1938 Allen Toussaint was born

1938
Allen Toussaint was born in New Orleans, LA.
His inherently funky piano work heavily influenced by his Crescent City forefathers -- Professor Longhair, Huey "Piano" Smith, and Fats Domino -- and with a heavy dose of Ray Charles, a young visionary named AllenToussaint almost singlehandedly fashioned a fresh, vital New Orleans R&B sound for the early '60s. Earning a vaunted reputation as a session pianist, Toussaint debuted on vinyl in 1958 with an obscure RCA album whimsically billed as "A. Tousan." When proved himself the ultimate behind-the-scenes wizard on the New Orleans scene. During the early to mid-'60s, Toussaint tirelessly wrote, arranged, produced, and played on hits by Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas, Jessie Hill, Chris Kenner, Barbara George, Lee Dorsey, Benny Spellman, The Showmen, and many more, his rolling keyboards vital to the charm of virtually all of them.

After unleashing The Meters on the world, Toussaint finally began to step out as a front man in 1970, although his low-key vocals have never achieved quite the same level of success as his previous productions for others. His brilliant compositions have been covered by everyone from Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass to Robert Palmer and Bonnie Raitt. Allen Toussaint's stature as a New Orleans musical giant endures.

For those poor souls who just don't know what Allen Toussaint to get, Dowop says check out The Allen Toussaint Collection, on Reprise Records. This is a great collection that was compiled by two legendary musical mavens, Charlie Springer and Bill Bentley...

Source: http://www.dowop.org/1-1403.html