongside Peters, Roddy & Campo on a new release Ain't Nothing But a Gris Gris.
Knapps left the group at the end of 2005 and Courtney Westbrook was lead singer in 2006 before Terry Brock(formerly of Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
and Network) took over in 2007. In 2010 Terry was replaced by Keith Landry and David Peters was replaced by Randy Carpenter.
After the group's heyday, guitarist Tony Haselden became a Nashville songwriter in the late '80s and penned the country hits "It Ain't Nothin'
It Ain't Nothin'
"It Ain't Nothin" is a 1989 country music single made famous by Keith Whitley. His fifth and last No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, the song was his second posthumous chart-topper, reaching the top of the chart seven months after his death....
" for the late Keith Whitley
Keith Whitley
Jackie Keith Whitley , known professionally as Keith Whitley, was an American country music singer. Whitley's brief career in mainstream country music lasted from 1984 until his death in 1989, but he continues to influence an entire generation of singers and songwriters...
, "That's My Story
That's My Story (song)
"That's My Story" is a single by American country music artist Collin Raye. It was the first single released from his 1994 CD, Extremes.-Chart performance:...
" for Collin Raye
Collin Raye
Floyd Collin Wray Floyd Collin Wray Floyd Collin Wray (born August 22, 1959 or 1960,Although multiple online sources all indicate Raye's date of birth as 1959, Raye's MySpace lists his date of birth as 1960. Furthermore, the 2004 Deseret News article cited in this article indicates the singer as...
, "Mama Knows
Mama Knows
"Mama Knows" is the title of a song written by Tony Haselden and Tim Mensy, and recorded by American country music group Shenandoah. It was released in August 1988 as the first single from their album The Road Not Taken. The song reached #5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in...
" for the group Shenandoah
Shenandoah (band)
Shenandoah is an American country music group founded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama in 1984 by Marty Raybon , Ralph Ezell , Stan Thorn , Jim Seales , and Mike McGuire...
and many others. Bassist and producer Leon Medica resides in Nashville and is in high demand as a studio musician and songwriter.
Members of LeRoux backed up Tab Benoit on his Brother to the Blues and Power of the Ponchartrain CDs, recorded a live DVD and CD in Nashville with Tab in early May 2007, and toured nationwide with him in 2007 and 2008.
On October 10, 2009, during their performance at Tab Benoit's "Voice of the Wetlands" Festival in Houma
Houma, Louisiana
Houma is a city in and the parish seat of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, and the largest principal city of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's powers of government have been absorbed by the parish, which is now run by the Terrebonne Parish...
, Louisiana, LeRoux was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame
Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame is an IRS certified 501 non-profit organization based in the state capitol of Baton Rouge, La., that seeks to preserve Louisiana's rich music culture and heritage and to further educate its citizens and people worldwide about the state’s unique role contributing...
as their 50th Inductee.
Singles
- 1978 - New Orleans Ladies (#59)
- 1981 - Nobody Said It Was Easy (#18)
- 1982 - Addicted (#77)
- 1983 - Carrie's Gone (#79)