From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Aug 12, 2003  1:19 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Roland Stone

ROLAND STONE

Born Roland LeBlanc, 12 August 1941, New Orleans, Louisiana
Died 22 December 1999, New Orleans, Louisiana

Roland Stone was a New Orleans R&B performer, somewhat in
the style of Jimmy Clanton. None other than Aaron Neville has 
referred to Stone as "the singingest white guy I've ever heard".

Roland LeBlanc originally played guitar and sang in a high school
band called The Jokers. In 1959 he was spotted by Mac Rebennack
who persuaded him to join his group, The Skyliners. This led to the
release of his first record, "Preacher's Daughter" (a re-working of the
traditional blues 'Junco Partner'), on Spinett, a label owned by Frankie
Ford and his manager, Joe Caronna (who in turn became LeBlanc's
manager and came up with the name Roland Stone). Switching to
Johnny Vincent's Ace label, "Something Special" helped establish
his name on the East Coast, and was followed by "Just A Moment"
(Ace 629), which became a local hit and sold an estimated 100,000
copies in the South. Further Ace releases followed, including an LP
(called "Just A Moment"), but following a final single on Cosimo
Matassa's White Cliffs label in 1964, "Remember That", LeBlanc
quit music to work in the dry cleaning business.

Moving to Texas in 1969, he began singing again under his real name,
but by the early '80s he had returned to New Orleans where he bought
a dry cleaning business. The '90s saw him recording again and two
CD's on Orleans Records met with critical acclaim. In more recent
times he'd worked with his brother in a galvanized metal company,
whilst at the same time continuing to perform at local clubs and
festivals. Shortly before his death in 1999, Westside Records in 
the UK issued a compilation of his Ace recordings.

(Adapted from the obituary in Now Dig This 203, February 2000.)

CD: Just A Moment : Something Special From Ronald Stone...
(Westside WESM 577, 28 tracks). Only a few decent rockers,
most of the material is undistinguished. Recommended only to
New Orleans completists and Jimmy Clanton fans.