Excerpt from Fun Section of the Advocate (Baton Rouge Newspaper)
Published on 04/19/02

John Fred Knockin' again

BR singer-songwriter has new CD but is still devoted to old rock 'n' roll

By JOHN WIRT
Entertainment writer

Like millions of other young people during the 1950s, John Fred fell for the raucous, blues-based music that came to be known as rock 'n' roll.

"I used to sing along with the records in my room," he said. "I knew the words to a lot of songs. I joked about it because, actually, I was a big basketball and baseball player. I would have never thought about singing."

Fred was a ninth grader attending a party when the singer in the band lost his voice.

"So the guy in the band says, 'Anybody out there know any songs? The singer's all burnt out.' So this girl I was with goes, 'Yeah, John Fred knows how to sing. He sings all the time.' "

Fred was reluctant, but the band's leader, Mickey Coerver, persuaded him to sing. Fred's performance of Fats Domino and Little Richard songs earned him an invitation to join the group.

"We need a singer real bad," Coerver said. "We like the way you sing. You ever thought about singing?"

"No, man," Fred replied. "My mama and daddy would kill me, man. I'm playing sports. They would never let me sing in no band."

"Look," Coerver said. "We got a job in two weeks. We go make $8 apiece."

"How much?" Fred asked.

Eight dollars was a lot of money for a high school kid in 1956.

"I went home and talked to my parents," Fred recalled. "They weren't really for it, but they said I could try it."

Coerver's band performed under various names, including the Red Caps. After the premiere issue of Playboy magazine and its Marilyn Monroe cover made a big stir, Coerver named the band the Playboys.

Coerver and the other members of the Playboys were a few years older than Fred.

“Mickey was the one that gave me the encouragement to sing," Fred said. "He always believed in me. Mickey passed away about four years ago, but I'll never forget what Mickey Coerver did for me. He was always on my side.

I was just a pup. Of course, I learned a lot as we went on. I learned so much about running a band from Mickey. With Mickey, you had to be on time; you had to learn the songs; you had to be at rehearsal. I don't care what was going on, we'd practice every Tuesday night."

UPDATE: I'd like to ask for prayers for Mickey's son Mike Coerver (my cousin) passed away at the end of March 2003 after fighting leukemia for about a year and went through hell with all kinds of chemotherapy and many trips to the hospital both in Baton Rouge and Houston. Mike is Mickey Coerver's son and the song "Take it on Faith" is about Mickey's inspiring outlook on life and positive spirit while battling a crippling tumor on his spine in 1995-1998. Mike's spirit was just like his father's and he was a very gifted math and science teacher who tutored legions of students and left behind so many grateful students and parents. Mike took over delivering newspapers on Mickey's large paper route and found it so satisfying to be his own boss doing that kind of work 364 days per year even while routinely tutoring four or five students a day. You can learn a lot about a person by seeing how he deals with a life-threatening illness. Mike dealt with his illness beautifully and bravely. With each failed series of treatments, he did not look back -- only forward. His first question always was, "OK, what can we try now?" He really believed that he would beat leukemia, and ultimately he did -- not by a cure but by the grace of God through the relief from all pain and suffering. One incredible trait that Mike had was the ability to not judge people or get caught up in materialism. All he wanted was good music, an extemely loud sound system, a beat up van for delivering newspapers and enough spare parts to keep his old Datsun convertible running. Thanks to Mike's long-time friend Peter Cronin and Mike's family (Aunt Robin and cousins Claire and Kristin) for the wonderful eulogy that some of the above was taken from."