James Floyd Soileau (born November 2, 1938) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Biography

Soileau was born in Faubourg, a small community between

Ville Platte Ville Platte is the largest city in, and the parish seat of, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 7,430 at the 2010 census, down from 8,145 in 2000. The city's name is of French origin, roughly translating to "flat town ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. He grew up speaking

Cajun French Louisiana French ( frc, français de la Louisiane; lou, françé la lwizyàn) is an umbrella term for the dialects and varieties of the French language spoken traditionally by French Louisianians in colonial Lower Louisiana. As of today Louis ...

and did not speak English until attending school at the age of 6 years. In his junior year of high school, he did an afternoon

Cajun music Cajun music (french: Musique cadienne), an emblematic music of Louisiana played by the Cajuns, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Although they are two separate genres, Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem w ...

show as a part-time job with KVPI radio in Ville Platte. After graduating from Ville Platte High School in 1956, he opened a small record store, Floyd's Record Shop and discovered that although people were still interested in them,

records were no longer being produced. With the financial help of a friend, Ed Manuel (a

juke box A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...

operator from

Mamou, Louisiana Mamou is a town in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,242 at the 2010 census, down from 3,566 in 2000. Geography Mamou is located in south-central Evangeline Parish at (30.634033, −92.418913). Louisiana Highway ...

), who wanted new French records for his juke boxes, Floyd released his first record on the Big Mamou label by artists

Austin Pitre Austin Pitre (February 23, 1918 - April 8, 1981) was born in Ville Platte, Louisiana. A Cajun music pioneer, Pitre claimed to be the first musician to play the accordion standing up, rather than sitting down. Along with his band, the Evangeline ...

and

Milton Molitor Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

. In 1957

Lawrence Walker Lawrence Walker (September 1, 1907 – August 15, 1968) was a Cajun accordionist. He is known for his original songs, including Reno Waltz, Evangeline Waltz, Bosco Stomp, and Mamou Two Step. Biography Lawrence Walker was born September 1, 1907 ...

and

Aldus Roger Aldus Roger (February 10, 1915 – April 4, 1999) was an American Cajun accordion player in southwest Louisiana, best known for his accordion skills, and television music program. Early life Aldus Roger was born in Carencro, Louisiana and learned ...

helped Floyd launch his own label, Swallow Records. Over the past 40 years, Swallow Records has released 265 45rpm single records and 151

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s of Cajun French music, including recordings by

Adam Hebert Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

Belton Richard Belton Richard (October 5, 1939 – June 21, 2017) was an American Cajun accordionist and vocalist known for his baritone vocal range. Biography Richard was born in Rayne, Louisiana, in 1939. He began to play the accordion when he was seven, an ...

, Dewey Balfa and the Balfa Brothers,

Nathan Abshire Nathan Abshire (June 27, 1913 – May 13, 1981) was an American Cajun accordion player. His time in the U.S. Army inspired Abshire to write the crooner song "Service Blues", which the newspaper Daily World reported as "one of his most memorable ...

, Jambalaya Cajun Band, Paul Daigle & Cajun Gold, D.L. Menard, and many more, plus recordings by the Cajun French story teller, Marion Marcotte. 1958 saw the beginning of Jin Records with artists such as Clint West,

Tommy McLain Tommy McLain (born March 15, 1940) is an American swamp pop musician, best known as a singer but who also plays keyboards, drums, bass guitar, and fiddle. Career McLain first began performing in the 1950s, along with country singer Clint West ...

the Boogie Kings The Boogie Kings (also known as The Fabulous Boogie Kings) are an American Cajun swamp pop and blue-eyed soul group. History The band formed in Eunice, Louisiana in 1955 consisting of teenaged members Doug Ardoin, Skip Morris, Bert Miller and ...

, Lil' Bob & The Lollipops,

Warren Storm Warren Storm (February 18, 1937 – September 7, 2021) was an American drummer and vocalist, known as a pioneer of the musical genre swamp pop; a combination of rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun music and black Creole music. Ba ...

, Skip Stewart,

Rockin' Sidney Sidney Simien (April 9, 1938 – February 25, 1998), known professionally as Rockin' Sidney, was an American R&B, zydeco, and soul musician who began recording in the late 1950s and continued performing until his death. He is best known for his ...

Rod Bernard Rod Bernard () was an American singing, singer who helped to pioneer the musical genre known as "swamp pop", which combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun and black Louisiana Creole people, Creole music. He ...

, Johnny Allan and others making significant contributions to what was the, then, controversial

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 ...

music. In 1975 he established his

Maison de Soul Maison de Soul is a Louisiana-based Zydeco and blues record label. It was founded in 1974 in Ville Platte, Louisiana by Floyd Soileau and remains under his ownership. It is one of four record labels under Soileau's Flat Town Music Company umbr ...

record label, devoted to Creole and

Zydeco Zydeco ( or , french: Zarico) is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana. Al ...

music, including artists such as

Clifton Chenier Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), was an American Creole musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music which arose from Creole music, with rhythm and blues, R&B, blues, and Cajun music, Cajun influences. He sang a ...

Rockin' Dopsie Alton Jay Rubin (February 10, 1932 – August 26, 1993), who performed as Rockin' Dopsie (sometimes Rockin' Dupsee), was an American zydeco singer and accordion player who enjoyed popular success first in Europe and later in the United States. ...

Keith Frank Keith Frank is an American zydeco musician from Louisiana, United States. Frank started his band, The Soileau Zydeco Band, in 1990 and is active as of 2016. He is the son of accordion player Preston Frank. Frank records on Soulwood Records. ...

Chris Ardoin Chris Ardoin (born April 7, 1981 in Lake Charles, LouisianaChris and Sean Ardoin Interview, Blues & Soul Records Magazine No. 53, 2003) is a zydeco accordionist and singer. He is one of the young artists that helped form nouveau zydeco, a new st ...

, Zydeco Force, Jeffery Brousard, and others. He has always encouraged his artists to compose new songs to record, and his Flat Town Music Company now publishes over 2800 songs, a majority of which are Cajun, swamp pop, and zydeco songs. His Swallow Publications has published two books on the Cajun French language, ''Cajun Dictionary'' and ''Cajun Self-taught'', both by Rev. Jules Daigle, and Jeff Hannusch's ''I Hear You Knockin, the story of early

New Orleans rhythm and blues New Orleans rhythm and blues is a style of rhythm and blues that originated in New Orleans. It was a direct precursor to rock and roll and strongly influenced ska. Instrumentation typically includes drums, bass, piano, horns, electric guitar, and ...

. He operated Swallow Recording Studios in Ville Platte for over 15 years, and sold his last studio in 1975 to Ronnie Kole, who moved the studio to

Slidell, Louisiana Slidell is a city on the northeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 28,781 at the 2020 census. It is part of the New Orleans− Metairie−Kenner metropolitan statistical area. Hist ...

. That year he opened a vinyl record pressing plant and printing company for

LP record The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

jackets and labels, the only such facility in Louisiana. The plant closed in 1994. Eventually, the store would close but the online mail order business still continues. In 1959, he married his high school sweetheart Jinver Ortego. They have three daughters, Catherine, Connie and Cindy, and one son, Christopher. Floyd was inducted into the Acadian Museum in Louisiana on October 19, 2002.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soileau, Floyd 1938 births Living people Record producers from Louisiana Cajun people Swamp pop music People from Ville Platte, Louisiana