Bourbon Street entertainer Chris Owens died Tuesday. Her publicist says she had a heart attack. The long-time nightclub owner entertained patrons at her establishment since the 1950s.
The Texas-born Christine Shaw moved to New Orleans at the age of 20 where she met her future husband, car dealership owner Sol Owens. The two were fond of New Orleans' night life, and during trips to Havana, Cuba, Owens became enamored with Latin American dancing rhythms. She soon learned the routines enough that she and her husband bought their first club, at 809 Bourbon St., in 1956.
While the famed French Quarter street became known for its striptease clubs and seamier entertainment, Owens said she was Bourbon Street's "only legitimate act that didn't include taking all my clothes off" in a Times-Picayune interview in 1974.
Despite changing tastes in music and dance over the decades, Owens' club remained popular right up until it had to shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"When you see the pictures of her, back in the 50s and 60s, almost the ballroom dancing, tango...and if you went to her show a year ago, she was doing the contemporary songs of today," said Owens' friend and former WWL-TV news anchor Angela Hill. "She got it, she just, she was the whole package."
"The consummate entertainer and the star of her own Bourbon Street nightclub, Ms. Owens was charismatic, beautiful and iconic," said New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. "This news is even sadder, as we are just weeks away from the Easter Parade that became her most glorious stage."
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Owens' annual Easter Sunday parade is set to return to the French Quarter for the first time in three years in less than two weeks.