Editing Boozoo Chavis (section)

==Early life==
Chavis was born to parents Arthur and Marceline Chavis in a [[Louisiana Creole people|Creole]] settlement called Pied des Chiens (Dog Hill), in [[Lake Charles, Louisiana|Lake Charles]], [[Louisiana]].<ref name=":0" /> He was the son of tenant farmers, and acquired the nickname "Boozoo" in his childhood,<ref name="Tisserand">{{cite web |url=https://www.offbeat.com/articles/boozoo-chavis-dog-hill-afternoon/ |title=Boozoo Chavis: Dog Hill Afternoon |last=Tisserand |first=Michael |date=January 1, 1993 |website=www.offbeat.com |publisher=OffBeat Magazine |access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref> although the origin of the nickname is unknown.<ref name="wapost">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=May 7, 2001 |title=Zydeco Musician Wilson Chavis Dies |newspaper=The Washington Post |edition=Final |location=Washington, D.C. |page=Metro Section, B06}}</ref> When asked by a reporter about his nickname, Chavis replied "Man, I hate that question".<ref>{{cite news |last=Rose |first=Christopher |date=April 25, 1996 |title=Moniker Mania: How They Got Those Nicknames |work=The Times-Picayune |location=New Orleans, Louisiana |page=Living Section, E1}}</ref>

Accounts vary as to when and how Chavis obtained his first accordion. A ''[[Living Blues]]'' magazine story says that at age 9, he traded a small riding horse for his first accordion, a little single-row model, and taught himself to play.<ref name="Silverman">{{cite magazine |last=Silverman |first=Edward R. |date=July–August 1991 |title=Boozoo Chavis: Beyond the Crawfish Circuit |magazine=Living Blues |location=Oxford, Mississippi |publisher=Center for the Study of Southern Culture |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=17–19 |issn=0024-5232}}</ref> An article in ''[[OffBeat (music magazine)|OffBeat Magazine]]'' claims that Chavis bought his first accordion with money earned from riding in a horse race when he was a teenager; similarly, ''[[Sing Out!]]'' claims that he bought the accordion at 13 with horse race bet winnings.<ref name="Tisserand"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Snyder |first=Jared |date=1999 |title=Boozoo Chavis: His Own Kind of Zydeco Man |journal=[[Sing Out!]] |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=34–41 |via=ProQuest Music Periodicals Database}}</ref> He was exposed to music within his family; his father, some uncles and cousins all played accordion. His great uncle was Sidney Babineaux, a popular accordionist from [[Rayne, Louisiana|Rayne]] who played in the [[La la (music)|"La La" style]].<ref name=":1" /> Boozoo played [[Washboard (musical instrument)|washboard]] and [[harmonica]] prior to obtaining his first accordion, and his father taught him early accordion lessons.<ref name=":1" /> Chavis credits his mother as being especially enterprising, as she took on cleaning jobs and selling barbeque at informal horse races to raise extra money, with which she bought three acres of land. When he was 14, the Chavis family moved "across the highway".<ref name="Tisserand"/>

Later, Chavis bought a [[Diatonic button accordion|button accordion]] and began performing regularly at a dance club that his mother opened, often sitting in on performances with [[Clifton Chenier]], his father, Morris Chenier, and brother, Cleveland Chenier. Chavis also played music as a side job at house dances on weekends and evenings.<ref name="Tisserand"/> As well as developing the playing style that came to be known as [[zydeco]], Chavis worked as a farmer, jockey, and [[horse trainer]].<ref name="allmusic"/><ref name="nyt">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/07/arts/boozoo-chavis-70-accordionist-who-spread-the-zydeco-sound.html |title=Boozoo Chavis, 70, Accordionist Who Spread the Zydeco Sound |last=Pareles |first=Jon |date=May 7, 2001 |work=The New York Times |access-date=25 November 2016}}</ref>