Their 1978 Capitol press release read: "LeRoux takes its name from
the Cajun French term for the thick and hearty gravy base that's
used to make gumbo." Louisiana's LeRoux (the first album)
was a musical gumbo that blended various instruments and arrangements
for some spicy, mouth-watering pop rock. Using blues, R&B, funk,
jazz, rock, and Cajun as their base, their Southern anthem "New
Orleans Ladies," voted Song Of The Century by Gambit Magazine, simmered
with the laid-back feel of the "Big Easy," evoking images of Bourbon
Street and the Bayou. That song, together with their smash hit "Nobody
Said It Was Easy," brings LeRoux daily airplay from DC to Baton
Rouge, and they remain cult heroes to this day.
The act began to gel in 1975 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
as the Jeff Pollard Band. They came into their own in '77, touring
the United States and Africa with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown through
an arrangement with the US State Department. The group's big break
came when Leon Medica, the band's producer, presented a demo tape
to Paul Tannen at Screen Gems-EMI while doing a session in Nashville
and making trips to Colorado to contribute bass parts to a Dirt
Band Album at William McEuen's Aspen Recording Society Studios.
McEuen, Tanney and Attorney John Frankenheimer helped
Medica secure a recording contract with Capitol Records. Renamed
"Louisiana's LeRoux," they recorded two albums, produced by Medica,
of Louisiana flavored pop-rock (their eponymous debut and Keep
The Fire Burning) and a third, Up, which saw them shift
styles to accommodate Jai Winding's more mainstream production.
In '81, LeRoux moved to RCA, which decided to break
the band as a singles act. They succeeded with the top-20 hit "Nobody
Said It Was Easy" and received heavy MTV airplay with the top 5
AOR hit "Addicted," both featured on their fourth album, Last
Safe Place, produced by Medica.
Soon afterward, however, lead singer Jeff Pollard
left the group to start his own Christian Ministry. He was replaced
by Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen, and when Bobby Campo also exited,
Berkley School of Music graduate Jim Odom came aboard for the group's
fifth album, So Fired Up, that included their chart single
and MTV hit, "Carrie's Gone" (written about Carol Burnett's daughter
who was dating Fergie at the time).
LeRoux toured for eight years, headlining and supporting
numerous groups, including ZZ Top, Kansas, The Doobie Brothers,
Bob Seger, Journey, The Dirt Band, John Prine, and Muddy Waters.
LeRoux's many television appearances include Don Kirshner's Rock
Concert, Solid Gold, Midnight Special, MTV, and their own public
broadcasting live video, Rocking the Nottaway, filmed in
1997.
In 1983, Randy Knaps replaced Fergie. Medica, along
with members of Kansas, The Doobie Brothers, Pablo Cruise, Steven
Stills, Santana, and Cheap Trick, performed for the USO on four
overseas tours. Haselden and Knaps accompanied them on the Around
The World Tour.
Bassist, producer, and songwriter Leon Medica, one
of the group's founders, is currently co-producing Anders Osborne,
Wayne Toups, and producing Brian McComas for Disney's Nashville-based
label. He has recorded with many acts and numerous soundtracks,
including and he produced Tom Johnston of The Doobie Brothers on
one of the biggest selling soundtracks of all time, Dirty Dancing.
Tony Haselden, guitarist and vocalist, who wrote
some of LeRoux's all-time favorites, relocated to Nashville, Tennessee
several years ago and is one of the top writers/producers in Country
music. Tony wrote many #1 Country hits, including "That's My Story"
by Colin Ray, "It Ain't Nothin'" by Keith Whitley, "You Know Me
Better Than That" by George Strait, and he also produced The Kinleys
and The Wilkinsons.
In 1996, the band's Bayoudegradable: The Best
of Louisiana's LeRoux CD release party at the House of Blues
in New Orleans created a renewed demand for the band to perform
live. After the success of the CD, Medica, Haselden, Odom, Knaps,
along with original members Rod Roddy and David Peters and new members
Boo Pourciau and Nelson Blanchard, began to perform select live
dates, reviving some funky musical spirits from the bayou.
