Bo Dollis, longtime Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indians, has died

Theodore Emile "Bo" Dollis, the longtime Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indians, died at his home in New Orleans on Jan. 20, 2015, his son confirmed. He was 71.

Born Jan. 14, 1944, Dollis first exercised his powerful voice in church. Though his family was reluctant to allow him to join the Indian gangs that paraded in their Central City neighborhood due to their reputation for violence, he sewed a suit in secrecy and masked for the first time with the Golden Arrows Mardi Gras Indians as a young teen. Soon after he joined the Wild Magnolias as Flag Boy and, by 1964, had risen to Big Chief.

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