Cornelius Guidry was born in Lake Charles in the year 1952. At the age of 5, his mother bought him his first guitar. At the age of 15, Cornelius started playing guitar professionally with local R&B groups. He formed his first group soon after, named the Young Generation, which performed together for about 5 years with such legendary performers as Rockin' Sidney, Katie Webster, Bill Parker, Cookie & the Cupcakes, Big Ike, BooZoo Chavis, Milton Landry and Willis Prudhomme among many others. In 1996 Cornelius formed the Zydeco Boneshakers. He married Jerry Thomas in 1979 and has two sons, named Cornelius Jr. and Derrick Guidry. Zydeco has taken Cornelius all around the world, and he gives heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped him along the way. He has always strove to offer the public something a little different from the rest of the Zydeco bands, while still staying within the Zydeco culture. This is in evidence a-plenty on the Zydeco Boneshakers third release "Show You How To Zydeco".