Louis Marion Marcotte
known as
Marion Marcotte
A French Musical Story
written by his daughter Lori Marcotte Parigi
Marion Marcotte became a legend of Cajun French music and language. He was a song
writer, storywriter, vocalist and guitar player.
Although he lived most of his life in Cajun land, he was not really cajun.
His ancestors originated from the Alsace-Lorraine area of France. He was born and raised on a farm in Moreauville, Louisiana
with 9 brothers and sisters. After he received his high school diploma, he moved with his parents to New Orleans.
He bagan playing in local bars and night clubs with other musicians and created his own band.
He fell in love with and dated for ten years, Rita Spera, a woman whose
family migrated from Italy in the early 1900's, then settled in Gretna, Louisiana. Marion Marcotte and Rita Spera
married in 1959 and continued to live in the house that she grew up in on 4th Street in Historic Gretna. He lived in
that house for the rest of his life. The house still remains in the family. They had three children, Louis
III, Lori and Lisa, two grandchildren by daughter Lisa; Reginald Marcotte and Lexy Duhon. They also had one grandchild
by daughter Lori; Sophia Maria Parigi. Marion Marcotte was a hard working man and a great father. He managed to
send his three children to St. Joseph Catholic School in Gretna in order to instill the values he learned as a child
and provide them with a good education. He and his family openly expressed their feelings for one another and enjoyed
an inseparable love.
Marion Marcotte served in the United States Navy during World War II. he
was a member of the William D. White Masonic Lodge in Gretna which he joined in 1957. He was a full time longshoreman
for 40 years and a part time musician. He retired in 1981 as a union foreman of Stevedores. Although French language
and music were where is heart laid, he struggled laboring to give his family what they needed and more.
Marion Marcotte wrote over 300 songs, published 40 records and several albums.
There are still many beautiful, brilliant, heart wrenched songs that still remain unpublished. The first song he wrote
was when he was a child at the age of 14. His parents were very poor. He used this fact as part of his inspiration,
putting some of his life experiences in his funny folk tales and songs of country life. He picked cotton on the farm to purchase
his first guitar. Marion had a down to earth personality which allowed him to tell his stories natural and humorous.
his stories were so comical, people laughed themselves into tears. His other inspirations came from his love for his wife
and children. He wrote a song when his son Louis was born as he waited in the delivery room.
Marion Marcottes popularilty peaked in the 1960's and early 1970's and even
today his works are played on radio stations throughout the State of Louisiana and some parts of Texas. He wrote and published
campaign songs for Senators, Sheriff's, and other political candidates. He produced jingles for ads. His songs consisted
of a variety of emotions from sad to funny, births and deaths, and from love and heartaches. Marion Marcottes music
was not typical of any style but his own. It was a very advanced percussion style, difficult to create with the
recording equipment in the 1960's. His talent was authenic.
Marion firmly beleived in and was an activist to keeping the French language
alive. His parents only spoke french. He, himself, did not speak english until he went to school at the age of
six. Around the time of his popularity, the french language was diminishing in Louisiana. His cajun tales
served as a bridge to keep the French communications open. The ability to hear his stories over the radio
helped to keep french alive in family homes.
Today, a couple of colleges in the United States as well as colleges in Canada
use his french tales as electives for Cajun French and Cajun slang.
Marion Marcotte received numerous awards and requests to appear from the
Cajun french Music Association, Le Cajun Awards, The Council for The Development of French in Louisiana, Cutural Affairs of
Paris, France. Marion made the "top 10 seller list" of country music. In January 1998, Marion Marcotte was elected
as a life time member of the CAJUN MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM, an officailly sealed music association of the State of Louisiana.
On January 29, 1998 Marion Marcotte, at the age of 81, passed away from a stoke
at West Jefferson medical Hospital in marrero, Louisiana. He is buried at Westlawn Cemetery on Whitney Avenue in Gretna,
together with his wife Rita who passed away five years after him at the age of 75. His children and grandchildren still reside
in the City. He is sadly missed by many and hopes of his music, stories and love will carry on French Traditions and
inspire family devotion.
Marion Marcotte was, indeed, A FRENCH MUSICAL STORY, himself.
