Biography

New Orleans-based R&B singer/songwriter Allen Toussaint was born on January 14, 1938 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The son of Naomi and Clarence Toussaint, Allen grew up in a shotgun house in the New Orleans neighborhood of Gert Town. Toussaint started learning piano at age seven and began his music business career as a teenager playing piano for such artists as Fats Domino and Earl King. Allen initially wrote songs under the stage name Tousan. Come the early 1960's Toussaint had firmly established himself as an in-house producer, composer, and arranger for various record labels that included Minit and Instant. Among the many hit songs that Allen wrote were "Ya Ya," "Fortune Teller, " "Ride Your Pony," "Mother in Law," "Lipstick Traces (On a Cigarette)," "Working in a Coalmine," "Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)," "Get Out of My Life, Woman," and "Ruler of My Heart" (this latter composition was changed to "Pain in My Heart" by Otis Redding). Moreover, Toussaint's song "Java" won jazz trumpeter Al Hirt a Grammy Award in 1964.

Following a stint in the US Army from 1963 to 1965, Allen returned to New Orleans and formed the production company Sansu Enterprises as well as established the city's famous Sea-Saint Studio. During this time Toussaint produced the Top 10 hit "Right Time, Wrong Place" for Dr. John and Patti LaBelle's disco sensation "Lady Marmalade," played with Paul Simon, Joe Cocker, and Paul McCartney, and wrote the #1 country smash 'Southern Nights" for Glen Campbell. He formed the label NYNO in 1996 and was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 in the non-performer category. Toussaint was subsequently inducted into The Louisina Music Hall of Fame in 2009 and The Blues Hall of Fame in 2011. In the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Allen relocated to New York City and became an advocate for the musical legacy of New Orleans. Toussaint eventually returned to New Orleans and was awarded with the National Medal of Arts in 2013 (he was also honored with a bronze statue on Bourbon Street that same year). He died of a heart attack at age 77 while touring in Madrid, Spain on November 10, 2015.