New Orleans musician became legend as singer-songwriter
NEW ORLEANS — Legendary New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint, who racked up hits like “Working in the Coal Mine” and “Lady Marmalade” as a behind-thescenes songwriter and producer before he gained new fame as a performer, died Tuesday, not long after a performance in Spain. He was 77.
Rescue workers were called to Toussaint’s hotel in Madrid early Tuesday morning after he suffered a heart attack, said Madrid emergency services spokesman Javier Ayuso.
They managed to revive him but Toussaint stopped breathing during the ambulance ride to a hospital and did not recover, Ayuso said. Toussaint performed Monday night at Madrid’s Lara Theater. Toussaint’s family confirmed his death in an emailed statement, thanking fans and friends for their condolences.
“He was a legend in the music world,” said Quint Davis, who produces the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Toussaint performed there so often — starting in 1973 — that Davis said Toussaint referred to the festival as his “annual concert.”
Born in New Orleans’ working class Gert Town neighborhood, Toussaint went on to become one of the city’s most legendary and celebrated performers and personalities.
In the beginning Toussaint was known mostly as an R&B songwriter and producer. He worked for the New Orleans-based Minit Records in 1960 before being drafted in the Army for two years.
He worked with such luminaries as Lee Dorsey, Art and Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, the Meters, Joe Cocker and Ernie KDoe. Thomas remembered Toussaint, who produced her songs “It’s Raining” and “I Did My Part,” as someone who wrote beautiful stories set to music.
In the late ’50s and early ’60s, Thomas and Toussaint and others would gather at Toussaint’s mom’s house to rehearse.
“I don’t know how his mom put up with all of us in there all the time. But that’s where we learned our songs,” said Thomas. “That was the place to be, his mom’s living room.”
In 1973, with fellow songwriter Marshall Sehorn, he established his own recording studio called Sea-Saint Studio. There he worked with a succession of musicians including Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Patti LaBelle, Cocker and Elvis Costello.
“Having worked with him in New Orleans I know what a sweet and gentle guy he was and a massive songwriting talent,” said McCartney.
Toussaint had numerous hits — he penned the 1966 Lee Dorsey classic “Working in the Coal Mine” and produced Dr. John’s 1973 hit “Right Place, Wrong Time” and 1975’s “Lady Marmalade” by the vocal trio Labelle.
Like many New Orleanians, Toussaint couldn’t stay away from the Crescent City forever. Nearly eight years after Katrina, Toussaint returned permanently to the city of his birth and so much of his musical inspiration.
He is survived by two children.