Musician Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr., who rose from a cotton-picking family in southwest Louisiana to introduce zydeco music to the world through his band and stage name Buckwheat Zydeco, has died. He gained fame by introducing zydeco music of southwest Louisiana to the world. Zydeco music was well known across southwest Louisiana where people would often drive for miles to small dancehalls where zydeco bands featuring an accordion and a washboard would rock the crowds for hours. Took zydeco mainstreamBut Dural took zydeco music mainstream, launching a major-label album — the Grammy-nominated On a Night Like This — with Island Records in 1987. Paul Simon, left, performs with Buckwheat Zydeco in New Orleans in 2006.

Source: CBC News September 24, 2016 19:41 UTC