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Cookie and the Cupcakes are an American "swamp pop" band from south Louisiana, best known for their 1959 hit "Mathilda". "Swamp pop" is a Louisiana hybrid of rhythm and blues and early rock and roll with Cajun music and zydeco, with soulful singing.
The band were originally led by Huey "Cookie" Thierry (1936-1997), who was born near Jennings, Louisiana. He formed the band around 1953, originally as The Boogie Ramblers, and shared lead vocals and tenor sax with Shelton Dunaway. Other original members were Sidney "Hot Rod" Reynaud (tenor sax), Marshall Laday (or LeDee) (guitar), Ernest Jacobs (piano), Joe "Blue" Landry (bass) and Ivory Jackson (drums)[1]. The band was based in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
In 1955 The Boogie Ramblers released "Cindy Lou" and "Such As Love" on Goldband Records. They became a popular regional live act, and toured with big names like Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino.
They then changed their name to Cookie and the Cupcakes, and in 1958 recorded "Mathilda" for Lyric Records. The record rose to # 47 on the Billboard pop chart in early 1959, and is regarded as the unofficial anthem of the "swamp pop" genre. They followed up with a number of highly regarded but less commercially successful singles in the early 1960s, including "Belinda", "Betty and Dupree", and "Got You on My Mind".
After a serious car accident in 1964, "Cookie" Thierry moved away to California, and was replaced as lead singer by "Little Alfred" (or "Lil' Alfred") Babino (b. January 5, 1944, Lake Charles - d. November 14, 2006). With Ernest Jacobs as bandleader, the group continued for several years but dispersed in the early 1970s.
Thierry was rediscovered in the 1990s and played at occasional blues festivals, reunited with the rest of the band, until his death in 1997. Thereafter, the band, led by Lil' Alfred, continued to perform at clubs in Louisiana and southeast Texas. Babino died at his residence in Lake Charles, LA in 2006. [2]
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