Biography
The enduring recordings of Happy Fats have long helped safeguard and honor Cajun traditions in his home region, even after a run of racially charged protest discs tarnished his legacy during the height of the civil rights era. Leroy LeBlanc entered the world in Rayne, LA, on January 30, 1915, and picked up the accordion without formal instruction. At age 17 he launched his professional life by joining Cajun hillbilly ensembles fronted by Amédé Breaux and Joe Falcon.
Forming the Rayne-Bo Ramblers in 1935 gave him a steady platform; the group became a regular attraction at the local OST Club. RCA Victor offered a contract in 1936, and four years later Fats achieved his breakthrough with the hit single “La Veuve de la Coulee,” which introduced the still-obscure fiddler Harry Choates. The same band also propelled Cajun accordion legend Nathan Abshire toward wider recognition. Among his other well-known sides are “Colinda,” “La Vieux de Accordion,” and “Mon Bon Vieux Mari.” National exposure remained limited, yet he reigned as a local idol across south Louisiana and, in the early ’50s, hosted a weekday morning program on Lafayette’s KVOL.
National notoriety arrived from another direction in 1966 when he aligned with producer Jay D. Miller’s segregationist Reb Rebel imprint and cut the underground sensation “Dear Mr. President.” The spoken-word track denounced Lyndon Johnson’s civil rights agenda and moved more than 200,000 copies despite its overt racism. Fats later reflected, “We didn’t have any problems with that, not at all. There wasn’t anything violent about it—it was just a joke. I had a car of black people run me down on the highway one time coming in Lafayette, and they said, ‘Are you the fellow that made “Dear Mr. President”?’ I said I was, and they said, ‘We’d like to buy some records.’ They bought about 15 records. There was a big van full of black people and they loved it . . . Either side at that time, they didn’t want integration very much. They wanted to go each their own way.” Buoyed by that success, he continued with similarly inflammatory releases such as “Birthday Thank You (Tommy from Viet Nam),” “A Victim of the Big Mess (Called the Great Society),” “The Story of the Po’ Folks and the New Dealers,” and “Vote Wallace in ’72.” Diabetes ultimately claimed his life on February 23, 1988.
Forming the Rayne-Bo Ramblers in 1935 gave him a steady platform; the group became a regular attraction at the local OST Club. RCA Victor offered a contract in 1936, and four years later Fats achieved his breakthrough with the hit single “La Veuve de la Coulee,” which introduced the still-obscure fiddler Harry Choates. The same band also propelled Cajun accordion legend Nathan Abshire toward wider recognition. Among his other well-known sides are “Colinda,” “La Vieux de Accordion,” and “Mon Bon Vieux Mari.” National exposure remained limited, yet he reigned as a local idol across south Louisiana and, in the early ’50s, hosted a weekday morning program on Lafayette’s KVOL.
National notoriety arrived from another direction in 1966 when he aligned with producer Jay D. Miller’s segregationist Reb Rebel imprint and cut the underground sensation “Dear Mr. President.” The spoken-word track denounced Lyndon Johnson’s civil rights agenda and moved more than 200,000 copies despite its overt racism. Fats later reflected, “We didn’t have any problems with that, not at all. There wasn’t anything violent about it—it was just a joke. I had a car of black people run me down on the highway one time coming in Lafayette, and they said, ‘Are you the fellow that made “Dear Mr. President”?’ I said I was, and they said, ‘We’d like to buy some records.’ They bought about 15 records. There was a big van full of black people and they loved it . . . Either side at that time, they didn’t want integration very much. They wanted to go each their own way.” Buoyed by that success, he continued with similarly inflammatory releases such as “Birthday Thank You (Tommy from Viet Nam),” “A Victim of the Big Mess (Called the Great Society),” “The Story of the Po’ Folks and the New Dealers,” and “Vote Wallace in ’72.” Diabetes ultimately claimed his life on February 23, 1988.