Van Broussard born 29 March 1937

Van Broussard (March 29, 1937 - November 17, 2020) was an American swamp pop musician from Louisiana. 

Van Buren Broussard Jr. was born in Prairieville, Louisiana. The oldest of 12 siblings, Broussard grew up in a musical family. Several of his relatives were well-known Cajun musicians in the area, and his great-grandfather Sydney Babin played fiddle in the house band for the popular country radio show the Louisiana Hayride. When he was ten years old, Broussard struck up a friendship with a guitarist named Pete Franklin, and the youngster set out to learn as many of his tricks as possible, sometimes riding the family's horse out to his home. 

At the age of 15, Broussard landed a gig playing guitar with the Garson Gautreaux Dixieland Band, and he played regularly with them for several years until one night, someone at a show asked them to play some Elvis Presley tunes. Broussard was the only one to take up the challenge, and he started focusing his energies on rock & roll and honing his skills as a vocalist. In 1957, he suffered a severe auto accident that nearly cost him a leg. This sidelined him for two years, but once he recovered, he assembled a new band and began performing, sometimes sharing the vocal mike with his sister, Grace Broussard. 

In 1960, Van & Grace Broussard released their debut single, "Feel So Good" b/w "Young Girls," and the following year, Van cut a solo effort, "I Can't Complain" b/w "Winter Wind." Grace would enjoy greater success with singer and pianist Dale Houston; as Dale & Grace, they would top the pop charts in 1963 with the song "I'm Leaving It All Up to You." Van didn't enjoy the same sort of breakthrough, but his 1968 single "Feed the Flame" got a national release on the Bell-distributed Mala label, and in addition to becoming a smash in Louisiana, it broke into the nationwide Top 200, peaking at number 49. 

                                  

In 1974, Van Broussard recorded I Need Somebody Bad (also a song recorded by Warren Storm) which became a local hit. His record label, Bayou Boogie took the opportunity to publish – finally, after 20 years of his career – his first album, in 1977, simply titled Van Broussard. Seeking to capitalize on this success, A second album was released in 1978, ”More Bayou Boogie! During 1981 Van participated in the "South Louisiana Music All-Star Show" concert organized by Johnnie Allan in Thibodaux, with his sister Grace. It continued throughout the 1980s at recording and performing with his band, Le Bayou Boogie Band, with or without his sister.

 Although mainly known for his expansive music career, Van was also accomplished in many other areas. He served his country as a member of the National Guard. He worked as a crane operator for nearly 25 years, spending most of that career at Vulcan Chemicals. He was a skilled mechanic and spent years performing custom modifications to a 1968 Hemi Barracuda, which he named ""Papa Cuda"". In 1978, with that car, he earned the national drag racing record, clocking in at 141 mph and 9.62 in the quarter mile. 

While Broussard was offered the opportunity to sign with a big label and take a serious shot at stardom, he admitted he preferred playing dances to concerts and was wary of the commitments that would come with touring and recording for a large corporation. His long career includes releases for a number of different labels, among them CSP, Red Stick, Rex, and Bayou Boogie. During his later years, Broussard put out more than half a dozen albums with CSP, amassing approximately 100 recorded songs for that label alone. Singles like "I'll Pay the Cost," and "I Need Somebody Bad," were often heard on radio and jukeboxes in the South. The Louisiana Hall of Fame inducted the artist in 1997. 

Van Broussard never broke out to national stardom, but he was a hero and a legend in his native Louisiana, where his blend of rhythm & blues, rock & roll, and Cajun music was eagerly embraced by fans of the regional genre known as "swamp pop." Broussard had a strong, flexible voice that was well suited to the vintage soul and rock numbers that were the staples of his catalog, and backed by a band enriched with horns and keyboards, his sound was warm while spirited enough to fill the dance floor even during slow ballads. 

Broussard and his group, the Bayou Boogie Band, were a popular live attraction in Louisiana and the surrounding states well into the 2010s. After years of living with cardiac disease, Van Broussard died on November 17, 2020 at his home in Prairieville. He was 83 years old.

(Edited from AllMusic, The Advocate obit, Monola & WABF9)