Gregg Martinez (born Gregory John Martinez on August 2, 1956 in Lafayette, Louisiana) is an American rhythm and blues singer and purveyor of the south Louisiana genre called Swamp Pop. He is also referred to as "Mac Daddy" and is a member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Martinez began singing in public at the age of eight in his home church in Carencro, Louisiana. He began his professional music career after graduating from Teurlings Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1974 by performing in the local nightlife scene of South Louisiana. [1]
From 1981 through 1984 Martinez was frontman and bandleader of Gregg Martinez and Kingfish. In 1985 he began to tour nationally with a new backing group called the Heat. Within a few months he landed an exclusive contract with the Donald Trump casinos in Atlantic City, NJ, where he would appear regularly through 1988 and relocated to in 1986. He signed a recording contract with multi-platinum songwriter/producer/musicians Victor Carstarphen and Keith Benson - veterans of the Philadelphia, PA recording scene which included Teddy Pendergrass, The O'Jays, and Patti LaBelle. His recordings were not released. Martinez relocated briefly to Nashville in early 1989 but by the end of the year had moved to north TX near Wichita Falls. [1]
In 1990 Martinez began a new chapter in his musical journey in the Contemporary Christian Music field. He released three Christian albums from 1991 to 1997. With the releases of For the Ages and All the Days, 1999, 2001, he began to blend the Christian music with the Rhythm and Blues of his earlier days. He formed Gregg Martinez Outreach in 1998 which most notably consisted of a public school anti-drug program which reached many thousands of students around the country.
By 2006 Martinez had relocated back to his native Louisiana and had also returned to the R&B/Blues/Swamp Pop genre with the release of Big Bad Daddy. At this time he also joined the legendary blue-eyed soul group the Boogie Kings. He wrote the title song for The Boogie Kings' 2007 release Never Go Away. Martinez'CD, Soul of the Bayou, was released April 30, 2016 on Louisiana Red Hot Records. It reached #2 on the national soul chart and #4 on the national R&B chart according to RootsMusicReport.com. Soul of the Bayou was also voted #8 of the top 50 albums in Louisiana 2016 by Offbeat Magazine. Martinez has been nominated five times for Best Male Vocalist by Offbeats' Best of the Beat Awards. On February 9, 2019 he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. On July 17, 2020, he released "MacDaddy Mojeaux" on Nola Blue Records. It has been critically acclaimed and receiving extensive airplay worldwide. He is the leader and tours regularly with Gregg Martinez and the Delta Kings. [1]
His vocal style has been inspired and influenced by the soul crooners of the 60's/70's including Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, and Louisiana artists G G Shinn, T K Hulin, Big Luther Kent, and Johnny Adams.
Stanley Dural Jr., better known by his stage name Buckwheat Zydeco, was an American accordionist and zydeco musician. He was one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success. His music group was formally billed as Buckwheat Zydeco and Ils Sont Partis Band, but they often performed as merely Buckwheat Zydeco.
Clifton Chenier, was a Cajun musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He sang and played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983.
Kim Wilson is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s, "Tuff Enuff" and "Wrap It Up."
Tab Benoit is an American blues guitarist, musician, and singer. His playing combines a number of blues styles, primarily Delta blues.
Curtis John Arceneaux better known by the name Coco Robicheaux, was an American blues musician and artist, from Ascension Parish, Louisiana, United States.
Marc Broussard is an American singer-songwriter. His style is best described as "Bayou Soul", a mix of funk, blues, R&B, rock and pop, matched with distinct Southern roots. He has released eight studio albums, one live album, three EPs, and has charted twice on Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks.
Lonnie Brooks was an American blues singer and guitarist. The musicologist Robert Palmer, writing in Rolling Stone, stated, "His music is witty, soulful and ferociously energetic, brimming with novel harmonic turnarounds, committed vocals and simply astonishing guitar work." Jon Pareles, a music critic for the New York Times, wrote, "He sings in a rowdy baritone, sliding and rasping in songs that celebrate lust, fulfilled and unfulfilled; his guitar solos are pointed and unhurried, with a tone that slices cleanly across the beat. Wearing a cowboy hat, he looks like the embodiment of a good-time bluesman." Howard Reich, a music critic for the Chicago Tribune, wrote, "...the music that thundered from Brooks' instrument and voice...shook the room. His sound was so huge and delivery so ferocious as to make everything alongside him seem a little smaller."
Michael Louis Doucet is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known as the founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil.
Lost Bayou Ramblers is a Cajun music band from Broussard, Arnaudville and New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Boogie Kings are an American Cajun swamp pop and blue-eyed soul group.
Mark Hunter Klein is an American blue-eyed soul and blues singer-songwriter, actor and member of The Boogie Kings, an American swamp pop band.
Thomas Herman Ridgley was an American R&B singer, pianist, songwriter and bandleader in New Orleans, Louisiana. In a musical career lasting half a century Ridgley was a stalwart of the New Orleans rhythm and blues scene. Although he never had a national hit, unlike several of his contemporaries, he made numerous, popular recordings that sold mainly in New Orleans and Louisiana beginning in 1949 with a final release in 1995. His voice was variously described as similar to Roy Brown and Bull Moose Jackson and thus able to adapt to a variety of styles: Blues, Jump blues, Rhythm and Blues and Soul. In the late 50s he became bandleader of The Untouchables with whom he held residencies at important night venues often backing visiting artists. His recording career consisted of over forty singles and three albums. Most of his recordings have been anthologised on compilations in vinyl and CDs.
Canray Fontenot was an American Creole fiddle player, who has been described as "the greatest Creole Louisiana French fiddler of our time."
Flood City Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, presented by the Johnstown Area Heritage Association. The festival began in 1989 as a street fair to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Johnstown Flood. The event was renamed the National Folk Festival in 1990, and was held in Johnstown's Cambria City neighborhood from 1990 to 1992. In 1993, it was renamed the Johnstown FolkFest and eventually the festival moved from Cambria City to downtown Johnstown in 2004. The festival emphasized acoustic music, but was expanded and renamed the Flood City Music Festival in 2009 to include other styles of music.
Zydeco Junkie is an album by the Zydeco band Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, released in 2010. It received the 2010 Grammy award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album. Jamie Bergeron and Geno Delafose make special guest appearances.
Victor Mac who is better known as Little Victor, The Beale Street Blues Bopper, and also DJ Mojo Man, is an Italian-American blues and roots singer, guitarist and harmonica player, as well as a record collector, musicologist, entertainer, disc jockey and record producer. He is best known for his association with Louisiana Red, on the albums Back To The Black Bayou and Memphis Mojo.
The Human Jukebox is the marching band representing Southern University and A&M College located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Robert Finley is an American blues and soul singer-songwriter and guitarist. After decades of performing semi-professionally followed by time away from music, Finley made a comeback in 2016. He released his debut studio album, Age Don't Mean a Thing, later in the year, which was met positively by critics.
Mel Melton, is an American musician, singer, and chef. Much of his music is in the Zydeco style and his cooking primarily focuses on the culture of southern Louisiana.
Eric Johanson is an American blues rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Johanson has performed with Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, the Neville Brothers, Terrance Simien, JJ Grey, Eric Lindell, Mike Zito, and at events including the Chicago Blues Festival, Edmonton Blues Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Byron Bay Bluesfest (Australia).