John Garang
President of Southern Sudan
In office January 9, 2005 – July 30, 2005
Vice President	Salva Kiir
Preceded by	Joseph James Tombura
Succeeded by	Salva Kiir
11th First Vice President of Sudan
In office January 9, 2005 – July 30, 2005
President	Omar al-Bashir
Preceded by	Ali Osman Taha
Succeeded by	Salva Kiir Vacant until August 11, 2005
Personal details
Born	June 23, 1945 Twic (Jonglei, Sudan)
Died	July 30, 2005(2005-07-30) (aged 60) New Site (Southern Sudan, Sudan)
Political party	SPLM
Spouse(s)	Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior
Alma mater	Grinnell College Iowa State University

John Garang de Mabior (June 23, 1945 – July 30, 2005) was a Sudanese politician and leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army during the Second Sudanese Civil War, and following a peace agreement he briefly served as First Vice President of Sudan from January 2005 until he died in a July 2005 helicopter crash.

Early years[link]

A member of the Dinka ethnic group, Garang was born into a poor family in Buk village in the upper Nile region of Sudan. An orphan by the age of ten, he had his fees for school paid by a relative, going to schools in Wau and then Rumbek. In 1962 he joined the first Sudanese civil war, but because he was so young, the leaders encouraged him and others his age to seek an education. Because of the ongoing fighting, Garang was forced to attend his secondary education in Tanzania. After winning a scholarship, he went on to earn a B.A.^{[clarification needed]} in economics in 1969 from Grinnell College in Iowa, USA. He was known there for his bookishness. He was offered another scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, but chose to return to Tanzania and study East African agricultural economics as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). At UDSM, he was a member of the University Students' African Revolutionary Front. However, Garang soon decided to return to Sudan and join the rebels.^{[citation needed]} There is much erroneous reporting that Garang met and befriended Yoweri Museveni, future president of Uganda, at this time; while both Garang and Museveni were students at UDSM in the 1960s, they did not attend at the same time.^[1]

The civil war ended with the Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972 and Garang, like many rebels, was absorbed into the Sudanese military. For eleven years, he was a career soldier and rose from the rank of captain to colonel after taking the Infantry Officers Advanced Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, USA. During this period he took four years academic leave and received a master's degree in agricultural economics and a PhD from Iowa State University after writing a thesis on the agricultural development of Southern Sudan. By 1983, Col. Garang was serving as senior instructor in the military academy in Wadi Sayedna 21 km from the centre of Omdurman where he instructed the cadets for more than four years. Later he was nominated to serve in the military research department at Army HQ in Khartoum.

Rebel leader[link]

In 1983, Garang went to Bor, ostensibly to pacify 500 southern government soldiers in battalion 105 who were resisting being rotated to posts in the north. However, Garang was already part of a conspiracy among some officers in the Southern Command arranging for the defection of battalion 105 to the anti-government rebels. When the government attacked Bor in May and the battalion pulled out, Garang went by an alternate route to join them in the rebel stronghold in Ethiopia. By the end of July, Garang had brought over 3000 rebel soldiers under his control through the newly-created Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), which was opposed to military rule and Islamic dominance of the country, and encouraged other army garrisons to mutiny against the Islamic law imposed on the country by the government.^[2] This action marked the commonly agreed upon beginning of the Second Sudanese Civil War, which resulted in one and half million deaths over twenty years of conflict. Although Garang was Christian and most of southern Sudan is non-Muslim (mostly animist), he did not initially focus on the religious aspects of the war.

Garang had been fighting for a "New Sudan" since 1983. He was a strong advocate for national unity: minorities together formed a majority and therefore should rule. Together, Garang believed, they could replace President Omar al-Bashir with a government made up of representatives from “all tribes and religions in Sudan." His first real effort for the cause, under his command, occurred in July 1985 with the SPLA’s incursion into Kordofan.^[3]

The SPLA gained the backing of Libya, Uganda and Ethiopia. Garang and his army controlled a large part of the southern regions of the country, named New Sudan. He claimed his troops' courage came from "the conviction that we are fighting a just cause. That is something North Sudan and its people don't have." Critics suggested financial motivations to his rebellion, noting that much of Sudan's oil wealth lies in the south of the country.^[3]

In the spring of 1991, Mengistu Haile Mariam's regime (in Ethiopia) was overthrown by the Khartoum backed Ethiopian rebels (Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front). Upon the rebels’ seizure of the government they closed all SPLA training camps in Ethiopia and cut off the SPLA's arms supply, forcing the SPLA to return hundreds of thousands of Sudanese back to South Sudan. This disrupted military operations and leadership within the SPLA. However, this caused the West to reconsider relations with the SPLA – justifying their providing the SPLA with "non-lethal help."^[4]

Shortly after, there was an attempted coup to oust Garang by three senior SPLA commanders in August 1991. The coup turned out to be premature – however, it exposed the deep ethnic divides within the SPLA. Once everything was resolved, Garang resumed power of the SPLA again in 1995.

Garang in a crowd of supporters

Garang refused to participate in the 1985 interim government or 1986 elections, remaining a rebel leader. However, the SPLA and government signed a peace agreement on January 9, 2005 in Nairobi, Kenya. On July 9, 2005, he was sworn in as vice-president, the second most powerful person in the country, following a ceremony in which he and President Omar al-Bashir signed a power-sharing constitution. He also became the administrative head of a southern Sudan with limited autonomy for the six years before a scheduled referendum of possible secession. No Christian or southerner had ever held such a high government post. Commenting after the ceremony, Garang stated, "I congratulate the Sudanese people, this is not my peace or the peace of al-Bashir, it is the peace of the Sudanese people."

In the Hillcrest Hotel in Nairobi on New Year's Day 2003 there was a meeting between the SPLA and the Fur people. Garang asked two associates of Abdul Wahid al Nur (who later formed the Sudan Liberation Movement) to declare that the Fur people were with the SPLA – they refused.^[4]

Over 15 months, starting in September 2003, Ali Osman and Garang met in private in Naivasha. Their secret meetings and negotiations lasted up until the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was initialled on New Year's Eve 2004.^[4]

The CPA appeared to embody the vision of the "New Sudan" that Garang wanted. Within the CPA, power was split between the National Congress Party and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement for six years, until 2010, with Garang as the first vice-president.^[4]

As a leader, John Garang's democratic credentials were often questioned. For example, according to Gill Lusk, "John Garang did not tolerate dissent and anyone who disagreed with him was either imprisoned or killed".^[5] Under his leadership, the SPLA was accused of human rights abuses.^[5]

The ideological profile of SPLA was as shadowy as Garang himself. He varied from Marxism to drawing support from Christian fundamentalists in the US.^[5]

The United States State Department argued that Garang's presence in the government would have helped solve the Darfur conflict in western Sudan, but others consider these claims "excessively optimistic".^[6]

Death[link]

In late July 2005, Garang died after the Ugandan presidential Mi-172 helicopter he was flying in crashed. He had been returning from a meeting in Rwakitura with long-time ally President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. He did not tell the Sudanese government that he was going to this meeting and so did not take the presidential plane. In fact Garang said he was going to spend the weekend in New Site, a small village near the Kenyan borders founded by Garang himself. To this day nobody knows with whom Garang had met in Rwakitura, or what the agenda of the meeting had been. After being missing for more than 24 hours, the Ugandan president reported it to the Sudanese government which contacted SPLM for more information. SPLM responded that the helicopter Garang was taking landed safely on an old SPLA training camp. Sudanese state television then initially reported that Garang's helicopter had landed safely and that they were trying to contact him. Few hours later, Abdel Basset Sabdarat, Sudan's Information Minister, appeared on TV to deny the report that Garang helicopter landed safely. Actually, it was Yasir Arman, the SPLA/M spokesperson who told the government that Garang plane had landed safely. His intention was to save time for internal arrangements in SPLA before Garang's death was to be declared. Garang's plane crashed on a Friday and so remained missing for the following Saturday. During this time the government believed he was in Southern Sudan. Soon afterwards, a statement released by the office of the Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir confirmed that a Ugandan presidential helicopter crashed into "a mountain range in southern Sudan because of poor visibility and this resulted in the death of Dr. John Garang DeMabior, six of his colleagues and seven Ugandan crew members." [1] His body was flown to New Site, a southern Sudanese settlement near the scene of the crash, where former rebel fighters and civilian supporters gathered to pay their respects to Garang. Garang's funeral took place on August 3 in Juba.^[7] His widow Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior promised to continue his work stating "In our culture we say, if you kill the lion, you see what the lioness will do."^[8]

Questions about death[link]

Both the Sudanese government and the head of the SPLA blamed the weather for the accident. There are, however, doubts as to whether this was the true cause, especially amongst the rank and file of the SPLA. Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president, claims that the possibility of "external factors" having played a role could not be eliminated.^{[citation needed]}

Effect on peace[link]

Because Garang was considered instrumental in ending the civil war, the effect of Garang's death upon the peace deal was uncertain. The government declared three days of national mourning, which did not stop large scale rioting in Khartoum which killed at least 24 as youths from southern Sudan attacked northern Sudanese and clashed with security forces. After three days of violence, the death toll had risen to 84 [2]. Unrest was also reported in other parts of the country. Leading members of the SPLM, including Garang's successor Salva Kiir Mayardit, stated that the peace process would continue. Analysts suggested that the death could result in anything from a new democratic openness in the SPLA, which some have criticized for being overly dominated by Garang, to an outbreak of open warfare between the various southern factions that Garang had brought together.

Partial bibliography of his publications[link]

Garang, John 1987 John Garang Speaks. M. Khalid, ed. London: Kegan Paul International.

See also[link]

• First Sudanese Civil War
• Second Sudanese Civil War
• Sudan People's Liberation Army

References[link]

• Aufstand in der Dreistadt by Thomas Schimidinger in Jungle World Nr.32: August 10, 2005; ISSN 1613-0766

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Garang

• John Garang on National Public Radio
• Official website of the Sudan People's Liberation Army
• A State Department archive of information from before January 2001
• Sudan ex-rebel joins government, BBC, July 9, 2005
• Obituary, BBC
• Deadly riots erupt in Sudan after Garang death, Reuters, August 1, 2005
• The return of a Sudanese survivor, opinion piece in The Daily Star, Lebanon, July 19, 2005 – some info on early life
• Uganda Joins Sudan in Investigating Garang's Death, William Eagle, Voice of America, August 9, 2005

v t e Presidents of South Sudan Autonomus Government of Southern Sudan (1972-1983) Abel Alier • Joseph Lagu • Peter Gatkuoth • Abel Alier • Gismalla Abdalla Rassas • Joseph James Tombura Autonomus Government of Southern Sudan (2005–2011) John Garang • Salva Kiir Mayardit Republic of South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit

South Sudan

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of South Sudan

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Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon (born 1953), is the first vice-president of the independent Republic of South Sudan.

Riek Machar obtained a PhD in mechanical engineering in 1984 and then joined the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005). Riek fell out with the SPLM/A leader John Garang in 1991 and formed a splinter group, the SPLM/A-Nasir. In 1997 Riek made a treaty with the Government of Sudan and become head of the government-backed South Sudan Defense Force (SSDF). In 2000 he left the SSDF and formed a new militia, the Sudan People's Democratic Forces (SPDF), and in 2002 rejoined the SPLA as a senior commander. After the death of John Garang in July 2005, Riek Machar became vice-president of the autonomous Southern Sudan. He became vice-president of South Sudan on 9 July 2011 when the country became independent.

Early career[link]

Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon was born in Leer, Unity State in 1953, the 26th son of the chief of both Ayod and Leer. He was brought up as a member of the Presbyterian church.^[1] Riek belongs to the Dok section of the Nuer people.^[2] He trained as an Engineer at Khartoum University, and obtained a PhD in Philosophy and strategic planning from the University of Bradford in 1984.^[3][4]

Riek has been called a tuut dhoali, which may be translated "adult boy", meaning uninitiated and literate. He has tried to transcend tribal divisions, and at one time attempted to ban initiation marks.^[5] However, in his struggle with John Garang he exploited ethnic rivalries between the Nuer and Dinka people.^[6] Riek married Emma McCune, a British aid worker. She died in a car accident in Nairobi in 1993 at the age of 29, while pregnant.^[7] Riek's second wife, Angelina Teny, is one of the leading women politicians in South Sudan. She was state minister of Energy and Mining in the transitional government (2005–2010).^[8]

Riek was a rebel leader with the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLM/A) headed by John Garang from 1984 until he fell out with Garang in 1991. As Zonal Commander of Western Upper Nile, in 1986 he entered into an agreement with Baggara chiefs.^[9] Riek led forces that attacked and overran Melut in 1989. That year he was able to visit his family, which was based in Britain, for the first time since the civil war started. In 1990 Riek was based at Leer. Later he was appointed SPLA Regional Commander for a region that extended from the Ethiopian border in the east to Renk in the north and to Ayod and Waat in the south.^[1]

Factional leader[link]

Riek disagreed with the SPLA leader John Garang over objectives. Where John Garang at first wanted a secular and democratic but united Sudan in which the southerners would have full representation, Riek wanted a fully independent South Sudan.^[10] In August 1991 Riek Machar, Lam Akol and Gordon Kong announced that John Garang had been ejected from the SPLM.^[11] Kong Chuol is from the Eastern Jikany Nuer and Lam Akol is from the Shilluk people. The breakaway faction, based in Nasir until 1995 and then in Waat and Ayod, was called the SPLM/A-Nasir faction from 1991 to 1993.^[12] The Bul Nuer Anyanya-2 militia at Mayom under Paulino Matip and the Lou Nuer Anyanya-2 militia at Doleib Hill under Yohannes Yual declared for Riek.^[11]

Kerubino Kuanyin and Faustino Atem Gualdit, Dinkas from Bahr el-Ghazal, had been among the founders of the SPLM but had fallen out with John Gareng and had been jailed. They escaped and joined Riek in 1993, with their forces making an important addition to the formerly Nuer-dominated SPLA-Nasir. Kerubino became deputy Commander in Chief.^[13] After this addition by forces from other ethnic groups, Riek's movement and force was called the SPLA-United from 1993 to 1994.^[12]

In September 1993, President Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya held separate talks with Garang and Riek Machar. In October 1993 the US Congress hosted a meeting between Garang and Riek. The two seemed to agree about various subjects related to a cease fire and reconciliation between the two factions, self-determination and opposition to the Khartoum regime, but Riek disputed Garang's authority and refused to sign a joint declaration.^[14] Riek dismissed Lam Akol from the SPLA-United in February 1994. Lam Akol returned to Kodok in the government-held region of Upper Nile state.^[15]

From 1994 to 1997 Riek's movement was known as the South Sudan Independence Movement / Army (SSIM/A).^[9] Although seeking independence for South Sudan, the group received covert support from the Government of Sudan as it fought the SPLA between 1991 and 1999 in attacks that became increasingly violent and ethnically motivated.^[16] Early in 1995 hostilities between the SSIM and SPLA, which had taken several thousands of civilian lives, were temporarily suspended. Riek dismissed Kerubino Kuanyin and Commander William Nyuon Bany from the SSIM on the basis that they had signed military and political agreements with the government of Sudan late in the previous year, and that they had attempted to form a government-supported faction in the SSIM.^[17]

During the 1990's Riek skillfully developed support among the eastern Nuer, the Jikany and the Lou, taking advantage of SPLA unpopularity with the Jikany and drawing on prophetic tradition to make his case.^[18] In 1996 Riek signed a Political Charter and in 1997 the Khartoum Peace Agreement with the government. Under this agreement he was assistant to Omar el-Bashir, President of Sudan, and President of the Southern States Coordinating Council.^[16] He was also made commander in chief of the South Sudan Defense Force (SSDF), which included most of the ex-rebels who had signed the Khartoum agreement.^[16]

Return to SPLM[link]

There was growing tension between Riek Machar and Paulino Matip's South Sudan Unity Movement (SSUM), which became engaged in forcibly removing civilians from the Block 5A oil concession area, and assisting in clearances from other oil blocks.^[19] In 1998–1999, Paulino's fighters and government troops clashed several times with Riek's SSDF forces in a struggle for control of the Unity state oilfields. Paulino's fighters forced Tito Biel, a high-ranking SSDF commander, to evacuate Leer early in 1999. Tito Biel later went over to the SPLA.^[20]

Riek Machar's failure to prevent the government from forcibly displacing civilians from the oil-producing areas of Unity State turned the Nuer against his leadership.^[16] Riek's SSDF began to receive ammunition from the SPLA as of June 1999.^[21] In 2000 at a meeting of leaders in Koch he finally resigned from the government of Sudan and created a fresh militia named the Sudan People's Democratic Forces (SPDF).^[16] At risk in his own homeland of the Dok Nuer, Riek moved his base of operations to the eastern Jikany area.^[2] In January 2002 he signed an agreement with John Garang to merge the SPDF into the SPLA, and was given command of the Dok Nuer within the SPLA.^[16]

The civil war ended in January 2005. In August Riek became Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan and SPLM Co-Chair of the Joint Executive Political Committee.^[22] When South Sudan became independent, in July 2011 he was appointed first Vice President of the new republic.^[23] On 15 July 2011 Riek represented South Sudan at the ceremony when his country's flag was raised outside United Nations headquarters in New York.^[24]

Bibliography[link]

• Riek Machar. "South Sudan: A history of political domination: A case of self-determination". http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Hornet/sd_machar.html. Retrieved 2011-08-05. 

References[link]

Sources

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2009)

Dr. John
Dr. John at the 2007 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Background information
Birth name	Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr.
Also known as	Dr. John Creaux Mac Rebennack
Born	(1940-11-21) November 21, 1940 (age 71)
Origin	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Genres	Blues, rock, New Orleans rhythm and blues
Occupations	Vocalist, musician
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar
Years active	1950s–present
Labels	Atco, Blue Note, Nonesuch, GRP, Trip, United Artists
Associated acts	John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Van Morrison, Dan Auerbach, Curious George (TV series), Eric Clapton, Bob Seger, Joe Walsh
Website	http://www.nitetripper.com/

Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. (born November 21, 1940), better known by the stage name Dr. John (also Dr. John Creaux, or Dr. John the Night Tripper), is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.^[1]

Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider prominence in the early 1970s with a wildly theatrical stage show inspired by medicine shows, Mardi Gras costumes and voodoo ceremonies. Rebennack has recorded over 20 albums and in 1973 scored a top-20 hit with the jaunty funk-flavored "Right Place Wrong Time", still perhaps his best-known song.

The winner of five Grammy Awards, Rebennack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by singer John Legend on Monday, March 14, 2011.^[2]

Early life and career[link]

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, Dr. John's Acadian ancestry traces back to the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. He claims that his lineage took root in New Orleans sometime in the early 1800s. Growing up in the Third Ward, Dr. John found early musical inspiration in the minstrel tunes sung by his grandfather and a number of aunts, uncles, and cousins who played piano. He did not take music lessons before his teens, he only endured a short stint in choir before getting kicked out.^[3] His father, the owner of an appliance store and record shop, exposed him as a young boy to prominent jazz musicians like King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. Throughout his adolescence his father's connections enabled him access to the recording rooms of burgeoning rock artists such as Little Richard and Guitar Slim. From these exposures he advanced into clubs and onto the stage with varying local artists, most notably, Professor Longhair. ^[4]

Dr. John met Professor Longhair when he was about 13 or 14 years old, the start to a period in his life that would mark rapid growth as a musician and the beginnings of his entry into professional music. He describes his initial impression of Professor Longhair with note, not only of his musical prowess, but of his style: "I was also fascinated that he was sitting out there in a turtleneck shirt with a beautiful gold chain with a watch hangin’ on it, and an Army fatigue cap on his head. And I thought, Wow, I never seen nobody dressed like this guy. Just everything about the man was totally hip. And he had gloves on him, too, beautiful silk gloves. I’ll never forget this^[5]."

At age 16 he was hired by Johnny Vincent as a producer at Ace Records. There, he worked with artists like James Booker and Earl King, his musical experience expanding notably. He struggled through intermittent years of high school, eventually focusing entirely on music. Thereafter an entry into heavy narcotics use would fuel his desire to get out of New Orleans and move to California where his character, Dr. John, was born.^[6]

In late 1950s New Orleans, Dr. John originally concentrated on guitar and he gigged with local bands including Mac Rebennack and the Skyliners, (Paul Staele/Dennis "Bootsie" Cuquet, drums; Earl Stanley, bass; Charlie Miller, trumpet; Charlie Maduell, sax; Roland "Stone" LeBlanc, vocals), Frankie Ford and the Thunderbirds, and Jerry Byrne and the Loafers. He had a regional hit with a Bo Diddley-influenced instrumental called "Storm Warning" on Rex Records in 1959. During these days he was an A&R man producing, with Charlie Miller, monophonic singles on 45s for Johnny Vincent and Joe Corona for such local labels as ACE, RON, RIC and others. For these sessions he oversaw A&R and the rhythm section while Miller wrote the horn arrangements and headed up the horns. It was a productive team until Miller decided to move to New York and to study music formally.

Rebennack's career as a guitarist came to an end when his left ring finger was injured by a gunshot while he was defending singer/keyboardist Ronnie Barron, his bandmate, Jesuit High School classmate, and longtime friend. After the injury, Rebennack concentrated on bass guitar before making piano his main instrument; pianist Professor Longhair was an important influence on Rebennack's piano-playing style.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1963 where he became a "first call" session musician on the booming Los Angeles studio scene in the 1960s and 1970s, providing backing for Sonny & Cher (and some of the incidental music for Cher's first film, Chastity), and for Canned Heat on their albums Living the Blues (1968) Future Blues (1970), and Freak Out! for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (1966); along with many other acts.

HANDCUFFED[link]

Dr. John grew up with full exposure to the realities of New Orleans. Prostitutes, pimps, thieves and addicts all marked the same nightlife scene that contributed to his development as a musician.^[7] He was introduced to marijuana at a young age, among other drugs, ultimately gaining an addiction to heroin in his teen years. He recalls being "loaded" the first time while at high school, identifying the high he would chase for all of his life. Not so fondly, Dr. John looks back on the shortsighted moneymaking schemes he would devise through his teens and twenties, all to pay only for the next dose of heroin. He sold narcotics, ran a whorehouse, and even opened a business offering abortions (illegal at the time) during the 1950s. Drug-induced nightclub furies throughout Louisiana and into Florida would result in frequent shootouts and bouts with the police, and he picked up a list of arrests that finally led to prison time in Texas. His sentence ended in 1965 and he left for Los Angeles.

His characteristic, nameless genre of jazzy funk, emphasized with a flair of psychedelic rock, was a direct image of his drug habit throughout his hoodoo albums of the 1960s and up through the 1970s. He failed to heed the warnings of friends and paid no attention to his mother's concern; through the 1980s he continued his habit, failing to beat addiction after numerous stays at rehabilitation. Finally, after experiencing cardiac problems in New York, Dr. John exited his final rehabilitation stint, sober, in December, 1989. He went on to struggle with psychiatric problems through the 1990s, but, today, is sober and mentally stable with the help of medication.^[8]

TRYING TO ESCAPE THE HANDCUFFS (NO WAY)[link]

Dr. John was always fascinated with New Orleans voodoo, and in Los Angeles he developed the idea of the Dr. John persona for his old friend Ronnie Barron. He imagined it as an interesting stage show and an emblem to their New Orleans heritage. "Well, there was a guy the name of Dr. John, a hoodoo guy in New Orleans. He was competition to Marie Laveau. He was like her opposite. I actually got a clipping from the Times Picayune newspaper about how my great-great-great-grandpa Wayne was busted with this guy for runnin’ a voodoo operation in a whorehouse in 1860. I decided I would produce the record with this as a concept." Of course, he would assume the role of Dr. John himself, which he claims, came apprehensively.^[9]

He recalls reading about the original Doctor John in his youth, a purported Senegalese prince who came to New Orleans from Haiti, a medicinal and spiritual healer. The Doctor was a free man of color who lived on Bayou Road and claimed to have fifteen wives and over fifty children. He maintained a fascination with reptiles and kept an assortment of snakes and lizards, along with embalmed scorpions and animal and human skulls. His specialization was healing, and as such, in selling Gris-Gris, voodoo amulets that protected the wearer from harm. Gris Gris, would, of course, become of the name of Dr. John, the musician's famed debut album, his own form of "voodoo medicine."^[10]

1968-1971: HANDCUFFED AGAIN[link]

Beginning in the late 1960s, Rebennack gained fame as a solo artist after adopting the persona of "Dr. John, The Night Tripper". Dr. John's act combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues with psychedelic rock and elaborate stage shows that bordered on voodoo religious ceremonies, including elaborate costumes and headdress (reflecting and presumably inspired by Screamin' Jay Hawkins's stage act). The name "Dr. John" came from a legendary Louisiana voodoo practitioner of the early 19th century.^[11] On the earliest Dr. John records, the artist billing was "Dr. John, The Night Tripper", while the songwriting credits billed him as "Dr. John Creaux". Within a few years the "Night Tripper" subtitle was dropped, and Rebennack resumed using his real name for writing and producing/arranging credits.

Gris-Gris, his 1968 debut album combining voodoo rhythms and chants with the New Orleans music tradition, was ranked 143rd on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. Three more albums, 1969's Babylon, 1970's Remedies, and 1971's The Sun, Moon, And Herbs were released in the same vein of Gris-Gris, but none of them have enjoyed the popularity of his first album.

During early-to-mid-1969, Dr. John toured extensively, backed by supporting musicians Richard "Didymus" Washington (congas), Richard Crooks (drums), David Leonard Johnson (bass), Gary Carino (guitar), and singers Eleanor Barooshian, Jeanette Jacobs from The Cake, and Sherry Graddie. A second lineup formed later in the year for an extensive tour of the East Coast with Crooks and Johnson joined by Doug Hastings (guitar) and Don MacAllister (mandolin). Also in 1969, Dr. John contributed to the Music from Free Creek "supersession" project, playing on three tracks with Eric Clapton. Washington and Crooks also contributed to the project.

By the time The Sun, Moon, and Herbs was released, he had gained a notable cult following, including artists such as Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger, who both took part in the sessions for that album. This album would serve as a transition from his Night Tripper voodoo, psychedelic persona to one more closely associated with traditional New Orleans R&B and funk. His next album, Dr. John's Gumbo, proved to be a landmark recording which is one of his most popular to this day; with drummer Fred Staehle serving as the band's backbone.

[edit] 1972-1974: Gumbo, In the Right Place, and Desitively Bonnaroo

Along with Gris-Gris, Dr. John is perhaps best known for his recordings during 1972-1974. 1972's Dr. John's Gumbo, an album covering several New Orleans R&B standards with only one original, is considered a cornerstone in New Orleans music. In his 1994 autobiography, Under a Hoodoo Moon, Dr. John writes, "In 1972, I recorded Gumbo, an album that was both a tribute to and my interpretation of the music I had grown up with in New Orleans in the 1940s and 1950s. I tried to keep a lot of the little changes that were characteristic of New Orleans, while working my own funknology on piano and guitar." The lead single from the album, "Iko Iko", broke into the Billboard top 40 singles chart. In 2003, Dr. John's Gumbo was ranked number 402 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It also earned a place on Offbeat magazine's 1999 listing of the Top 100 Louisiana CDs.

With Gumbo, Dr. John expanded his career beyond the psychedelic voodoo music and theatrics that had driven his career since he took on the Dr. John persona, although it has always remained an integral part of his music and identity. It wasn't until 1998's Anutha Zone that he would again concentrate on this aspect of his music wholly for a full album. "After we cut the new record", he wrote, "I decided I'd had enough of the mighty-coo-de-fiyo hoodoo show, so I dumped the Gris-Gris routine we had been touring with since 1967 and worked up a new act—a Mardi Gras revue featuring the New Orleans standards we had covered in Gumbo."

In early 1973 Thomas Jefferson Kaye produced an album featuring a collaboration with Dr. John, Mike Bloomfield and John Paul Hammond. This album, Triumvirate, was recorded in Columbia Studios, San Francisco, and Village Recorders, Los Angeles.

In 1973, with Allen Toussaint producing and The Meters backing, Dr. John released the seminal New Orleans funk album, In the Right Place. In the same way that Gris-Gris introduced the world to the voodoo-influenced side of his music, and in the manner that Dr. John's Gumbo began his career-long reputation as an esteemed interpreter of New Orleans standards, In the Right Place established Dr. John as one of the main ambassadors of New Orleans funk. In describing the album, Dr. John states, "The album had more of a straight-ahead dance feel than ones I had done in the past, although it was still anchored solid in R&B." It rose to #24 on the Billboard album charts, while the single "Right Place Wrong Time" landed at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. A second single, "Such a Night", peaked at #42. Still in heavy rotation on most classic rock stations, "Right Place Wrong Time" remains his single most recognized song. Artists such as Bob Dylan, Bette Midler, and Doug Sahm contributed single lines to the lyrics, which lists several instances of ironic bad luck and failure.

Dr. John attempted to capitalize on In the Right Place's successful formula, again collaborating with Allen Toussaint and The Meters for his next album, Desitively Bonnaroo, released in 1974. Although similar in feel to In the Right Place, it failed to catch hold in the mainstream like its predecessor. It would be his last pure funk album until 1994 with Television, although like his voodoo and traditional New Orleans R&B influences, funk has continued to heavily influence most of his work to the present day, especially in his concerts. While Dr. John stated in an interview during 1990s that he'd like to work with Toussaint again for a full album, this has yet to come to fruition.

In the mid-1970s Dr. John began an almost twenty-year-long collaboration with the R&R Hall of Fame/Songwriters Hall of Fame writer Doc Pomus to create songs for Dr. John's releases City Lights and Tango Palace and for B.B. King's Stuart Levine-produced There Must Be a Better World Somewhere, which won a Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording in 1982. Dr. John also recorded "I'm On a Roll", the last song written with Pomus prior to Pomus' death in 1991, for the now out-of-print Rhino/Forward Records 1995 tribute to Pomus titled Til the Night Is Gone: A Tribute to Doc Pomus that also included covers of Pomus-penned songs by Bob Dylan, John Hiatt, Shawn Colvin, Brian Wilson, the Band, Los Lobos, Dion, Rosanne Cash, Solomon Burke and Lou Reed. According to Doc Pomus' daughter, Dr. John and her father were very close friends as well as writing partners; Dr. John delivered one of a number of eulogies and performed with singer Jimmy Scott at Pomus' funeral on March 17, 1991, in New York City.

On Thanksgiving Day 1976 he performed at the farewell concert for the Band, which was filmed and released as The Last Waltz. In 1979, he collaborated with the legendary Professor Longhair on Fess's (another nickname for Henry Byrd) last recording Crawfish Fiesta as a guitarist and co-producer. The album was awarded the first W.C. Handy Blues Album of the Year in 1980, and was released shortly after Longhair's death in January, 1980.

Later work[link]

Dr. John at the 2006 Jazz à Vienne festival, in Vienne, France.

By the mid-1970s, Rebennack began focusing on a blend of music that touched on blues, New Orleans R&B, Tin Pan Alley standards and more.

In 1975 Dr. John's manager, Richard Flanzer, hired legendary producer Bob Ezrin. Hollywood Be Thy Name was recorded live at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, California. The studio was transformed into a New Orleans nightclub for the sessions.

In 1981 and 1983 Dr. John recorded two solo piano albums for the Baltimore-based Clean Cuts label. In these two recordings Dr. John plays many of his own compositions in boogie-woogie.

He has also been a prominent session musician throughout his career, playing piano on the Rolling Stones' 1972 song "Let It Loose", as well as backing Carly Simon and James Taylor in their duet of "Mockingbird" in 1974 and Neil Diamond on 1976's Beautiful Noise. He also contributed the song "More and More" to Simon's Playing Possum album. He played on three songs on Maria Muldaur's 1973 solo debut album, including his composition "Three Dollar Bill". He sang on four songs and played piano on two songs on Muldaur's 1992 Louisiana Love Call. He was co-producer on Van Morrison's 1977 album A Period of Transition and also played keyboards and guitar. He contributed three songs as writer or co-writer ("Washer Woman", "The Ties That Bind", and "That's My Home") and also played guitar and keyboards on Levon Helm's 1977 release, Levon Helm and the RCO Allstars. He performed on the March 19, 1977 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. He played keyboards on the highly successful 1979 solo debut album by Rickie Lee Jones and has toured with Willy DeVille and contributed to his Return to Magenta (1978), Victory Mixture (1990), Backstreets of Desire (1992), and Big Easy Fantasy (1995) albums. His music has been featured in many films including "Such a Night" in Colors in 1988. In 1992 Dr. John released the album Goin' Back to New Orleans which included many classic songs from New Orleans and many great New Orleans based musicians like Aaron Neville, the Neville brothers, Al Hirt and Pete Fountain backed up Dr. John on this album. He performed as the first American artist at the Franco Follies festival in 1992.

Dr. John has also done vocals for Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits' "Luv dat chicken..." jingle, as well as the theme song ("My Opinionation") for the early-1990s television sitcom Blossom. A version of "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans" with Harry Connick, Jr. was released on Connick's album 20 and VHS Singin' & Swingin' in 1990. Dr. John's longtime confidant and personal manager, Paul Howrilla was responsible for moving Dr. John from Los Angeles, California to New York, New York and securing the "crossover" work, as well as modifying Dr. John's image from the 1970's to the 1990's. Paul Howrilla was the brains behind the scenes, as Dr. John would attest. They remain very close friends to the present day.

His movie credits include Martin Scorsese's documentary The Last Waltz (in which he joins the Band for a performance of his song "Such a Night"), the 1978 Beatles-inspired musical "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", and Blues Brothers 2000 (in which he joins the fictional band the Louisiana Gator Boys to perform the songs "How Blue Can You Get" and "New Orleans"). His version of the Donovan song "Season of the Witch" was also featured in this movie and on the soundtrack.

He also wrote and performed the score for the film version of John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" released in 1982. In 1993, his hit song "Right Place Wrong Time" was used extensively in the movie Dazed and Confused.

Dr. John has also been featured in several video and audio blues and New Orleans piano lessons published by Homespun Tapes. In addition to the instructional value, there is historical context about many other blues artists. Other documentary film scores include the New Orleans dialect film Yeah You Rite! (1985) and American Tongues in 1987.

Between July and September 1989 Dr. John toured in the first Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, alongside Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Nils Lofgren, Jim Keltner, Joe Walsh, Billy Preston and Clarence Clemons. The tour produced the 1990 live album Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band.

Dr.John at the Liri Blues Festival, Italy.

In 1997, he appeared on the charity single version of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day". In the same year, he played piano on the Spiritualized song "Cop Shoot Cop...", from their critically acclaimed album Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. Frontman Jason Pierce, a fan of John's music, reciprocated by guesting on John's 1998 album Anutha Zone along with drummer Damon Reece and guitarist Thighpaulsandra.

He recorded the live album Trippin' Live with drummer Herman Ernest, David Barard, bass, Tommy Moran, guitar, trumpeter Charlie Miller, tenor Red Tyler, and baritone sax Ronnie Cuber.

In September 2005 he performed Fats Domino's "Walkin' to New Orleans", to close the Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast telethon. This was for the relief of Hurricane Katrina victims; following the devastation of his hometown of New Orleans.

In November 2005, he released a four-song EP, Sippiana Hericane, to benefit New Orleans Musicians Clinic, Salvation Army, and the Jazz Foundation of America. On February 5, 2006, he joined fellow New Orleans native Aaron Neville, Detroit resident Aretha Franklin and a 150-member choir for the national anthem at Super Bowl XL as part of a pre-game tribute to New Orleans. On February 8, 2006, he joined Allen Toussaint, Bonnie Raitt, The Edge, and Irma Thomas to perform "We Can Can" as the closing performance at the Grammy Awards of 2006.

On May 12, 2006, Dr. John recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios for Live from Abbey Road. His performance was aired alongside those of LeAnn Rimes and Massive Attack on the Sundance Channel in the USA and Channel 4 in the UK.

Dr. John performing at Le Poisson Rouge, New York City, 2011.

On July 30, 2006, Dr. John performed a solo piano benefit for New Orleans composer and arranger Wardell Quezergue (King Floyd's "Groove Me") at a New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund benefit at the Black Orchid Theatre in Chicago.^[12] Special guest Mike Mills of R.E.M. was in attendance, along with an all-star funk band.

Dr. John performed the theme music to the Fox drama K-Ville. He also performed and co-produced the theme song for the PBS children's show Curious George.

In 2007, Dr. John accepted an invitation to contribute to Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino. He contributed his version of Domino's "Don't Leave Me This Way".

In January 2008, Mac Rebennack, Dr. John, was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Later, in February, he performed at All-Star Saturday Night, part of the NBA All-Star Weekend hosted by New Orleans.

In the 2009 Disney film The Princess and the Frog, Dr. John sings the opening tune, "Down in New Orleans".

He reigned as King of the Krewe du Vieux for the 2010 New Orleans Mardi Gras season.

Dr. John played keyboards and had a major role in shaping Gregg Allman's 2011 album Low Country Blues which was produced by T-Bone Burnett.^[13]

In 2011 he collaborated with Hugh Laurie on the song "After You've Gone" on his album Let Them Talk.

In 2011 Dr. John, Allen Toussaint and The Meters performed Desitively Bonnaroo at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee as part of the festival's tenth year celebration. The name of the festival was inspired by the album.

In 2012, he released Locked Down, a collaboration with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, who produces and plays guitar.^[11] The album received very positive reviews for its raw, Afrobeat-influenced sound. The Los Angeles Times said it showed Dr. John "exiting a period of relative creative stagnation by creating something magical, the embodiment of everything he’s done but pushed in a clear new direction."^[14]

Cover versions[link]

Dr. John's song "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" was covered in 1969 by Marsha Hunt and produced by Tony Visconti; also in June 1969 by Cher on her 3614 Jackson Highway album, and was released as a single; and in July 1970 by Johnny Jenkins, whose supporting musicians included slide guitarist Duane Allman and drummers Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny Johanson; Allman also performed on Ton Ton Macoute, the album that contained it. Allman Brothers bass guitarist Berry Oakley also appeared on other tracks on the album). "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" was also covered in the 1970s by Humble Pie on their album Performance Rockin' the Fillmore, and is track 3 on Paul Weller's 1995 album Stanley Road. Widespread Panic and The Allman Brothers Band also perform this song regularly.

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• Gris-Gris (1968) (Atco, SD 33-234)
• Babylon (1969)
• Remedies (1970) (Atco, SD 33-316)
• The Sun, Moon & Herbs (1971) (Atco, SD 33-362)
• Dr. John's Gumbo (1972)
• In the Right Place (1973) (Atco, SD 7018)
• Desitively Bonnaroo (1974) (Atco, SD 7043)
• Hollywood Be Thy Name (1975) (UA-LA552G)
• City Lights (1978)
• Tango Palace (1979) (Horizon, SP-740)
• Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack Vol. 1 (1981)
• Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack Vol. 2 (The Brightest Smile in Town) (1983)
• In a Sentimental Mood (1989)
• ZuZu Man (1989) (Trip Records TLP-9518)
• Bluesianna Triangle , w/ Art Blakey and David 'Fathead' Newman (1990) (Windham Hill)
• Goin' Back to New Orleans (1992)
• Television (1994)
• Afterglow (1995)
• Trippin' Live
• Anutha Zone (1998)
• Duke Elegant (1999) (Parlophone, 7243 5 23220 2 2)
• Creole Moon (2001)
• All By Hisself, Live At The Lonestar (2003) (Skinji Brim) recorded live Dec. 22 & 23, 1986
• N'Awlinz: Dis Dat or d'Udda (2004)
• Sippiana Hericane (2005)
• Mercernary (2006) (Blue Note 54541)
• The City That Care Forgot (2008)
• Tribal (2010)
• Locked Down (2012)

With Bluesiana Triangle[link]

• Bluesiana Triangle (Windham Hill, 1990)
• Bluesiana Triangle II (Windham Hill, 1991)

Other contributions[link]

• Levon Helm and the RCO Allstars, Levon Helm (Edsel, 1977).
• Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band, Ringo Starr (EMI, 1990), Rykodisc RALP-10190 (CD: Rykodisc RCD-10190)
• Boogie to Heaven Gayle Wynters, featuring Dr. John and Roger Kellaway (VWC Records, 1995)^[15]
• Perfect Day BBC corporate film and charity release in 1997 - featuring, amongst others, Dr John ("Perfect Day")
• Jools Holland's Big Band Rhythm & Blues - "The Hand That Changed Its Mind" (Rhino, 2002)^[16]
• Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard, 2007)^[17]
• Let Them Talk (Warner Bros. Records, 2011)^[18]
• My Kind of Christmas, Christina Aguilera (RCA, 2000)^[19]
• Use Me, David Bromberg (Appleseed, 2011)^[20]

Dr. John in popular culture[link]

• Dr. John was featured in the third episode of the HBO series Treme, as well as three episodes of the second season, playing himself in all of them.^[21]
• Dr. John was the inspiration for Jim Henson's Muppets character, Dr. Teeth.^[22]

Recognition[link]

Grammy Awards[link]

• 1989 Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo Or Group - Makin' Whoopee
• 1992 Best Traditional Blues Album - Goin' Back To New Orleans
• 1996 Best Rock Instrumental Performance - SRV Shuffle
• 2000 Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals - Is You Is, Or Is You Ain't (My Baby)
• 2008 Best Contemporary Blues Album - City that Care Forgot

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[link]

• 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee ^[23]

References[link]