When the Rolling Stones covered “Fortune Teller“, Toussaint joked: “I was so glad when the Stones recorded my song – I knew they would know how to roll it all the way to the bank”.
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He produced top ten hits for Labelle, Dr. John and Lee Dorsey, while his arranging skills were put to use by everyone from Joe Cocker to Paul McCartney.
“He was never one to yell at anybody, even when he was in the studio, and you could see he was getting upset and he wouldn’t yell”, Thomas said.
Toussaint is survived by his two children, son Clarence, and daughter Alison, as well as many grandchildren.
Toussaint recorded several albums of his own in the 1970s.
“You just look back on what his contributions have been to the music of New Orleans, the music of the world”, WWOZ Program Director Dwayne Breashears said. He then worked for the Minit label in New Orleans, multi-tasking as a songwriter, arranger, musician.
“He brought the New Orleans sound to the national stage, and it remains a vital and ongoing part of our musical heritage to this day”, reads his biography at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1998.
Allen Toussaint was a stylish and elegant man, from his demeanor and attire to his chord changes and melodies, all awash in tradition and guaranteed to tug on heartstrings.
Toussaint suffered a heart attack after a performance in Madrid, El Mundo newspaper reports. “He said ‘Now’s the time I need to do this, ‘” she said. As America attempted to at once mourn the tragedy and make sense of the botched response, Toussaint emerged as a central figure, someone whose life and career pointed to just how much New Orleans had given over the years and how much it had recently lost. He was expected to perform a benefit concert along with longtime friend Paul Simon in New Orleans on December 8.
A lifelong New Orleans resident, the songwriter and pianist reluctantly fled in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, temporarily relocating to NY. I saw him get off the tiny elevator on the stage level of the theater, and the pain and sadness was writ large on his face. In 2013 he was awarded the NATIONAL HUMANITIES MEDAL by PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA at a ceremony in WASHINGTON, DC. During the 1970s, Toussaint wrote tunes for a wide variety of artists and also relaunched his solo career.
Mr. Toussaint’s inspiration, he often said, was New Orleans itself, and over the years he became an unofficial ambassador for the city, where for decades he maintained a modest home in a middle-class neighborhood.
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“They’ll have a jam session and St. Peter will say, ‘I tell you we haven’t had a class act like you come here in a long time, ‘ especially not from the music world”, Kole joked. But those who knew Toussaint recall a kind and gentle personality that defined him as concretely as his musical genius.
