Kid Creole & The Coconuts are touring the U.S. for the first time in 14 years, kicking off the mini-tour at B.B. King’s in New York City on March 25th. Kid Creole (aka August Darnell) first rose to fame in the 70’s as part of Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, best known for their hit single ‘Chezchez La Femme.’ When the disco craze came to close at the end of that decade, Darnell created a new stage persona in 1980. He incorporated various musical styles: Latin American, South American, Caribbean and Trinidadian. Kid Creole and the Coconuts were born.
The ‘Kid’ and his band performed to a sold out B.B. King’s crowd for over 2 hours, covering classics from their catalog, such as “Stool Pigeon,” “Endicott,” “Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy,” “Lifeboat Party” and more. The big surprise was an unannounced appearance by Cory Daye. She joined August on stage to perform “Chezchez La Femme” from the Dr. Buzzard era. The crowd hung on every note the entire show. If you were at B.B. King’s that evening, you were at the best party in all of NYC.
Click Here to see full photo gallery
The band included:
Kid Creole (August Darnell) (Vocals)
Eva Tudor-Jones (Mama Coconut)
Jessica Forsman (Coconut)
Roos Van Awesome (Coconut)
Charlie Lagond (saxophone)
Shareef Clayton (trumpet)
Mike Gorman (keyboards)
Barnaby Dickinson (trombone)
Jamie McCredie (guitar)
Oroh Angiama (bass)
Flex Republic (M.C. / Kid’s right hand man)
Malene Mortensen (chanteuse)
Dave Imbrechts (drummer)
Anthony Almonte (percussion)
Photographer extraordinaire Doug Seymour was present to capture moments, both during the performance and backstage. Check out his terrific gallery above or by clicking here.