Cleveland Crochet

by Craig HarrisThe fiddle player and bandleader of The Hillbilly Ramblers, a Cajun band whose 1961 song, "Sugar Bee," became the first Cajun song to reach the "Billboard Hot 100", Cleveland Crochet has never been financially compensated for the tune. "I didn't get anything out of it," Crochet said by telephone from his home in Iowa, Louisiana. "Eddie Schuler (owner of the Gold Band record label) stole the copyright." The son of a Cajun musician, Crochet built his first fiddle out of a cigar box at the age of twelve. Although he continued to earn his living as an iron worker, until his retirement in 1970, Crochet became a regular at Cajun dances throughout eastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana. Together with the Hillbilly Ramblers, which he formed in the 1950s, Crochet played every Saturday night at the Shamrock and Moulin Rouge dance clubs in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Since his retirement, Crochet has limited his playing to informal jam sessions.