Rod Bernard was born in Opelousas, LA on August 12, 1940. Growing up in a Cajun household, he was drawn to Cajun French music at a very early age. He began performing at around age 10, and co-founded a rock n’ roll band called The Twisters in 1957. The song, “This Should Go On Forever” catapulted Bernard to stardom. Bernard continued to succeed in his music career, which spanned more than 60 years. He has also worked at several radio stations, including Country Legends 106.7 radio, 102.1 KQIS radio, and KBON Radio 101.1 FM. Working as a radio advertising executive, he wrote many commercial scripts, as well as deejayed.

One of Bernard’s most important feats was being one of the pioneers of swamp pop music, alongside Johnnie Allan, Cookie and the Cupcakes, and Bobby Charles. This style of music combined traditional Cajun and Creole music with New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country, and rock n’ roll. This genre would go on to inspire a variety of Louisiana, national, and international artists, including Creedence Clearwater Revival with “swamp rock”, Zachary Richard, and C.C. Adcock.