Select the image for the music of Allen Toussaint

Songwriter, producer and musician Allen Toussaint was born January 14, 1938 in New
Orleans, Louisiana. He made his mark on the music industry with his New Orleans sound: a mix of R&B traditions with soul, funk, rock and more.

He was a writer, producer and arranger for Aaron Neville, Paul McCartney, Joe Cocker, Elvis Costello and Eric Clapton, to name a few. Toussaint’s original songs have been covered by The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Pointer Sisters, Ringo Starr, and many more.

He was an activist as well as a musician, and co-founded the charity New Orleans Artists Against Hunger and Homelessness. In recent years Toussaint started performing himself: He played at the White House four times, launched his own record label, and toured internationally as a musician and as a teller of the story of New Orleans. New Orleans musicians laid the cornerstone for a large swath of American music, and Allen Toussaint was among the city s most gifted players. As a composer, arranger, producer, pianist and singer, Allen has created an enduring body of work that includes local hits by Irma Thomas and Lee Dorsey; songs covered by Glen Campbell, the Rolling Stones and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss; national hits by Ernie K-Doe and LaBelle; and collaborations with Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello, all in addition to his own recording career. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama in July, 2013. Toussaint is a titan of New Orleans soul/R&B, writing, producing, and arranging a seemingly endless stream of classics hits for way too many artists to list here…his impact on popular music is vast, but much of it bears the name of others. He always seemed content to work in the shadows and let the spotlight shine elsewhere.