From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sat Feb 9, 2002  2:15 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Jivin' Gene
 
JIVIN' GENE (Shaun / Dik)

Born Gene Bourgeois, 9 February 1940, Port Arthur, Texas

Swamp pop singer / songwriter / guitarist

Jivin' Gene was one of the few artists to take Louisiana's local version
of rock 'n' roll into the national charts. Known as swamp pop, the music
is best summed up by sax player Harry Simoneaux who described it as
"part fais-do-do and part Domino". Jivin' Gene scored a # 69 pop hit in
1959 with his own composition, the swamp pop standard, "Breakin' Up
Is Hard To Do", produced by Huey Meaux. First released on the small
Jin label, it was taken over for national distribution by Mercury.
A gutsy performer, Gene did not entirely escape the treatment which
Mercury regularly gave to their South Louisiana signings. Many of his
14 sides for the label are burdened with strings, but his revival of Fats
Domino's "Poor Me", "Go On, Go On" and "I Cried" fared quite well.
He also had a minor hit with a violin-laden remake of "Going Out With
the Tide" on the Cash Box (but not Billboard listings) in late 1960.
Recording much of the time in Nashville, Gene managed to overcome
Mercury's frequent production excesses with strong performances in
the Fats Domino mold. He continued making good records for Chess,
Hallway and TCF-Hall until the mid-sixties. In the early eighties, Gene
Bourgeois was still living and working in Port Arthur, and had started to
perform again, according to the source mentioned below.

Further reading: John Broven, South to Louisiana (1983).