Luther Kent

Luther Kent -- also sometimes known as Big Luther Kent or Amos Kent, and as Duke Royal -- had been a fixture on the New Orleans music scene since the mid-'60s. Born Kent Rowell in New Orleans in 1948, he came from a heavily musical household; his whole family played and sang music together, and his older brother was a member of Stark Whiteman & the Crowns, who often rehearsed in the Rowell home. He began playing piano and drums at an early age, although he initially had no aspirations as a singer. That changed in 1961 when he was entered into a school talent show and won the c...