Stanley Dural Jr., 68, of Buckwheat Zydeco . By Rebecca Santana
Associated Press . NEW ORLEANS - Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr., who
rose from a cotton-picking family in southwest Louisiana to introduce
zydeco music to the world through his namesake band Buckwheat Zydeco
died Saturday morning. He was 68. Ted Fox, his longtime manager, said
Mr. Dural had lung cancer. The musician and accordionist was "one of
the world's true genius musicians, a completely natural musician who
could just fit in in any scenario," Fox said. The music was well known
across southwest Louisiana, where people would often drive for miles to
small dance halls where zydeco bands featuring an accordion and a
washboard would rock the crowds for hours. But Mr. Dural took zydeco
music mainstream, launching a major-label album - the Grammy-nominated
"On a Night Like This" - with Island Records in 1987. He went on to jam
with musical greats like Eric Clapton, play at Bill Clinton's
presidential inauguration, and perform at the 1996 Olympics closing
ceremony in Atlanta. He jammed with Jimmy Fallon on the final episode
of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Fallon played the guitar backed up by
the Roots while Buckwheat Zydeco rocked the accordion. (Mr. Dural got
his nickname because he had braided hair when he was younger that
resembled Buckwheat's from "The Little Rascals" television show.) Born
Nov. 14, 1947, in Lafayette, La., Mr. Dural was one of 13 children. His
father played the accordion, but Mr. Dural preferred listening to and
playing rhythm & blues and learned to play the organ, his obituary
said. By the late 1950s, he was backing up musicians and eventually
formed his own band. It wasn't until 1978, though, that he took up the
accordion so closely associated with zydeco music and later formed his
own band, the obituary said. It was the 1987 Island Records five-record
deal that eventually brought Mr. Dural to a wider audience, and he went
on to tour with Clapton and record with artists such as Ry Cooper, Paul
Simon, Dwight Yoakam, and Willie Nelson. Fox called him an
"old-fashioned showbiz professional" who was always focused on giving
the audience - regardless of either they were eight or 80,000-strong -
a good time. "He had this incredible charisma both onstage and
personally," he said. "He was a real genuine person. To the end of his
days with all the stuff that he'd done, all the awards, he was still
the same Stanley Dural Jr. who was picking cotton when he was 5 years
old. Mr. Dural leaves his wife, Bernite, and five children. Fox said
Mr. Dural's daughter, Tomorrow, has created a fund-raising campaign to
help with medical and other expenses.
