Biography
Named after a creole sauce, the ensemble formed while functioning as the resident rhythm section at Studio in the County, a key recording facility situated in Bogalusa, Louisiana. Leon Medica, employed there as a staff producer, played bass, Rod Roddy handled keyboards, Bobby Campo covered flute and horn, David Peters sat behind the drums, and Jeff Pollard fronted the lineup on guitar. The musicians provided backing for regional figures including Clifton Chenier and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. The five-piece soon hit the road billed as the Jeff Pollard Band. After securing a deal with Capitol in 1977, the act adopted the name Louisiana's Le Roux, with guitarist Tony Haselden added prior to the early-1978 release of their self-titled debut. "New Orleans Ladies" attracted notice and paved the way for Keep the Fire Burnin' and the Jai Winding-produced UP. The musicians maintained a busy touring schedule and appear on Charlie Daniels' Volunteer Jam VI. Louisiana's Le Roux also performed on The Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. In 1981 the group shortened its name and moved to RCA. The label debut Last Safe Place delivered refined album rock that earned modest radio exposure. "Addicted" received MTV airplay, and the band appeared on Solid Gold. Pollard and Campo subsequently departed, the former to launch a Christian ministry, clearing space for Baton Rouge native Jim Odom on lead guitar. Odom had studied at Berklee on a Down Beat scholarship and earlier assembled Asia, conferring with the eventual supergroup before they adopted the title. Rock vocalist Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen exited the Chicago pomp band Trillion to front So Fired Up, whose minor hit "Carrie's Gone" recounts Frederiksen's relationship with Carol Burnett's daughter. Stripped of all R&B origins and later viewed as a classic by numerous AOR devotees, So Fired Up failed to keep RCA from dropping Le Roux. Frederiksen promptly joined Toto. Medica and Haselden next concentrated on songwriting. Several original members reconvened in the 1990s for the retrospective collection Bayou Degradable.
Albums
