Buckwheat Zydeco | |
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![]() Buckwheat Zydeco playing on the main stage at the 2006 Festival International de Louisiane | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Stanley Dural Jr. |
Also known as | Buckwheat Zydeco |
Born | Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S. | November 14, 1947
Died | September 24, 2016 Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S. | (aged 68)
Genres | |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, accordion |
Years active | 1971–2016 |
Labels | Alligator Records Tomorrow Recordings Rounder Island/PolyGram Charisma/Virgin/EMI |
Website | www.buckwheatzydeco.com |
Stanley Dural Jr. (November 14, 1947 – September 24, 2016),[1][2] better known by his stage name Buckwheat Zydeco, was an American accordionist and zydeco musician. He was one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success. His music group was formally billed as Buckwheat Zydeco and Ils Sont Partis Band[3] ("Ils Sont Partis" being French for "They have left," or a race announcer's "And they're off!"[4]), but they often performed as merely Buckwheat Zydeco.
The New York Times said: "Stanley 'Buckwheat' Dural leads one of the best bands in America. A down-home and high-powered celebration, meaty and muscular with a fine-tuned sense of dynamics…propulsive rhythms, incendiary performances."[5] USA Today called him "a zydeco trailblazer."[6] Buckwheat Zydeco performed with famous musicians such as Eric Clapton (with whom he also recorded), U2 and the Boston Pops. The band performed at the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics to a worldwide audience of three billion people. Buckwheat performed for President Clinton twice, celebrating both of his inaugurations.[4] The band appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, CNN, The Today Show, MTV, NBC News, CBS Morning News, National Public Radio's Mountain Stage, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.