WLAE Presents Irma Thomas with Emmy Award “Irma Thomas: The Soul Queen of New Orleans – a Concert Documentary Film”

NEW ORLEANS (press release) – WLAE-TV officials presented Grammy award winner and New Orleans iconic Soul Queen Irma Thomas with her first Emmy Award for the public television station’s documentary on her life and music produced and broadcasted in February 2021.
 
Entitled “Irma Thomas: The Soul Queen of New Orleans – A Concert Documentary Film,” the entertaining one-hour documentary was awarded the coveted Suncoast Emmy award in December in Orlando, and station management presented the 82-year-old Soul Queen with her very own golden Emmy statuette at a ceremony at the Mid-City station today.
 
“Irma Thomas: The Soul Queen of New Orleans – A Concert Documentary Film” features a candid interview with one of New Orleans’ most celebrated musical icons as well as never-before-seen footage of Irma in concert in her early days.
 
In the documentary, Irma’s close friends and her local and national musical contemporaries tell the story of Irma’s humble beginnings in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, her days living with her grandparents in Greensburg, Louisiana, how she sang in the Baptist church choir as a young girl and how she quickly rose to national stardom with her first of many R&B Billboard chart singles “Don’t Mess with my Man” in 1959.
 
“Irma played such a pivotal role in the making of this award-winning television documentary, and she is deserving of this very special award presented by some of the country’s most talented television producers and directors” said Jim Dotson, vice-president of WLAE-TV & LAE Productions.
 
The production team includes Ron Yager, Executive Producer/Director; Jim Dotson, Executive Producer; Steve Schulkens, Producer; Ted Ochoa, Associate Producer/Editor; Clark Castle, Associate Producer; and Stephen Hunter, Director of Photography.

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