Sally Angelle

sally.angelle@techetoday.com

Cypress Island – At eight years old Donna Angelle starting banging on the sister’s keyboard. Her first song she learned to play on that keyboard was Mary Had a Little Lamb.

At 12 years old she marched in the Mardi Gras parade in Lafayette as a member of the Carver High School (Breaux Bridge) band. Angelle remembers being proud to put on the marching band uniform.

Laughing, she says, “The sleeves were too long, and my mother had to alter it to fit me.”

Her parents were supportive and encouraged her musical talent. Angelle wrote the class song for the 1970 Carver High graduating class.

Since them Angelle has never stopped playing music, playing keyboard in various rhythms and blues bands such as Bobby Price’s band and Cosmic Sky.

Deciding to take off on her own, Angelle learned to play the accordion, put together a five-piece band – Donna Angelle and the Zydeco Possé. They played Zydeco music at area bars and festivals.

Angelle and her band played at the first Creole Zydeco Festival held in St. Martinville and continues to play at benefits and fundrasiers throughout St. Martin Parish.

Angelle wrote and recorded her now famous song “Old Man Sweetheart I Want a Man Like Boo,” about Boozoo Chavis.

Angelle remembers her first meeting with Boozoo at a festival. “First thing he asked was where was his money,” she recalls. “Then he laughed and told me he liked my song about him.”

She has traveled all over the world playing Zydeco music as one of just a handful of female Zydeco accordion players. “I proudly represent where I come from, Cypress Island, in St. Martin Parish,” says Angelle.

Promoting her sixth CD, “Guaranteed Lover,” Angelle enjoys meeting new people and visiting places all over the world.

Angelle, a self taught musician, will celebrate her 60th birthday on Oct. 10.