Funeral services for stanley dural jr wife
American Musical Legend Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, Jr. November 14, 1947 – September 24, 2016
Buckwheat played with everyone from Eric Clapton and U2 to Robert Plant and The Boston Pops. The band performed at the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics and performed for President Clinton twice, celebrating both of his inaugurations. The band appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman, CNN, The Today Show, MTV, NBC News, CBS Morning News and many others. They were also invited to play the final episode of The Late Show With Jimmy Fallon.
Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, Jr. was born in Lafayette, LA on November 14, 1947. He acquired his nickname because, with his braided hair, he looked like Buckwheat from The Little Rascals. His father was an accomplished, non-professional traditional Creole accordion player, but young Buckwheat preferred listening to and playing R&B. He became proficient at the organ, and by the late 1950s was backing Joe Tex, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and many others. In 1971, he formed Buckwheat and The Hitchhikers, a 15-piece funk and soul band. They were a local sensation and found success with the single, “It’s Hard To Get,” recorded for a local Louisiana-based label. Never a traditional zydeco fan when growing up, Buckwheat nonetheless accepted an invitation in 1976 to join Clifton Chenier’s Red Hot Louisiana Band as organist. He quickly discovered the joy and power of zydeco music, and marveled at t
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Musician Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr., who rose from a cotton-picking family in southwest Louisiana to introduce zydeco music to the world through his namesake band Buckwheat Zydeco, has died. He was 68.
His longtime manager Ted Fox told The Associated Press that Dural died early Saturday morning. He had suffered from lung cancer.
Fox said the musician and accordionist died at 1:32 a.m. Louisiana time at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette, Louisiana. He gained fame by introducing zydeco music of southwest Louisiana to the world.
"This is one of the world's true genius musicians. A completely natural musician who could just fit in in any scenario," Fox said.
Zydeco music was well known across southwest Louisiana where people would often drive for miles to small dancehalls where zydeco bands featuring an accordion and a washboard would rock the crowds for hours.
But Dural took zydeco music mainstream, launching a major-label album — the Grammy-nominated "On a Night Like This," — with Island Records in 1987. He went on to jam with musical greats like Eric Clapton, play at former President Bill Clinton's inauguration and perform at the 1996 Olympics closing ceremony in Atlanta.
He jammed with Jimmy Fallon on the final episode of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Fallon played the guitar backed up by the Roots while Buckwheat Zydeco rocked the accordion.
Dural earned his nickname because he had braided hair when he was younger that resembled Buckwheat from The Little Rascals television show. Born Nov. 14, 1947 in Lafayette, Louisiana, Dural was one of 13 children. His father played the accordion but the younger Dural preferred listening to and playing rhythm & blues and learned to play the organ, his obituary said.
By the late 1950s he was backing up musicians and eventually formed his own band. It wasn't until 1978 though that he took up the accordion so closely associated with zydeco music and later formed his own NEW ORLEANS (CBS SF/AP) – Musician Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr., who rose from a cotton-picking family in southwest Louisiana to introduce zydeco music to the world through his namesake band Buckwheat Zydeco, has died. He was 68. His longtime manager Ted Fox says Dural died Saturday. He had suffered from lung cancer. Fox said the musician and accordionist died at 1:32 a.m. Louisiana time at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette, Louisiana. He gained fame by introducing zydeco music of southwest Louisiana to the world. "This is one of the world's true genius musicians. A completely natural musician who could just fit in in any scenario," Fox said. As news of his death spread, friends from around the world paid their respects. "Buckwheat Zydeco embodied a genre and represented a community with his signature playing style that brought distinctly creole zydeco music to fans across the globe," said Neil Portnow, who heads The Recording Academy. "The world lost a music heavyweight today." Zydeco music was well known across southwest Louisiana where people would often drive for miles to small dancehalls where zydeco bands featuring an accordion and a washboard would rock the crowds for hours. But Dural took zydeco music mainstream, launching a major-label album — the Grammy-nominated "On a Night Like This," — with Island Records in 1987. He went on to jam with musical greats like Eric Clapton, play at former President Bill Clinton's inauguration and perform at the 1996 Olympics closing ceremony in Atlanta. He jammed with Jimmy Fallon on the final episode of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Fallon played the guitar backed up by the Roots while Buckwheat Zydeco rocked the accordion. "He brought zydeco to unprecedented new audiences," said Ben Sandmel, a music historian who wrote a book titled "Zydeco!" about the music. Dural earned his nickname because he had braided hair when he was younger that resembled Buckwheat from The Our deepest condolences to Bernite Dural, Stanley’s wife and children from their beautiful combined family. Like his long time manager Ted Fox said, “Buckwheat kept musicians hours until the very end” when on September 24, 2016 at 1:32 am he departed this natural world. It is with deep sadness that we said good-bye to our friend Buck at a moving funeral service and celebration of his life in Lafayette, Louisiana on October 3 where Ted spoke to a mourning community. Our friend Roger Nabor from Kansas City who presented Buckwheat Zydeco many times over the decades, flew in for the wake. Most of the zydeco music community fondly referred to him as Buck and thought of him as their friend because he treated everyone in our close music community with the same kindness, respect and consideration one would show a friend. He treated his audiences the same way. He mentored & supported us as experienced artists in the same way he did young emerging artists. You see, he had been there and done that, and had a whole lot of experience to share-and he did generously. His music and career accomplishments changed the course of our music history. We shared a booking agency with him for many years, Concerted Efforts, based in the Boston area. Our long time friend Paul Kahn and his team had been booking Buck for a few years when we joined this hip and visionary international booking agency in 1986. We feel a deep and aching sadness for the loss of this great man and gifted artist. Like so many we are also working hard to process this huge loss. However we know he’s no longer suffering from the cancer he fought with relentless determination, and for that- we are relieved. However, for his family whose pain is unthinkable, we wish for peace and understanding during this difficult time. R.I.P brother Buck, in eternal peace and white light. For contributions to support his family and honor his life pleas Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, Jr. 1947-2016