John Allen Guillot, known professionally as Johnnie Allan, was born on March 10, 1938, in Rayne, Louisiana, U.S. Growing up in a musical family, Allan received a first guitar at age six and began performing with traditional Cajun music bands. In 1956, after seeing Elvis Presley perform live on the Louisiana Hayride, Allan transitioned to rock and roll music. Allan formed the Krazy Kats in 1958 and recorded "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" (1958) for Jin Records. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Allan released several albums including South to Louisiana (1964) and Johnnie Allan Sings (1972). Allan recorded swamp pop tunes such as "Promised Land" (1971) and "Somewhere on Skid Row" (1971). Allan performed extensively in Europe and authored two music-related books, Memories: A Pictorial History of South Louisiana Music (1988) and Born to Be a Loser (1992), a biography of swamp pop musician Jimmy Donley.
