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Swamp pop crooner Terry DeRouen who began recording songs at the age of 14 and headlined bands playing across Louisiana as Gene Terry has died at the age of 84.

DeRouen, who went by the stage name Gene Terry, passed away Dec. 26.

Fellow musician and swamp pop performer Jivin’ Gene Bourgeois attended Bishop Byrne Catholic High School with DeRouen and both graduated in 1958. They were lifelong friends.

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Bourgeois said DeRouen got into bands soon after graduation, one of which was the Down Beats. The group had a large horn section and played much of south Louisiana lacking the house wherever they performed.

“His band always won band contests,” Bourgeois said.

DeRouen’s recording of the song Cindy Lou was a fan fave.

In a 2016 interview with the Port Arthur News DeRouen said it was a performance by a young musician just getting his start in the business that likely led him to become a musician himself.

“I saw Elvis in Shreveport,” DeRouen, who was later billed as “Gene Terry,” said of Elvis Presley’s performance in 1954 during the Louisiana Hayride radio program. “At that time I was listening to Jim Reeves, Floyd Cramer, and there was this guy on stage in a pink suit and my dad said my eyes never left the stage.”

DeRouen — Gene Terry and His Kool Kats, produced a single, “the Woman I love,” recorded in a local couple’s home. The record label was Rock-It Recording Company.

He later played with the Down Beats that featured a big horn section. A five-year recording contract was penned with Eddie Shuler, producer of Goldband Records in Lake Charles and three 45 RPM singles were produced; Cindy Lou/Teardrops in My Eyes, Never Let Her Go/No Main Today and Guy With a Million Dreams/ Cinderella, Cinderella.

DeRouen started out with rock-a-billy style music then moved on to swamp pop. He cut some records, toured a bit then settled down and raised a family.

But he didn’t put his musical career away permanently.

In June 2016 he performed at the Southern Rockin’ event at the Borderline in London.

Bourgeois said they later performed together for a church benefit as a duet. DeRouen called them the Pair of Genes.

Visitation for DeRouen will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Broussard’s, 505 N. 12^th St., Nederland.

His funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at Broussard’s with interment to follow at Memory Gardens in Jefferson County.