Biography

He was blinded by glaucoma in infancy. He attended the Louisiana State School for the Blind in Baton Rouge (now the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired), where he studied piano, drums, and trombone. He learned to read classical music in Braille notation. He attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, majoring in voice and minoring in piano. He earned a master's degree in music at Michigan State University.

Flooding from Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home, including his piano, recording equipment, some album master tapes, and his archive of live recordings and Braille music manuscripts.

At age 14, he began playing professionally at dances and clubs. He performed at the first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival in 1970, and appeared at nearly every JazzFest afterward. After receiving his master's degree, he returned to New Orleans and taught in the vocal program at the Performing Arts High School of the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. In 1980, he moved to Los Angeles, where he began recording as a mainstream jazz musician. He eventually expanded his music to include New Orleans funk, R&B and blues.