Great guy, terrific performer, and amazing New Orleans character; I've known him for years (although my kid brother Paul has known him longer, and introduced us sometime back in the late 70s.)

The name "Coco Robicheaux" is an assumed one, and comes from the lyrics to Dr. John's "Walk On Golden Splinters" ~ fittingly enough, considering the similarities between the two performers, both their personas and their vocal "sounds." (Coco's Cajun-French "real" name isn't really all that different from "Robicheaux," but I'll keep his confidence on that score here in this public forum.)

When I met him, Coco wasn't performing as a musician, although I learned later, when he resumed his musical career, that he had put in several years playing on Bourbon Street when he was younger. He has truly spent most of his life on stage; it's just a coincidence that he was "on hiatus" when I met him.

Coco is also a notable sculptor. His bronze bust of Professor Longhair, created shortly after Fess's death in 1980, stood inside the front door of Tipitina's for a decade or so, and then was moved outdoors and halfway across the street to the Napoleon Avenue neutral ground as the centerpiece of a little memorial plaza.