C.J. Chenier

The son of late zydeco music pioneer Clifton Chenier, C.J. Chenier (born Clayton Joseph Chenier) has been dubbed "the crown prince of zydeco." Since inheriting leadership of his father's group, the Red Hot Louisiana Band, Chenier has continued to pay tribute to his father's sound and to expand the zydeco tradition. Chenier's interests in zydeco were sparked in his early twenties. Although he studied piano in the third grade, switched to the saxophone a year later, and received a scholarship to study music at Texas Southern University, he was drawn to the funky sounds of R&B an...