For many decades Deacon John has symbolized the ultimate in dance music. Deacon John is a man who gets around! And to all the best places: debutante cotillions, carnival balls, fraternity formals, proms, wedding receptions, birthday celebrations, class reunions, charity galas, corporate events, outdoor music festivals—even jazz funerals. If there is an important social event going on, Deacon John will be there!
This is the music that will turn your party into an occasion all will remember. Deacon John still rides the crest while others, wildly popular in years gone by, have drifted silently from the scene. Whatever you want, Deacon John has it!
This is why, at the invitation of President Bush, he played at the Congressional Ball at the White House in 2005. It is why he was chosen to sing for the historic inauguration of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in 2007. It is the reason he has performed at every New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Deacon, with his band Deacon John & the Ivories, was the first rock’n’roll musician to play with the New Orleans Symphony in 1970. He has performed at every New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and his sets are legendary. In the 1980s Deacon’s prowess on the slide guitar eventually landed him a part in Alan Parker’s movie Angel Heart, and a national television commercial for Miller Beer. In 1990, he and fellow musician George Davis released his first CD, Singer of Song, followed by his second CD, Deacon John Live at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. In 2000, he was inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame and taught blues music in the schools throughout the state of Louisiana. In 2003 Gambit Magazine named Deacon Best Male Performer, Best Rhythm and Blues Artist and Entertainer of the Year, and Offbeat magazine awarded him Album of the Year (for his third CD, Deacon John’s Jump Blues), Overall Band of the Year and Best R&B/Funk/Soul Band. In 2006 Deacon was elected the first African-American president of the New Orleans Musicians Union, Local #174-496. His many awards and honors include: commemorative envelope from the U.S. Postal Service and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, and induction into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (2008); Community Arts Award from the Arts Council of New Orleans, and the Asante Legends Award (2009); Lifetime Achievement Award from Offbeat, Cutting Edge Music Conference’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the American Federation of Musicians’ highly coveted Charles Walton Diversity Advocate Award (2010); Snooks Eaglin Lifetime Achievement for Blues Excellence Award from the New Orleans Blues Society (2011); Slim Harpo Blues Pioneer Award from the Slim Harpo Music Awards (2012); and in 2013 he was awarded a star on the Tipitina’s Walk of Fame. Recent awards include Urban League of Greater New Orleans Award for outstanding achievement and contributions to music and preserving the arts (2016); Jazz Playhouse’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Jazz Award for outstanding leadership (2016); Gambit’s Big Easy Entertainment Award for Lifetime Achievement in music (2017); and recognition by the Times-Picayune’s Tricentennial 300 for 300 Project as one of the 300 people who make New Orleans New Orleans (2018). In 2019, Deacon John was awarded an honorary doctorate in music from Loyola University.
Deacon has graced the covers of many local and national newspapers and magazines. He has appeared in movies, live musical theater, and has been featured in local and national TV commercials, including in Domino’s Cars, Southern Comfort Whiskey, Snickers Candy, Blue Cross health insurance, Capital One Bank (“What’s in your wallet?”) and People’s Health Insurance. Deacon has also been in many WYES-TV documentaries on New Orleans history and culture, most recently New Orleans: The First 300 Years; he is also in The Last Exorcism Part II (2013). Deacon played “Danny Nelson” in the first season of HBO’s acclaimed series, Treme. Deacon is the star of the critically acclaimed documentary movie, Going Back to New Orleans: The Deacon John Film, and live concert DVD and CD, Deacon John’s Jump Blues.
Deacon John and the Ivories is comprised of piano/keyboards, drums, bass, guitar, alto and tenor saxes, trumpet, trombone, conga drums/percussion, a female vocalist, and Deacon John.
