New Orleans R&B legend Allen Toussaint, whose songwriting and studio work made him one of the most important and influential figures on the fertile Crescent City music scene, has died at the age of 77.
The Associated Press reported that Toussaint suffered a heart attack and died following a concert in Madrid.
An emergency services spokesman in the Spanish city told the AP that rescue workers revived Toussaint at his hotel early Monday morning. But Toussaint stopped breathing during the ambulance ride to a hospital and efforts to revive him again were unsuccessful, the spokesman told the AP.
Toussaint, a superlative songwriter, producer, pianist and arranger (and a fine singer, too), was a New Orleans native who helped spread the music-rich city’s inimitable sound across the world. He also helped that sound evolve.
“His greatest contribution was in not allowing the city’s old-school R&B traditions to die out but by keeping pace with developments in the rapidly evolving worlds of soul and funk,” said the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted Toussaint in 1998.
As The Post’s Marc Fisher wrote when Toussaint received a National Medal of Arts: “He’s an alchemist who took a local sound and made it universal — sparking imitations and echoes in the work of the Rolling Stones, Glen Campbell and scores of hip-hop producers.”
The Rock Hall described Toussaint as “a producer, bandleader, arranger, songwriter, session musician and all-around musical eminence.” The Hall added that “although he was inducted in the ‘nonperformer’ category, Toussaint is a talented pianist and performer who has recorded under his own name.”
But Toussaint was known best for his work with other artists (he produced Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade,” Dr. John’s “Right Place, Wrong Time” and the Meters’ “Cissy Strut“) — and for their cover versions of his songs, written under both his own name and a pseudonym, Naomi Neville.
“I prefer writing for artists than writing for myself,” he once told WWL. “I get more inspiration from artists, from other people, than I do myself.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...top-stories_ae-toussaint-943am:homepage/story
The Associated Press reported that Toussaint suffered a heart attack and died following a concert in Madrid.
An emergency services spokesman in the Spanish city told the AP that rescue workers revived Toussaint at his hotel early Monday morning. But Toussaint stopped breathing during the ambulance ride to a hospital and efforts to revive him again were unsuccessful, the spokesman told the AP.
Toussaint, a superlative songwriter, producer, pianist and arranger (and a fine singer, too), was a New Orleans native who helped spread the music-rich city’s inimitable sound across the world. He also helped that sound evolve.
“His greatest contribution was in not allowing the city’s old-school R&B traditions to die out but by keeping pace with developments in the rapidly evolving worlds of soul and funk,” said the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted Toussaint in 1998.
As The Post’s Marc Fisher wrote when Toussaint received a National Medal of Arts: “He’s an alchemist who took a local sound and made it universal — sparking imitations and echoes in the work of the Rolling Stones, Glen Campbell and scores of hip-hop producers.”
The Rock Hall described Toussaint as “a producer, bandleader, arranger, songwriter, session musician and all-around musical eminence.” The Hall added that “although he was inducted in the ‘nonperformer’ category, Toussaint is a talented pianist and performer who has recorded under his own name.”
But Toussaint was known best for his work with other artists (he produced Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade,” Dr. John’s “Right Place, Wrong Time” and the Meters’ “Cissy Strut“) — and for their cover versions of his songs, written under both his own name and a pseudonym, Naomi Neville.
“I prefer writing for artists than writing for myself,” he once told WWL. “I get more inspiration from artists, from other people, than I do myself.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...top-stories_ae-toussaint-943am:homepage/story