Pierre Lacocque

Pierre Lacocque is an acclaimed and he was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame in October 2017.

He entered the Chicago scene in the late 1980s when, among other bands, he performed with The Blue Knights led by Tré, Doug McDonald and the Blue Mirror Band and Lawrence "Lil" Sonny Wimberly and his band, The Blues Invaders. In late 1991, he and his brother, Michel Lacocque (the band manager) founded Mississippi Heat with three other musicians. It was originally a quartet composed of guitarist-singer Jon McDonald, bassist Bob Stroger, drummer-singer Robert Covington and Pierre Lacocque, harmonicist and bandleader.

Mississippi Heat's slogan and mission statement is "Traditional Blues with a Unique Sound." The band's new recording Madeleine (Van der Linden Records) was released in 2021, following Cab Driving Man (2016, DE 848) and Warning Shot (2014, DE 839), both on Delmark Records.

Biography Early childhood and adolescence Pierre-Emmanuel Lacocque was born in Jerusalem, Israel, on October 13, 1952 to Protestant Belgian parents. His father, a Judeo-Christian scholar, travelled extensively in his early career. By 1957, Pierre Lacocque had lived in four countries, having spent two years in Germany, three in France, and finally returning to Belgium. From 1962–1963, during his 5th grade year, his family spent another year in Jerusalem. valued intellectual pursuits in the fields of Judeo-Christian theology, philosophy, and classical literature. The musician said in a 2014 interview that although it was “amazing” to have the “privilege” to read intellectual and classical texts, “it did not match who I was mentally.”

As Lacocque and his siblings were the only non-Jews at the school, he often felt out of place for being a Christian, adding to a feeling of loneliness and isolation. In his interview with Lehmann, he said, "It made sense that I eventually asked myself, 'Who am I really?' Not only psychologically speaking, but also religiously." The second came in the mid-1960s, when his father, returning from a trip to India, brought him a Hohner Marine Band harmonica. "I was moved, but not driven to master it," he said later in an interview with Harmonica.com. From then until 1989, he worked full-time as a psychotherapist and continued researching and publishing. Among his most notable publications is a 1981 book entitled "The Jonah Complex," which he wrote with his father, André Lacocque. The book was extensively revised and updated in 1990 under the title "Jonah: A Psycho-Religious approach to the Prophet."

"We are ... attracted to the traditional Chicago blues and the Chicago blues sound, for sure. But we want to bring something fresh and exciting to the culture as well, come up with new ideas and keep advancing things. You can continue to come up with new things, while also keeping them steeped in tradition ... That's our approach to the blues," Lacocque said in a 2013 interview. was made about the original six-piece band with Lacocque, Farr, Flynn, Wheeler, Stroger and Kirk. It drew from interviews with each member of the band during their 1994 performance at the Ecaussinnes Spring Blues Festival in Belgium and focused on the Belgian roots of Pierre and Michel Lacocque.