Rusty Staub: Le Grand Orange from New Orleans
Le Grand OrangeDaniel Joseph "Rusty" Staub was born on April 1, 1944, in New Orleans, Louisiana — a redheaded kid who got his nickname from his hair and his baseball talent from his father, a forme...
De'Aaron Fox: The Fastest Kid in New Orleans
The Fastest Kid in New OrleansDe'Aaron Jeffery Fox was born on December 20, 1997, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His family moved to Cypress, Texas, when he was young, but New Orleans was first — the c...
Mark Normand: New Orleans' Funniest Export
New Orleans' Funniest ExportMark Normand was born on September 18, 1983, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and attended De La Salle High School — a Catholic school education that gave him plenty of materi...
Donald Harrison: Big Chief and Jazz Master
The Night Tripper's Right HandDonald Harrison Jr. was born on June 2, 1960, in New Orleans, Louisiana, into one of the city's most important cultural families. His father, Donald Harrison Sr., was ...
Clarence 'Frogman' Henry: Algiers' Gift to the World
Frogman from New OrleansClarence "Frogman" Henry was born on March 19, 1937, in Algiers, Louisiana — the neighborhood on the West Bank of the Mississippi that is technically part of New Orleans but...
The Neville Brothers: New Orleans' First Family of Funk
The Neville Brothers: New Orleans' First Family of FunkThe Neville Brothers — Art, Charles, Aaron, and Cyril — were born and raised in the Valence Street neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans. Togethe...
Rebirth Brass Band: The Band That Rebuilt the Tradition
The Brass Band That Rebuilt the TraditionRebirth Brass Band was formed in 1983 by Philip and Keith Frazier at Joseph S. Clark High School in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans. They were teenage...
The Meters: The Funkiest Band in the City That Invented Funk
The Funkiest Band in the City That Invented FunkThe Meters were formed in New Orleans in 1965 by four musicians who would quietly revolutionize American music: Art Neville on keyboards, Leo Nocente...
Freddie Keppard: The Cornet King Before Armstrong
The Cornet King Before ArmstrongFreddie Keppard was born on February 27, 1890, in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the first two decades of the twentieth century — before Louis Armstrong rose to internat...
Jean Knight: The Queen of New Orleans Funk
The Queen of New Orleans FunkJean Knight was born on January 26, 1943, in New Orleans, Louisiana. She grew up singing in church and in school groups, absorbing the R&B and funk that poured out ...
Champion Jack Dupree: The Orphan Who Played the World
The Champion Jack Who Played the Blues the Hard WayWilliam Thomas Dupree was born on July 4, 1910, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His parents died in a fire when he was an infant, and he was raised at ...
Nicholas Payton: The Trumpet Player Who Followed Tradition His Own Way
The Trumpet Player Who Followed the Family Tradition His Own WayNicholas Andrew Payton was born on September 26, 1973, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father Walter Payton was a respected bassist in...
Ellis Marsalis Jr.: The Teacher Who Built a Dynasty
New Orleans' Poet of the TrumpetEllis Louis Marsalis Jr. was born on November 14, 1934, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a jazz pianist, educator, and the patriarch of the most important musical f...
Greg Gumbel: The Brother Who Brought New Orleans to Your Weekend
The Brother Who Brought Bourbon Street to Your MorningGreg Gumbel was born on May 3, 1946, in New Orleans, Louisiana — the older brother of Bryant Gumbel and the first African American to anchor a ...
Edmond Dédé: The Free Creole Who Wrote America's First Black Opera
The Free Creole Who Wrote America's First Black OperaEdmond Dédé was born in 1827 in New Orleans, Louisiana — a free man of color in a city where that status occupied a precarious middle ground bet...
Oscar Dunn: America's First Black Lieutenant Governor
America's First Black Lieutenant GovernorOscar James Dunn was born in 1822 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father James Dunn had been freed from slavery in 1819, and by 1832 had purchased the freedo...
Antoinette Frank: The NOPD Officer Who Became a Killer
The NOPD Officer Who Became a KillerAntoinette Renee Frank was born on April 30, 1971, in Opelousas, Louisiana. She joined the New Orleans Police Department in February 1993, despite failing psycho...
Elmore Leonard: New Orleans' Native Son Who Became the Dickens of Detroit
New Orleans' Native Son Who Became the Dickens of DetroitElmore John Leonard Jr. was born on October 11, 1925, in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father worked as a site locator for General Motors, and...
DJ Khaled: Born in the Crescent City, Made in the 305
Born in the Crescent City, Made in the 305Khaled Mohammed Khaled was born on November 26, 1975, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Palestinian immigrant parents. He didn't stay long — his family eventua...
Andrei Codrescu: The Romanian Poet Who Found His Voice in Louisiana
The Romanian Poet Who Found His Voice in LouisianaAndrei Codrescu was born on December 20, 1946, in Sibiu, Romania. His mother was a photographer; his father an engineer. He didn't learn about his ...
