Jean performs "Mr. Big Stuff" at Louisiana's Greatest Hits - LIVE! 

Jean Knight & Mike Shepherd - 10-27-2007

Jean Knight didn’t have her first hit until 1971 but it was such a huge hit that it would be impossible to overlook

her when discussing Louisiana rock singers.  Born Jean Caliste in New Orleans on January 26, 1943, she got her big

break when, at the urging of her first husband, she entered Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studio to record a demo in 1965. 

Huey Meaux of Winnie, Texas was also in the studio to record a female singer, Barbara Lynn, whom he’d discovered in

nearby Beaumont.  He was confident Barbara Lynn’s song You’ll Lose a Good Thing would be a winner – and it was –

but Meaux had the presence of mind to take note of this other new singer from New Orleans.  He signed her to a recording

contract and she recorded three singles for Meaux, including a cover of Ernie K-Doe’s Tain’t It the Truth, but nothing really

With music now only a hobby, she worked full time baking bread in Loyola University’s cafeteria.  Then one day a stranger

approached her to say he’d written some songs that producer Wardell Quezergue wanted her to sing.  She’d never heard

of Quezergue but she was intrigued enough to allow him to transport her in a borrowed bus to his Malaco Studio in

Jackson, Mississippi.  She’d heard a tape of Mr. Big Stuff and she liked it, but it was a ballad and she wanted to liven it up. 

Joe Broussard, one of the co-writers of the song, told her to sing it the way she felt it.  In the Malaco studios, she nailed

Knight went back to baking bread while Quezergue tried to find a label interested in picking up her record and Groove Me,

a song that King Floyd had recorded the same day.  His first choice was Stax Records in Memphis, but they weren’t

interested so in desperation Quezergue started his own label, Chimneyville, and released Groove Me which became

an instant hit in New Orleans.  That got the attention of Stax executives and the company picked up Knight’s Mr. Big Stuff. 

The record was an overnight sensation in the Washington and New York markets and the song quickly climbed to number

As personal appearances piled up for Knight, Mr. Big Stuff went on to sell more than three million copies, earning

her both gold and platinum records.  At the Grammy awards in New York, the song was runner-up to Aretha Franklin’s

Knight was getting $5000 a night and was so busy she didn’t have time to buy a car but she was never home long enough

to drive one anyway.  Stax suggested some songs for her to record but Quezergue tossed them, insisting that she record songs

his production company came up with.  The dispute between Quezergue and Stax accelerated the end of her association

with the record company by 1973, not that it mattered to her future finances.  “Mr. Big Stuff is better to me now than thirty-one

In 1981, she charted again (number 57) with You Think You’re Hot Stuff that sold 900,000 copies, and in 1985, her

cover of Rockin’ Sidney’s My Toot Toot sold 850,000 singles.  In all, there were three versions of My Toot Toot that

charted simultaneously, including Knight’s, which was an even bigger hit than that of Rockin’ Sidney.

On October 27, 2007 at the LMHOF "Louisiana's Greatest Hits - LIVE! - Volume 1" concert in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,

Jean Knight was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame.

To learn and experience more, please visit Jean Knight's Inductees (Photo & Memorabalia) Gallery and her 

Inductees Video Gallery under "GALLERIES MUSIQUE" on this site.   

Bio courtesy of Tom Aswell - Author of "Louisiana Rocks - The True Genesis Of Rock And Roll"

Be sure to visit Jean Knight's Video Gallery and Inductee's Photo & memorabalia Gallery under "GALLERIES MUSIQUE" on this site.