Kid Creole

Known professionally as August Darnell and on stage as Kid Creole, he is an American musician, singer and songwriter who grew up in the Bronx and started out in 1965 with the band The In-Laws, formed with his half-brother Stony Browder Jr. After studying English and drama at Hofstra University and teaching school, he and Browder founded Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band in 1974, for which he wrote lyrics and played bass; the group scored a hit in 1976 with Cherchez La Femme, and its debut album went gold and earned a Grammy nomination. He left in 1979, co-wrote There But for the Grace of God Go I for Machine, and took the name Kid Creole in 1980 for Kid Creole and the Coconuts, whose albums Tropical Gangsters and others found success in Europe. He also formed Elbow Bones and the Racketeers and appeared as himself in the film Against All Odds.