Johnny St. Cyr
*Johnny St. Cyr was born on this date in 1890. He was a Black jazz banjoist and guitarist.
Johnny St. Cyr was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He played for several leading New Orleans bands before moving to Chicago in 1923. Sr. Cyr played with Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven bands. He also played with Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers and composed "Oriental Strut," known for its adventurous chord sequence.
During the 1950s, he performed and led a group named Johnny St. Cyr and His Hot Five and recorded with Paul Barbarin and George Lewis. From 1961 until 1966, he was the bandleader of the Young Men from New Orleans, who performed at Disneyland. Johnny St. Cyr died in Los Angeles, California, on June 17, 1966, and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles.
