Leon "Pee Wee” Whittaker was born circa 1906. He was raised mostly by his mother, Kizzie who could play "most anything” remembered Pee Wee. Mrs. Whittaker took Pee Wee on tour with her band...
Will Haney, a World War I vet, was one of Ferriday's leading African-American businessmen who made his living selling insurance, managing rental property and operating a laundry and hotel. But he...
Jimmy Lee Swaggart, born in Ferriday,Louisiana, on March 15, 1935, describeshimself as an old- fashioned, Holy Ghost-filled, shouting, weeping, soul-winning,gospel-preaching preacher....
Mickey Leroy Gilley, born March 9,1936, grew up in Ferriday, Louisiana, andis a well-known country music performerand songwriter. He learned to play thepiano alongside his famous cousins,...
Jerry Lee Lewis, born September 29, 1935,in Ferriday, Louisiana, with a God-given talent,at an early age became a world-famous rock-and-roll star. At age 8 he sang for the first timeto an audience...
1906 - 1993Leon "Peewee" Whittaker was bornabout 35 miles north of Ferriday,near Newellton, Louisiana. Hestudied music as a child and receivedinstruction on clarinet, trombone,guitar, string bass,...
Howard Kingsbury Smith, a broadcasterand journalist, was born in Ferriday,Louisiana, May 12, 1914. His father, alsonamed Howard K. Smith, was of a gentleman-farmer's family from Lettsworth,...
For most of his career, Pianist/vocalist Mickey Gilley lived in the shadow of his cousin, Jerry Lee Lewis, playing a similar fusion of country, rock, blues and R&B. In the early '70s, he...
Jerry Lee Lewis, aka The Killer, was born in 1935, in Ferriday, LA, where he began playing piano in his youth with his cousins, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart. He grew up listening to...
Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15) Jimmy Lee Swaggart was born March 15, 1935 in Ferriday, Louisiana. Ministering the Word under the anointing of...
Louisiana and Mississippi have long shared a close musical relationship. One of the most important musical paths was that between Natchez and Ferriday, where African American entrepreneur...