Elton Anderson was an American singer and

swamp pop Swamp pop is a music genre indigenous to the Acadiana region of south Louisiana and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s by young Cajuns and Creoles, it combines New Orleans–style rhythm and blues, country and western ...

pioneer who had a chart hit on

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

. From 1956 to 1957 Anderson was the featured vocalist of the Sid Lawrence Band while that band was the house band at The Southern Club, an

Opelousas, Louisiana :''Opelousas is also a common name of the flathead catfish.'' Opelousas (french: Les Opélousas; Spanish: ''Los Opeluzás'') is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 were ...

establishment which held a central place in establishing swamp pop as a genre. Managed by Wayne Shuler,

Eddie Shuler Goldband Records is an American record label based in Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on ...

's son, Anderson had a regional hit on the Vin label in 1959 with "Shed So Many Tears". A subsequent 1960 recording for Vin entitled "Secret of Love" b/w "Cool Down Baby" was leased to Mercury. Backed by the Sid Lawrence Combo, this single appeared on the national ''Billboard'' charts for four weeks beginning January 25, 1960, peaking at #88. A week after appearing on the pop charts, it appeared on the R&B charts, reaching #22 but only appearing for three weeks. A follow-up single entitled "Please Accept My Love" composed by Jimmy Wilson performed poorly, and Anderson was dropped by Mercury. In 1962 his recording "Life Problem" was originally issued on Lee Lavergne's

Lanor Records Lanor Records is an American record label based in the bayou region of Louisiana. It is known for its issues of Cajun and zydeco music. Lee Lavergne began to record musicians local to his home in Church Point, Louisiana after he was returned from ...

, but was leased to

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

for national exposure. Billboard reviewed the single positively as a "salty rock ballad." Capitol released one more Elton Anderson single before dropping him because of poor sales, although Shuler felt Capitol's promotion of Anderson's records was unsatisfactory. After Capitol quit him, Shuler and Lavergne released additional Elton Anderson material on Lanor, but soon after this Anderson left Shuler's management and relocated to California. Anderson was also a songwriter, and had at least one of his songs recorded by

Lonnie Brooks Lonnie Brooks (born Lee Baker Jr., December 18, 1933 – April 1, 2017) was an American blues singer and guitarist. The musicologist Robert Palmer, writing in ''Rolling Stone'', stated, "His music is witty, soulful and ferociously energetic, br ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Elton Swamp pop music Place of birth missing Year of birth missing Year of death missing American male singers