Biography
Shelton Dunaway served as tenor saxophonist and joint lead singer for the swamp pop outfit Cookie And The Cupcakes, thereby helping shape the formative years of Louisiana-style rhythm and blues. His voice propelled the group’s 1959 single “Mathilda” onto the Billboard top fifty. Throughout the following decade he remained prominent on regional successes such as “Belinda,” “Betty And Dupree” and “Got You On My Mind.”
Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Dunaway first performed alongside musicians who would later form Cookie And The Cupcakes when they served as the house band at the Moulin Rouge Club in his hometown. Under the name Shelton Dunaway and His Boogie Ramblers, the ensemble entered a studio for the first time in 1955.
The breakthrough of “Mathilda” proved entirely unforeseen. After an initial session in Houston, the track was recut at a Lake Charles radio-station facility. Although the musicians cut the number for Eddie Shuler’s Goldband imprint, Shuler never offered them a formal agreement. By the moment he recognized the oversight, the song was already receiving airplay across the country.
Dunaway returned to the studio for the last time in 1985, joining forces with Little Alfred, a singer who had performed with the Cupcakes since the 1960s and had briefly fronted a reconstituted lineup billed as Little Alfred And The Cupcakes. Although the original ensemble dissolved in the early 1970s, Dunaway has appeared at occasional reunion shows with the Cupcakes. In January 1995 he received induction into the Music Hall of Fame at the Museum of the Gulf Coast.
Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Dunaway first performed alongside musicians who would later form Cookie And The Cupcakes when they served as the house band at the Moulin Rouge Club in his hometown. Under the name Shelton Dunaway and His Boogie Ramblers, the ensemble entered a studio for the first time in 1955.
The breakthrough of “Mathilda” proved entirely unforeseen. After an initial session in Houston, the track was recut at a Lake Charles radio-station facility. Although the musicians cut the number for Eddie Shuler’s Goldband imprint, Shuler never offered them a formal agreement. By the moment he recognized the oversight, the song was already receiving airplay across the country.
Dunaway returned to the studio for the last time in 1985, joining forces with Little Alfred, a singer who had performed with the Cupcakes since the 1960s and had briefly fronted a reconstituted lineup billed as Little Alfred And The Cupcakes. Although the original ensemble dissolved in the early 1970s, Dunaway has appeared at occasional reunion shows with the Cupcakes. In January 1995 he received induction into the Music Hall of Fame at the Museum of the Gulf Coast.