Rod Bernard born 12 August 1940

Rod Bernard (August 12, 1940 – July 12, 2020) was an American singer who helped to pioneer the musical genre known as "swamp pop", which combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun and black Creole music. 

The Blue Room Gang

Born into a Cajun family of French-Catholic heritage in Opelousas, Rodney Ronald Louis Bernard learned to play guitar, sing, and yodel as a child, according to a statement from his family. When he was 10 years old, he joined the Cajun/country-and-western group The Blue Room Gang, which performed live on KSLO radio in Opelousas. He toured with the ensemble outside Louisiana, visiting the Grand Ole Opry, and it was during this tour, around 1950, that Bernard recorded his first song, Hank Williams' “Jambalaya.” 

As a teenager, Bernard and his friends began playing rock ’n’ roll, calling themselves Rod Bernard and the Twisters. They recorded a few original songs on the Carl label of Opelousas and in 1958 covered King Karl & Guitar Gable’s song “This Should Go On Forever.” Issued on the new Jin label of Ville Platte, Bernard’s version of the swamp pop ballad became popular along the Gulf Coast. 

In response to its growing sales, Jin soon licensed the track to the Chess label of Chicago, which, with its sister labels Checker and Argo, handled artists such as Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, and Clarence “Frogman” Henry. On Argo, Bernard’s recording hit nationally, propelling the Louisiana teen onto Alan Freed’s rock ‘n’ roll show, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, and concerts and tours with Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, B. B. King, Duane Eddy, Roy Orbison, and Frankie Avalon, among others. 

This early momentum was interrupted when his second single failed to chart. When he moved labels to Mercury they tried to make him a teen idol , but after recording over 40 songs for the label, Bernard watched as only four sides were released. One of them, "One More Chance," made it to the pop charts as a minor hit. By 1962, Bernard's Mercury contract had run out. He began working for Hall-Way Records, where he was able to return to his own sound.

                              

He would go on to release many regional hits that became swamp pop classics. These include “Congratulations To You Darling,” “Forgive,” “Loneliness,” “Fais Do-Do,” and his own bilingual version of the Cajun classic “Colinda.” Many of his sessions were backed by Johnny and Edgar Winter. 

In 1962 he formed the Shondells with Warren Storm and Skip Stewart. The Shondells released several singles and the album ‘The Shondells at the Saturday Hop’ for LA Louisianne Records based in Lafayette. At the same time, Bernard continued to release solo singles such as ‘Congratulations To You Darling’ and ‘Papa Thibodeaux’ on a variety of labels. 

In addition to his music career, Bernard worked in radio and television for his entire life. He landed his first radio program on KSLO around age 10, and for many years in the 1960s he deejayed, sold airtime, and served as a program director at KVOL radio in Lafayette.  

Around 1970, Bernard switched to a career in television and for nearly 30 years worked as an advertising executive and on-air talent for Lafayette’s KLFY-TV 10. He did little recording or touring releasing only a few country albums in the ‘70s, until 1976’s ‘Boogie In Black and White’, with zydeco star Clifton Chenier. The album is considered a masterpiece by those in the know due to its mix of black and white musical traditions.  He released his final album, ‘The Louisiana Tradition’, which stayed true to his Cajun, country and R&B roots in 1999. 

For decades he appeared in television commercials and often guest-hosted the channel’s long-popular Passe Partout and Meet Your Neighbour programs. He retired in 2018 from the Acadiana Broadcasting Group. In his personal time Bernard enjoyed watching classic westerns, barbequing, cooking chicken and sausage gumbo, and listening to country and western, blues, and rhythm and blues music. He also loved to spend time with his family, especially his three grandchildren. In 2010 Bernard celebrated his 70th birthday by parachuting from an airplane — telling his family only after he returned from the jump. 

Bernard proudly served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1962 to 1968, attaining the rank of sergeant. He was later active in the Lafayette-area Marine Corps League until declining health prevented him from doing so. He died July 12, 2020 in New Iberia, Louisiana, USA after a short illness. 

(Edited from The Acadiana Advocate & Americana UK obits and AllMusic)