Mark Klein and the Last Sensations

Mark Klein just turned 15 and he’s feeling old. Well, he’s already been a professional musician for years.

A student at Central High School, Mark began performing with the Boogie Kings, a Louisiana music institution, in 2004. Band leader Ned Theall invited the then 10-year-old Mark to join the group after he sang James Brown’s “(I Got You) I Feel Good” with the Boogie Kings on stage at a Live After Five! event.

A singer and guitarist, Mark performs with the Boogie Kings about twice a month. He’s also featured on the band’s latest CD, Never Go Away.

“It’s wonderful because I get to do what I love and make money for it,” he said last week. “It’s like my own part-time job but, in my case, it’s a full-time job because I’m thinking music 24-7.”

Mark’s also formed another band, Funkkshun. The group includes singer-guitarist Selwyn Cooper and bassist Alonzo Johnson, a member of Rockin’ Dopsie’s band.

Having already released two solo CDs, Mark is writing new songs for an upcoming Funkkshun CD. “We’re so funky that we need two Ks,” he said.

A 10-year member of Louisiana Kids, a division of American Kids Inc. (an organization that bills itself as the little league of young entertainers), Mark has been named entertainer of the year for both Louisiana Kids and American Kids.

Soul, rhythm-and-blues and swamp pop are his specialties. His favorite performers include such classic stars as James Brown and Ray Charles.

“We took Mark to every swamp-pop show from the age of 4 on,” his mother, Julie, said. “That kind of stuck to him. And a lot of the artists knew that he was a young singer and they would say, ‘Mark, would you get up and sing a song?’ ”

“I don’t get nervous at all on stage,” he said, “because the stage is a wonderful place where anybody can transform into a different person.

But talking to people on a day-to-day basis, if I don’t have a mike, I occasionally feel out of my element.”

Besides the Boogie Kings’ Ned Theall, Klein’s mentors include local blues artist Kenny Acosta, who taught him basic guitar chords, scales and riffs.

Mark also learned a lot by studying James Brown.

“The way he can move, it’s beyond incredible,” he said. “I try to style myself after him, because nobody wants to see somebody stand still unless he’s playing an instrument. If a singer’s not playing an instrument, he needs to use his entire body.”

Local soul and rhythm-and-blues vocalist Luther Kent is among Mark’s other inspirations. “That guy wrote the book,” he said. “We saw him a couple of weeks ago at Perkins Rowe. It was cold and wet but everybody still had a great time. The guy can get any crowd pumped.”

Julie Klein, a former Metairie resident who played classical music as a child, impressed the importance of professionalism upon her son early on.

“It’s not just music, it’s the music business,” her son explained. “You have to be professional off stage as well. Even if you’ve got strep throat or something, you still gotta walk through the crowd and greet people, let them tell you you need to go on American Idol or something. I get that a lot.”


- Baton Rouge Advocate Newspaper

By ROBERT LOPEZ
June 5, 2006
Posted: June 18, 2008, 1:20 AM CDT
Twelve-year-old Mark Klein will perform with the Fabulous Boogie Kings Saturday at the Gulf Coast Jam in Port Arthur. Photo provided by www.markklein.us

Mark Klein is 12 years old, but his dance moves channel Elvis, his voice echoes James Brown and his greatest musical influence is the Fabulous Boogie Kings, a rhythm and blues band that got its start 50 years ago. The eighth-grader from Baton Rouge, La., will take the stage alongside Louisiana supergroup the Fabulous Boogie Kings for the Gulf Coast Jam in Port Arthur on Saturday. The details
Who: The Fabulous Boogie Kings. When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday. Where: The Carl Parker Multipurpose Center, Lamar State College-Port Arthur, 1800 Lakeshore Drive, Port Arthur. Cost: $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Tickets are available at Swicegood Music in Beaumont, A&S Music in Nederland, The Penny Record in Orange and the Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur. Contact: (409) 722-3699.

"You put a 12-year-old on stage, like that kid, the audience eats it up," said Ned Theall, the band's 68-year-old trumpeter and leader. "And he never misses a beat, never goes out of time. He's just a stone-natural, gifted kid. When he gets on stage, you see all the kids run up to the stage. He sings to those young girls. He's got a dynamic thing going." The Boogie Kings recently initiated an 18-month farewell tour, though the end might not really be near, as the group has disbanded before. The band started out playing the dives along the Texas-Louisiana border in 1955, becoming a southern institution through the 1950s and 1960s. In their heyday, they shared bills with such legends as Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett and the Righteous Brothers. Elvis Presley once dropped in on one of their shows in Las Vegas. During the years, the band recorded 20 albums - though never had a hit. Some believe that, like the Grateful Dead, the band's music is better live where people can dance to it. The group has ranged from three performers to 12. Saturday's line-up will feature, in addition to Theall and Klein, Groves native Jerry LaCroix, Allen Wayne, who grew up in Port Arthur, and G.G. Shinn of Monroe, La. Klein is the son of Robert and Julie Klein, a Louisiana gaming enforcement agent, and a repairwoman for Pitney Bowes, respectively. He began performing when he was two, and by the time he was 8 was touring with bands all over Texas. Two years ago, he discovered the Boogie Kings during one of their shows in Baton Rouge, La. "I had sent an e-mail to the band leader (Theall), that said just 'Ned, check out my site,'" Klein said in a telephone interview. "And he did. Next time I went to a show, he pulled me up, asked me to do a couple of numbers, and they kept on asking me to do more, and it just kind of went from that." Theall admits he was a little surprised to have such a young and dedicated fan. "I thought to myself, 'what an odd thing to see a 10-year-old boy up there with a bunch of 60-year-old men,'" he said. "He goes up there with some of the most experienced men in show business, but he more than holds his own. He could be one of the key people to keep that kind of music going." The 12-year-old now tags along on most of the band's gigs, bringing his school books if they have a show during the week. He can perform pretty much anywhere the guys typically go, except for casinos - because of his father's connection to gaming enforcement. Klein said he's learned from the band that "you have to feel the music." "You can't just sing. You really have to get into it. I don't consider myself a singer as much as an entertainer. When I go up there on stage, I go all out. I start dancing and all kinds of stuff," he said. "He's killer man," Theall said. "He has a lot of class. He dresses. We call him the little king. He does the moves like Elvis does and like James Brown does." Eventually, Klein hopes to put out his own CD, featuring some members of the Boogie Kings. Theall said he'll continue to mentor him. rlopez@beaumontenterprise.com (409) 880-0790


- Beamont Enterprise

Klein to help Boogie Kings say farewell Saturday

June 03, 2006 11:40 pm

— By Darragh Doiron
The News staff writer

Mark Klein won’t have to pay to get into The Fabulous Boogie Kings farewell concert Saturday.
For one thing, he’s 12, and gets the kid rate of “free.” For another thing, he’s a performer. Dubbed “The 12-year-old singing sensation,” Klein has been a regular on the Texas Opry Circuit and was named American Kids Entertainer of the Year in Branson and Louisiana Kids Entertainer of the Year in 2004.
Ned Theall of the Boogie Kings asked Klein to sit in with the band and Klein said he loved the group’s sound. He studied their showmanship and “soaked in their wisdom.” He’s now a regular vocalist with them.
But Theall says that after 50 years, it’s time to say good-bye. They’re kicking off a farewell tour with the Gulf Coast Jam.
“The Boogie Kings” will headline the 16th Annual Gulf Coast Jam at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 3 at the Carl A. Parker Multipurpose Center at Lamar State College-Port Arthur, Lakeshore Drive.
Jerry “The Count” LaCroix, G.G. Shinn, T.K. Hulin, Warren Storm, Port Arthur’s own Alan Wayne Michon, 12-year old singing sensation Mark Klein and Willie T. & Cypress will play.
Tickets will be $25 at the door. Children 12 and younger are admitted free with parents. The box office will be open for ticket sales at 6:30 p.m. the day of the show.
Theall says the farewell concert allows the gang a chance to perform for fans who have supported them since they were kids. What will they do next?
“Oh, we’ll probably make another comeback,” Theall said.
LaCroix and Hulin are old favorites to Southeast Texas stages. Here a bit on others in the lineup:

Warren Storm
In 1958 Storm recorded The Prisoner’s Song, which was an instant nationwide hit and gradually became known as The Godfather of Swamp Pop. He is in the Louisiana and Texas Hall of Fame.

G.G. Shinn
From performing with The Flat Tops in 1956 to playing with The Boogie Kings, Shinn has lived up to live music by owning night clubs in Louisiana.

Willie Tee and Cypress
performs with his own group, T.K. Hulin and the Boogie Kings. His “Go On and Cry” is written for those who love to dance.

Allen Wayne
Allen Wayne was raised in Lake Arthur, La., and has shared the stage with Edgar and Johnny Winter. He and Janis Joplin were classmates in the early ‘60s and he has performed with Big Joe Turner and Bobby Blue Bland. IN the ‘60s he headlined in Bossier City at such clubs as Merle Kimmerly’s nationally famous Boom Boom Room, the Diamond Head Lounge and the Shindig Lounge. In 1974 he joined T.K. Hulin & Smoke. In the ‘80s he performed Vegas-styled shows with Main Event in Houston and later moved to Southern California and put together a band called Pure Platinum. They performed private affairs for luminaries such as Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. In 2001 he was inducted into the Louisiana Hall of Fame. He is currently a lead vocalist with The Fabulous Boogie Kings.




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- Port Arthur News