Bandleader, sideman, artist and composer Robert Parker died at his Roseland, Louisiana home on January 19 from natural causes. He was 89. Best known for the infectious, international hit “Barefootin’,” he was elected to the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2012, he received the OffBeat Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement Award along with Frankie Ford, Jean Knight, the Dixie Cups, Frankie Ford, Ernie Vincent, Al Johnson and Clarence Henry.

Joseph Irrera, who managed the a...