Rod Bernard facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rod Bernard
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Rod Bernard, La Louisianne Studio, Lafayette, La., ca. 1999.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Rodney Ronald Louis Bernard |
| Born | August 12, 1940 |
| Origin | Opelousas, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | July 12, 2020 (aged 79) New Iberia, Louisiana, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1958–2020 |
| Labels | Carl, Jin, Argo, Crazy Cajun, La Louisianne, Arbee, CSP, etc. |
| Associated acts | The Twisters, The Shondells, Warren Storm |
Rod Bernard (August 12, 1940 – July 12, 2020) was an American singer. He helped create a music style called "swamp pop." This style mixed different types of music. It combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country music, and Cajun and black Creole music from Louisiana. Rod Bernard is known as one of the most important musicians of this unique sound. Other famous swamp pop artists include Bobby Charles, Johnnie Allan, Tommy McLain, and Warren Storm.
Life and Music Career
Rod Bernard was born in Opelousas, Louisiana. His parents were French-speaking Cajuns. They came from working-class families. As a child, he loved the traditional Cajun French music. He heard it in his grandfather's dancehall, the Courtableau Inn. This place was in Port Barre. There, he listened to famous Cajun musicians like Aldus Roger and Papa Cairo. He also heard zydeco music from Clifton Chenier. All these artists greatly influenced Rod's music.
Around age eight, Rod got his first guitar. It was an acoustic Gene Autry model. Around 1950, he started playing with a group called the Blue Room Gang. They played Cajun-country music, which was like "Cajun swing." This group was sponsored by a local sweet potato brand. During this time, Rod also had his own live music radio show. It was on KSLO in Opelousas. He would sing Cajun and country songs while playing his guitar. He wanted to be like his music hero, Hank Williams, Sr..
In the mid-1950s, Rod Bernard started listening to rock and roll and rhythm and blues music. He especially liked the sounds of Fats Domino and Elvis Presley. Around 1957, he helped start a rock 'n' roll band. It was made up of other teenagers from Opelousas. They called themselves The Twisters. They recorded two songs for a small record label called Carl.
The next year, Rod and his band recorded a slow, emotional song called "This Should Go On Forever." They recorded it for Jin, a record label in Ville Platte, Louisiana. The song was then released by Argo Records in Chicago. It became a national hit in 1959. This success led Rod Bernard to appear on popular TV shows. These included Dick Clark's American Bandstand and The Alan Freed Show. He also went on tours with famous musicians. These included Jerry Lee Lewis, Frankie Avalon, Chuck Berry, and B. B. King.
Rod released another song for Argo, "You're On My Mind." But it did not become as popular as "This Should Go On Forever." In late 1959, Rod signed with producer Bill Hall. Bill Hall moved Rod to Mercury Records. This label tried to change Rod's swamp pop style. They added violins and female singers. Only one small hit came from these recordings, called "One More Chance."
Around 1962, Rod left Mercury Records. He joined Bill Hall's own Hall-Way label. He recorded with local artists Johnny Winter and Edgar Winter. He released several well-known songs. These included "Fais Do Do" and "Who's Gonna Rock My Baby." He also made a rock 'n' roll version of the Cajun folk song "Allons Danser Colinda." This song was played on radios across the country. It is still a favorite in south Louisiana and east Texas.
Rod's music career was paused when he joined the U.S. Marine Corps for boot camp. After a few months, he came back to south Louisiana. He formed a new band called The Shondells. This was with fellow swamp pop musicians Warren Storm and Skip Stewart. (Rod served in the Marine Corps Reserve from 1962 to 1968. He became a sergeant.) In the mid-1960s, the group recorded songs for the La Louisianne label. They also hosted a live dance show on KLFY-TV called "Saturday Hop." This show inspired their album, The Shondells at the Saturday Hop.
During this time, Rod also recorded songs for other labels. These included Teardrop, Copyright, and Jin. He also released songs on Scepter and SSS International labels. These recordings included songs like "Recorded in England" and "Papa Thibodeaux." He also released the sad song "Congratulations To You Darling."
Rod Bernard did not perform much in the 1970s. But he later returned to his musical roots. He released several country music albums. These included Country Lovin and Nightlights And Love Songs. He also released an album called Boogie in Black and White with Clifton Chenier. Many people think this album was very important. It mixed Cajun and black Creole music in a lively way. One music writer called it "a wild and woolly rock 'n' roll set." Another said it inspired other mixed music styles.
Around 1980, he recorded an album of Fats Domino songs. It was called A Lot of Dominoes. But the recordings disappeared for a while. They were finally released in 1991. In 2003, he recorded his first new album in over 20 years. It was called Louisiana Tradition. This album had new songs. It also had new versions of old south Louisiana tunes. One was "Later Alligator" by fellow swamp pop musician Bobby Charles.
In 2006, Rod Bernard re-recorded his song "A Tear In The Lady's Eye." He first wrote this song in 1968. It was a patriotic song that supported the military. The "Lady" in the song is the Statue of Liberty. In the new version, Rod sang about Americans who were against the war in Iraq. He paid to make some CD singles of this new version. He gave them to radio stations, mostly in south Louisiana.
Many of Rod Bernard's songs have been re-released. They are still played often on the radio in his home region. Younger musicians from south Louisiana look up to him. These include C. C. Adcock, Marc Broussard, and Zachary Richard. They have said he was a big musical influence on them.
Rod Bernard last performed in public in 2015. This was at the Ponderosa Stomp music festival in New Orleans. He retired from his job as a radio advertising executive in January 2018.
On July 12, 2020, Rod Bernard's son announced that his father had passed away. Rod was 79 years old.
Images for kids
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Label of "This Should Go On Forever", Argo records, 1959.
