Marion Marcotte
Marion Marcotte
Genres: cajun, french, acadian, comedy, fracais
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About Marion Marcotte
Marion Marcotte is a legend of Cajun French music and language. He was a song writer, storywriter, vocalist and guitar player. Although he lived most of his life in Cajun land, he was not really cajun. His ancestors originated from the Alsace-Lorraine area of France. He was born and raised on a farm in Moreauville, Louisiana with 9 brothers and sisters. After he received his high school diploma, he moved with his parents to New Orleans. He began playing in local bars and night clubs with other musicians and created his own band. He fell in love with and dated for ten years, Rita Spera, a woman whose family migrated from Italy in the early 1900's, then settled in Gretna, Louisiana. Marion Marcotte and Rita Spera married in 1959 and continued to live in the house that she grew up in on 4th Street in Historic Gretna. He lived in that house for the rest of his life. The house still remains in the family. They had three children, Louis III, Lori and Lisa, two grandchildren by daughter Lisa; Reginald Marcotte and Lexy Duhon. They also had one grandchild by daughter Lori; Sophia Maria Parigi. Marion Marcotte was a hard working man and a great father. He managed to send his three children to St. Joseph Catholic School in Gretna in order to instill the values he learned as a child and provide them with a good education. He and his family openly expressed their feelings for one another and enjoyed an inseparable love. Marion Marcotte served in the United States Navy during World War II. he was a member of the William D. White Masonic Lodge in Gretna which he joined in 1957. He was a full time longshoreman for 40 years and a part time musician. He retired in 1981 as a union foreman of Stevedores. Although French language and music were where is heart laid, he struggled laboring to give his family what they needed and more. Marion Marcotte wrote over 300 songs, published 40 records and several albums. There are still many beautiful, brilliant, heart wrenched songs that still remain unpublished. The first song he wrote was when he was a child at the age of 14. His parents were very poor. He used this fact as part of his inspiration, putting some of his life experiences in his funny folk tales and songs of country life. He picked cotton on the farm to purchase his first guitar. Marion had a down to earth personality which allowed him to tell his stories natural and humorous. his stories were so comical, people laughed themselves into tears. His other inspirations came from his love for his wife and children. He wrote a song when his son Louis was born as he waited in the delivery room. Marion Marcottes popularilty peaked in the 1960's and early 1970's and even today his works are played on radio stations throughout the State of Louisiana and some parts of Texas. He wrote and published campaign songs for Senators, Sheriff's, and other political candidates. He produced jingles for ads. His songs consisted of a variety of emotions from sad to funny, births and deaths, and from love and heartaches. Marion Marcottes music was not typical of any style but his own. It was a very advanced percussion style, difficult to create with the recording equipment in the 1960's. His talent was authenic. Marion firmly beleived in and was an activist to keeping the French language alive. His parents only spoke french. He, himself, did not speak english until he went to school at the age of six. Around the time of his popularity, the french language was diminishing in Louisiana. His cajun tales served as a bridge to keep the French communications open. The ability to hear his stories over the radio helped to keep french alive in family homes. Today, a couple of colleges in the United States as well as colleges in Canada use his french tales as electives for Cajun French and Cajun slang. Marion Marcotte received numerous awards and requests to appear from the Cajun french Music Association, Le Cajun Awards, The Council for The Development of French in Louisiana, Cutural Affairs of Paris, France. Marion made the "top 10 seller list" of country music. In January 1998, Marion Marcotte was elected as a life time member of the CAJUN MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM, an officailly sealed music association of the State of Louisiana. On January 29, 1998 Marion Marcotte, at the age of 81, passed away from a stoke at West Jefferson medical Hospital in marrero, Louisiana. He is buried at Westlawn Cemetery on Whitney Avenue in Gretna, together with his wife Rita who passed away five years after him at the age of 75. His children and grandchildren still reside in the City. He is sadly missed by many and hopes of his music, stories and love will carry on French Traditions and inspire family devotion.
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