Ernie Vincent was born in 1945 in Thibodaux, Louisiana, and has been a mainstay of the New Orleans music scene since the early 1970s, leading his band the Top Notes. A singer, guitarist, songwriter, producer, and bandleader, he worked through the decades as a sideman and session player backing some of the biggest R&B acts to come through the city — King Floyd, Ernie K-Doe, Rufus Thomas, ZZ Hill, and Solomon Burke among them.
His own most famous record is the ultra-funky 'Dap Walk' from the early 1970s, and the self-proclaimed 'Dap King' finally gave that persona its album in 2023: Original Dap King, a ten-track LP of signature funk and bluesy R&B released January 13, 2023 on Cornelius Chapel Records. Produced by Matt Patton (Drive-By Truckers) and Jimbo Mathus and recorded in April 2021 at Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, Mississippi, it features AJ Haynes (the Seratones) on backing vocals.
