Queen Ida

Ida Lewis "Queen Ida" Guillory (born January 15, 1929) She was the first female accordion player to lead a zydeco band. Queen Ida's music is an eclectic mix of R&B, Caribbean, and Cajun, though the presence of her accordion always keeps it traditional. Her family moved to Beaumont, Texas, when she was ten and eight years later moved to San Francisco, California. A year after her first appearance on stage Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Band signed with the record label GNP/Crescendo, Rapone often wrote and produced for her and formed the Bon Temps Zydeco Band, which later became Queen Ida's backup group. A revised second edition of the cookbook was published in 1995.

Queen Ida continued to perform live through the 2000s, and though she did not release any albums during this period, she has joined her son Myrick and his band onstage. She officially retired from playing in 2010 and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she enjoys cooking for her friends and family.

One of her accordions is among the artifacts exhibited at the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, Tennessee, which opened in January 2021.

Selected discography

Awards and honors She is a recipient of a 2009 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Grammy Awards Won: 1 Nominations: 4

1980 Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Zydeco Band in New Orleans Zydeco 1982 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Zydeco Band on Tour Zydeco 1984 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording On a Saturday Night Zydeco 1986 Best Traditional Folk Recording Caught in the Act Zydeco

Blues Music Awards Won: 2 Nominations: 4

Queen Ida Blues Music Awards History Year Category Result 1983 Traditional Blues Female Artist 1984 Traditional Blues Female Artist 1988 Traditional Blues Female Artist 1989 Traditional Blues Female Artist 1990 Traditional Blues Female Artist 1991 Traditional Blues Female Artist