Allen Toussaint 1938-2015

Another of the New Orleans music greats, Allen Toussaint has passed.

Legendary musician Allen Toussaint dies after performance in Spain

Legendary musician Allen Toussaint died Monday following a performance in Spain. He was 77 years old.

Madrid emergency services spokesman Javier Ayuso told the Associated Press that rescue workers were called to Toussaint’s hotel early Monday morning and managed to revive him after he suffered a heart attack.

But Ayuso says the 77-year-old Toussaint stopped breathing during the ambulance ride to a hospital and efforts to revive him again were unsuccessful.

He was taken to Jimenez Diaz Foundation Hospital in Madrid and was pronounced dead on arrival, El Mundo reported.

Toussaint had just performed at the Teatro Lara before his death.

Toussaint grew up in the New Orleans neighborhood of Gert Town, raised by his parents Naomi Neville and Clarence Toussaint. In at least 20 songs, Toussaint credits his parents as writers.

In the 1960s, he wrote and produced a series of hits for New Orleans artists, such as Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas and the Neville Brothers, among many others. Many of his hits were later covered by pop and rock artists, such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, Ringo Starr and Alex Chilton.

In the 1970s, Toussaint teamed with Patti Labelle and produced the album “Nightbirds,” which birthed the No. 1 hit “Lady Marmalade.” The song has been covered, redone and remixed numerous times by countless artists.

Paul McCartney and Wings also paired up with Toussaint on the album “Venus and Mars.” On that record, Toussaint played on the song “Rock Show.”

Other songs, such as “Ruler of My Heart,” “Fortune Teller” and “Working in the Coal Mine,” are among many that artists covered in nearly all music genres.

Toussaint’s legacy earned him inductions into multiple halls of fame, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011.

And of course Labelle’s classic hit written and produced by Toussaint., with him on keyboards –

With Irma Thomas performing and writing “Ruler of My Heart”