The Boogie Kings (also known as The Fabulous Boogie Kings) are an American Cajun swamp pop and blue-eyed soul group.
History
The band formed in Eunice, Louisiana in 1955 consisting of teenaged members Doug Ardoin, Skip Morris, Bert Miller and Harris Miller.
In the mid-1960s, the band expanded to include Ned Theall, a trumpeter from Abbeville, who became the group's leader. Because of Theall, and his musical arrangement skills, the band changed its style of music from swamp pop, to a more successful, blue-eyed soul sound of music.
In early 1965, the band released its first self-titled album on the Jin label and recorded at Floyd Soileau's studio in Ville Platte, Louisiana. During this time, the band was provided leadership from front man Clint West (born Clinton Joseph Guillory in Ville Platte on August 11, 1938). West booked the Boogie Kings in venues outside the Evangeline Parish and Acadiana area. West's vocals on songs such as "Try Me" and "Big Blue Diamonds" provided success for the Boogie Kings. The band later separated from its front man, Clint West, who then led his own version of the Boogie Kings, called "The Fabulous Kings". West has received several Hall of Fame Honors for his musical talents. West died on June 28, 2016, at St. Landry Extended Care Hospital in Opelousas, Louisiana.
The band began to feature trumpeter G.G. Shinn on vocals, who had previously been only an occasional vocalist. By May of that year, Jerry LaCroix, (performing under the name Jerry "Count" Jackson) joined the group.
A new album was recorded in New Orleans at Cosimo Matassa's studio under the production of Baton Rouge's Sam Montel, which was released in the late summer of 1965. This combined with a hitherto unseen stage performance not generally seen in southern Louisiana and Southeast Texas gave the band a stature and popularity new to the region.
In the winter-spring of 1966, the band traveled to Las Vegas in an attempt to break out. Hoping that the release of a 45 rpm by Houston's Huey Meaux ("That's Blue Eyed Soul", backed with "Do 'em All", recorded at his Pasadena, Texas studio) would launch them to success, this tour was not the success hoped for. The band returned to Louisiana in June 1966.
The Las Vegas exposure taught the band much about presentation and performance. However, friction involving G.G. Shinn led to his separation from the band in the summer of 1966, to be replaced by Duane Yates, formerly of the Capris.
Meanwhile, lawsuits were settled that resulted in the prohibition of Clint West using the name "Boogie Kings", though he had earlier released an album on Soileau's Jin label, Live at the Purple Peacock.
To integrate Duane into the band and present him to the band's followers, a new album was recorded at Sam Montel's Baton Rouge studio entitled Blue Eyed Soul. This was released in the fall of 1966. Although consisting mostly of cover material, the album featured a single, "Philly Walk", written by Ned Theall, which achieved respectable regional success, no mean thing in the face of the so-called "British Invasion." At this time in the South, the Music Business was a little behind the rest of the U.S.and Montel Records achieved success with "regional distribution" rather than National Distribution. Many songs were "territorial hits", usually 100 mile radius of the producing company. Montel's success was that from Houston to New Orleans and everything in the south Louisiana corridor. This was usually a test area for music on Montel and some other southern labels/producers and sometimes the record releases would be a giant hit in these areas but have no more sales potential outside because of the limited distribution/exposure of the record label.
Though mostly covers, the performances recorded did not come across as token album filler, but genuine interpretations of the material by the band. The personnel - Jerry Lacroix (vocals and sax), Duane Yates (vocals and trumpet), Ned Theall (trumpet), Norris Badeaux (lead sax), Dale Gothia (sax), Dan Silas (baritone sax), Bryan Leger (organ), Jack Hall (guitar), Gary Dorsey (bass), and Kenny Yetman (drums) – are considered by many who have known the band since inception to be the definitive Boogie Kings personnel. This roster constituted the group in its most unchanged form in the years that the band made several recordings, as well as the faces the public saw during the years of its expanding popularity from public appearances. In the Spring of 1967, Gary Walker was introduced into the group, and the three singers performed as "The Three Kings".
