Odell Beckham Jr.: The Catch That Changed Everything
The Catch That Changed EverythingOdell Beckham Jr. didn't grow up in New Orleans — he was born in Baton Rouge — but he became a New Orleanian at Isidore Newman School, the same Uptown campus that p...
Chris Owens: The Queen of Bourbon Street
The Queen of Bourbon StreetFor more than sixty years, one woman owned Bourbon Street — not literally, though she came close. Chris Owens was the Queen of the Vieux Carré, a Texas-born entertainer w...
George Rodrigue: The Blue Dog Man
The Blue Dog ManGeorge Rodrigue wasn't from New Orleans — he was from New Iberia, deep in Cajun country. But his art became so synonymous with Louisiana that you can't walk through the French Quart...
Quint Davis: The Man Behind Jazz Fest
The Man Behind Jazz FestEvery spring, somewhere around four hundred thousand people descend on the New Orleans Fair Grounds for the Jazz and Heritage Festival — one of the largest and most importan...
Romeo Miller: Master P's Son, His Own Man
Master P's Son, His Own ManPercy Romeo Miller was born in New Orleans in 1989, the son of Percy "Master P" Miller — the Calliope Projects kid who built No Limit Records into a hip-hop empire. Growi...
Aaron Neville: The Voice That Makes You Cry
The Voice That Makes You CryThere is no voice in American popular music quite like Aaron Neville's. That smooth, vibrato-heavy tenor — floating somewhere between gospel and soul, between tenderness...
Rickey Jackson: The First Saint in the Hall of Fame
The First Saint in the Hall of FameFor decades, the New Orleans Saints were defined by losing. Paper bags over heads. The Aints. A franchise that couldn't buy a break. But through all those years, ...
Cam Jordan: The Saints' Sack King
The Saints' Sack KingFor more than a decade, Cameron Jordan has been the most reliable, most consistent, and most terrifying defensive player the New Orleans Saints have ever employed. And in a fra...
David Simon: Tremé's Filmmaker
Tremé's FilmmakerDavid Simon didn't create New Orleans. But he might have created the best television show about it. Treme, which ran on HBO from 2010 to 2013, was the most honest, most detailed, a...
Mia X: The Biggest Mama of No Limit
The Man Who Built No LimitWe've already told you about Master P — Percy Miller, the Calliope Projects kid who built No Limit Records into one of the biggest independent empires in hip-hop history. ...
Buddy D: The Voice of the Saints
The Pirate of Bourbon StreetLafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar sits at 941 Bourbon Street, and it might be the oldest bar in America. The building dates to the 1720s or 1730s — nobody knows exactly — an...
Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Keeping the Sound Alive
The First Black Architect in the SouthIn the years after the Civil War, a formerly enslaved man from New Orleans became one of the most prominent architects in the city, designing buildings that st...
Katey Red: Bounce Music's First Queen
The Spy Who Loved New OrleansJames Pitot was born in France in 1761, became a successful merchant in Spanish colonial New Orleans, and served as the second mayor of the city after the Louisiana Pur...
Morgus the Magnificent: New Orleans' Mad Scientist
The MorgusBefore horror hosts became a national phenomenon, before Elvira and before the internet turned every city's local TV weirdness into a shared memory, New Orleans had Morgus the Magnificent...
Antoinette K-Doe: The Queen of Tremé
The Woman Who Ran the TreméAntoinette K-Doe was born Antoinette Dorsey in New Orleans and married Ernie K-Doe — the man behind "Mother-in-Law," the number-one hit from 1961 — in 1994. But this stor...
Deuce McAllister: The Saints' Heart and Soul
The Voice That Launched a Thousand Saints SundaysEvery Saints fan knows the voice. Before every home game at the Superdome, before the team takes the field, before the crowd reaches its peak frenzy...
Uncle Lionel Batiste: New Orleans Personified
The Soul Queen of New Orleans... Who Also Founded a Radio StationWe've already told you about Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans. But there's another woman who deserves the title of Queen i...
Tootie Montana: The Chief of Chiefs
The Mardi Gras Indians' Chief of ChiefsNo essay about New Orleans people would be complete without mentioning the Mardi Gras Indians — the African American masking tradition that has been part of t...
Drew Brees: The Man Who Made New Orleans Believe Again
The Man Who Made New Orleans Believe AgainOn February 7, 2010, Drew Brees stood on a confetti-covered field in Miami holding the Lombardi Trophy, and an entire city wept. Not because the New Orlean...
DJ Jubilee: The King of Bounce
The King of BounceBefore bounce music was a genre with a name, before Big Freedia took it global, before Drake sampled it on the biggest song of 2018 — there was DJ Jubilee, a kid from the St. Thom...
