Formed in the early 1950s, Cookie and the Cupcakes was a swamp pop band from South Louisiana. They are perhaps best known for their hit single “Mathilda” (1959). Initially known as the Boogie Ramblers, the Lake Charles, Louisiana-based band was founded in 1951 by Shelton Dunaway. The band also included Marshall Laday (guitar), Ernest Jacobs (piano), Joe ‘Blue’ Landry (bass), Sidney ‘Hot Rod’ Reynaud (tenor sax), and Ivory Jackson (drums). Huey ‘Cookie’ Thierry joined in 1952, sharing lead vocals and sax duties with Dunaway. They became the house band at the Moulin Rouge Club in Lake Charles in 1953, releasing their first single two years later. They became a popular live act, playing shows with established rock and rhythm & blues artists like Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino. When Henry ‘Cookie’ Thierry assumed the role as sole vocalist in 1956, the band changed their name to Cookie and the Boogie Ramblers but settled on Cookie and the Cupcakes shortly thereafter. They recorded the song “Mathilda” in 1957, but it wasn’t released for another year. The song rose to the Number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in early 1959. It is now considered the unofficial swamp pop anthem. The band released several singles in the early 1960s, but none of them equaled the success of “Mathilda”. In 1965, Henry ‘Cookie’ Thierry left the band and the music industry and moved to Los Angeles, California. He was replaced by ‘Little Alfred’ Babino and the band continued playing for several years before finally splitting in the early ‘70s. In 1976, their former label released the compilation album The Legendary Cookie and the Cupcakes. Henry ‘Cookie’ Thierry was rediscovered in the early 1990s and subsequently played live with his former bandmates until his death on September 23, 1997. The band brought Little Alfred Babino back into the fold and continued to play the Louisiana circuit for the next few years. Babino died on November 14, 2006.
