Zachary Richard

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Zachary Richard, 2013

Zachary Richard (born September 8, 1950 in Scott , Louisiana ) is an American singer-songwriter and author.

Richard grew up in the Cajun Country ( Acadiana ) in southern Louisiana. He took piano lessons as a child and was a member of the Bishop's Boys Choir until he discovered rock 'n' roll at the age of thirteen. With a cousin and friend Michael Doucet , he founded the Bayou Drifter Band , which existed until the 1970s and released two albums ( Le Bayou des Mystères , 1976 and Mardi Gras , 1977).

After studying at Tulane University , he went to Montreal in 1976. Seven albums with French-language songs were created there, which received great acclaim from music critics and were also commercially successful: two of the albums were awarded gold records . In 1981 he returned to Louisiana. There he released several English-language albums ( Mardi Gras Mambo , Zack's Bon Ton , Women in the Room , Snake Bite Love ), which also made him internationally known. His first French-language album after fourteen years Cap Enragé was awarded a platinum record and in 1997 the Prix ​​Félix .

In 1980 he received the Le Prix de la Jeune Chanson Française from the French Minister of Culture and in 1996 the Officer's Cross des Ordre des Arts et des Lettres . After he founded Action Cadienne in 1996 to promote French-speaking culture in Acadiana, he was awarded the Ordre des Francophones d'Amérique by the government of Québec the following year. Several universities (including the University of Moncton , the University of Louisiana , the Université Sainte-Anne and the University of Ottawa ) awarded him honorary doctorates.

Richard played the role of a Czechoslovak composer in Claude Fournier's miniseries Juliette Pomerleau . As a producer, speaker and composer he has participated in several television documentaries about the Cajuns in Louisiana: Bayou of the Lost and Against the Tide 2000. The latter documentary was named Best Historical Documentary by the National Educational Television Association , its French version ( Contre vents ) awarded the Prix ​​Historia by the Institut d'Histoire de l'Amérique Française . The twenty-six-part series Cœurs Batailleurs depicted the worldwide diaspora of the Cajuns. His award-winning documentary Cajun Heart explored the nature of the Cajun Country and the identity of its people. Louisiana Public Broadcasting recorded the multimedia concert Attakapas, the Cajun Story in 2017 .

In addition, Richard is committed to environmental and animal welfare and in the social field. He supports organizations such as PETA , Greenpeace and Farm Sanctuary and supports efforts to restore the Petitcodiac River in Canada. In collaboration with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana , he documented the history and current state of the Labranche wetlands in The Legacy of Labranche (1996) . His film Migrations, about bird migration in North America, won first prize at the Festival International du Film Ornithologique 2008 in France.

After Hurricane Katrina , Richard founded SOS Musiciens to support the Louisiana music scene. He founded the Gulf Aid Acadiana for the purpose of restoring the coastal regions and helping the affected communities after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 . In 2013 the Cercle Richelieu Senghor presented him with the Prix ​​Richelieu Senghor in a ceremony in the Senate of France . The Louisiana Endowment of the Arts named him Humanist of the Year in 2005 .

As a writer, he emerged with the History of Acadians of Louisiana , four children's books and four volumes of poetry. Faire Récolte received the Prix ​​Champlain for French-language North American literature, Feu the Prix ​​Roland Gasparic . Richard is Louisiana's first French-speaking Poet Laureate .

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personal data
SURNAME Richard, Zachary
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer-songwriter and author
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Scott (Louisiana)