coming up this fall. (See her schedule at the
end of this article for more details.)
Belting out a style that fuses jazz, blues,
funk, soul, R&B, second-line, spirituals
and show tunes, Wanda has earned the
sobriquet of “The Sweetheart of New
Orleans.” In the words of one reviewer,
“Ms. Rouzan is not just ‘A Taste of New
Orleans’ but, ‘A Whole Meal.’” Numerous
awards attest to this assessment.
A product of the musically rich 7th
Ward of New Orleans, Wanda grew up
surrounded by the wealth of talent the
neighborhood produced. Among the
names she mentioned were Lee Dorsey,
Wardell Quezergue, Wendell Brunious,
Danny White (“Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye”)
and one of the original singers in the
Dixie Cups.
Caught up in the ambient rhythms of
the neighborhood as a youngster, Wanda
sang in a trio with her sisters, Laura and
Barbara, as the Rouzan Sisters, and they
recorded in the ‘60s on the Frisco Records
label with Quezergue’s musical arrangements.
Their first sessions were recorded
COVER STORY
at Cosimo Matassa’s world-renowned
studio on North Rampart Street and they
had a big hit with the single, “Men of War”
in 1965.
While attending Xavier Prep (now St.
Katherine Drexel) High School, Wanda
discovered acting and pursued it as a major
she would follow into Xavier University.
She was also a majorette, cheerleader and
an actor in school productions. Outside of
school she studied tap and ballet at two
dance studios close to where she grew up.
“I did a lot of theatre at the university
(Xavier), which is where my real love for
theatre was honed,” Wanda said. She
received her degree there in theatre and
speech pathology and a Master’s in speech
pathology at Penn State University. “I had
a fellowship to go there because they were
recruiting minorities at the time,” she
explained.
“After I returned to New Orleans I
taught theatre in the gifted and talented
program for the Orleans Parish School
System,” she said. In the evenings she
acted at the Contemporary Arts Center
under directorship of
the late Carl Walker.
She also worked at
Le Petit Theatre with
Becky Allen and Ricky
Graham and performed
for a few summers with
Tulane Summer Lyric
Theatre.
Adding to her list
of accomplishments,
Wanda proudly noted,
“I’ve been doing
JazzFest every year
since 1979 and I had
the honor of closing out
the first French Quarter
Festival on their only
stage at the time with
Juanita Brooks and
Sadie Blake.”
Currently she is
working special events
with an ad hoc group of
iconic vocalists loosely
calling themselves
“The Legends.” Included among them
are Clarence “Frogman” Henry, the
Dixie Cups and Al “Carnival Time”
Johnson. “We all sing together
and we’ve been doing that
for quite a few years,”
she said.
Among Wanda’s acting
credits are HBO’s Treme
series where she was a regular
during the second season, and
musicals like One Mo’ Time, Hot Stuff
New Orleans Style, Annie and Lady Day at
Emerson’s Bar and Grill. She also choreographed
the feature films Ray and Glory
Road. Her four CDs - A Taste of New
Orleans, It's What I Do, Where Ya’At and
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