Fernest Arceneaux born 27 August 1940

Fernest Arceneaux (August 27, 1940 – September 4, 2008) was a French speaking Creole Zydeco accordionist and singer from Louisiana.  A torch-bearer for the classic zydeco traditions personified by Clifton Chenier, Fernest Arceneaux earned the title "The New Prince of Accordion" for his virtuosic prowess. 

Born August 27, 1940 to a large sharecropping family based in Lafayette, Louisiana, he first picked up his brother-in-law's accordion while working the fields as a child, and learned his craft by copying his father, himself a rural musician whom the youngster often backed at local house parties. "My home was really popular back in the 50s because my sister, Mildred, made the finest home-brewed beer in those parts. Clifton [Chenier], Dopsie [Alton Rubin], and [Hiram] Sampy would come over all the time and sample her beverages and then serenade the neighbors," he said. 

Not long after his mother's death in 1952, Fernest made his professional debut at an area club. Fernest freely admitted that by the late 50s, it wasn't hip to be playing the "old fashioned songs" of his father, so he concentrated on the R&B; and rock and roll of the time, fronting, as guitarist, a combo which included two drummers. Somewhere along the line, this notorious booming backbeat of his earned him the moniker "Fernest and the Thunders" which thereafter stuck. 

Oddly enough, as much as he (and his outfit) was a big attraction during the 60s, he didn't record until the mid-70s and that was only at the behest of his hero Chenier. Fernest  returned to playing the accordion, and soon the Thunders made the move from rock to zydeco. Now riding the crest of zydeco's resurgence, he was approached by famed producer, the late J.D. Miller of Crowley, LA, who in 1970 founded the Blues Unlimited label after parting ways with Ernie Young's Excello of Nashville, with which he had had a lease agreement for the previous decade and a half. 

During Fernest & the Thunders nearly decade-long association with Blues Unlimited, the group released no less than eight singles, many of them reworked R&B; or soul classics like "Mustang Sally (#2007, 1976)," Earl King's "Lonely Lonely Nights (#2009, 1977)," King Karl's (Bernard Jollivette) "Irene (# 2008, 1977)," Fats Domino's "My Girl Josephine (#2011, 1978)," Little Richard's "Send Me Some Lovin' (#2023, 1982)," and "Zydeco Boogoloo  (#2017, 1981)." Fernest appropriated this latter rocker from Tom & Jerrio's (Robert Tharp and Jerry Murray) obscure 1965 gem, "Boo-Ga-Loo (ABC-Paramount # 10638)," and it became a sensation in the Southwest Louisiana region. Until his death, it still remained his signature song and calling card. 

                              

Although Fernest never became a household name in zydeco circles stateside, he was revered "across the pond" and, in fact, went abroad many times starting in 1978.  But it wasn't until the intercession of Belgian radio host Robert Sacre, a frequent visitor to Louisiana, that Fernest found success regularly entertaining Old World audiences. It was Sacre who introduced him to Rolf Schubert, noted Cologne, Germany-based impresario, who thereafter kept the group busy, crisscrossing the continent. 

Jockey reminisced recently about a brutal touring itinerary that brought the Thunders to all the major European capitals, including an appearance at the prestigious 1980 North Sea Jazz Festival (Fats Domino, Rockin' Dopsie, Carmen McRae, Clark Terry, and Dizzy Gillespie) then held at the Nederlands Congresgbouw in The Hague. 

The group also featuring singer/bassist Victor Walker, guitarist Chester Chevalier and drummer Clarence "Jockey" Etienne -- mounted the first of many European tours, and within months they recorded their debut LP Fernest and the Thunders; albums like 1979's Rockin' Pneumonia and 1981 Zydeco Stomp! followed, but shortly after recording the latter, Walker was killed in a barroom brawl. Arceneaux himself then assumed vocal duties, although as a result of asthma his presence failed to pack the same punch; still, the Thunders remained a popular live attraction, especially on the Gulf Coast crawfish circuit, and continued issuing LPs including 1985's Zydeco Thunder, 1987's Gumbo Special and 1994's Zydeco Blues Party. 

On the strength of Zydeco Blues Party, Fernest came out in a big way in 1994, a re-emergence which was marked especially by a West Coast swing, including well received engagements at the San Francisco Blues Festival, the Bay Area Cajun/Zydeco Festival, and the Ojai Bowlful of Blues. By 1995, he had performed at such noted venues as Tobacco Road in Miami, Mississippi Nights in St. Louis, Berri Blues in Montreal, and Tornado Alley in Wheaton, MD. In May of this same year, he returned to the U.S. after a triumphant appearance at the Byron Bay Blues Festival in Australia and by July he was on the slate of the Bucks County Blues Picnic in Pennsylvania. 

As late as a year before his death, Fernest was still fulfilling obligations to perform at such venues as El Sid O's club in Lafayette and Rock ÔN' Bowl in uptown New Orleans. He died from complications of diabetes on September 4, 2008 in Lafayette, LA. Age 68.

(Edited from AllMusic & Bluesworld.com)