1888 Leadbelly*
1936 Luther Tucker*
1948 Joe Blues*
1951 Richard Skibiński*
1952 John Campbell*
1955 Henry Heggen*
1996 Buster Benton+
2002 John Jackson+
2012 Etta James+
Happy Birthday
Henry Heggen *20.01.1955
Henry Heggen (* 20. Januar 1955 in Jacksonville, Florida) ist einer der bekanntesten Sänger und Blues-Harpspieler, mittlerweile nicht mehr nur Hamburgs. Die Leidenschaft und Intensität mit der er auf der Bühne steht, brachte ihm auch den Spitznamen Mr. Natural of the Blues ein. Bluesharpspieler wie Big Walter Horton, Sonny Boy Williamson I., Sonny Terry und Little Walter beeinflussten ganz stark sein Harmonicaspiel.
Aufgewachsen ist Henry Heggen in Florida und später in London. Dort traf er Chris Turner und lernte von ihm das Harp spielen. Er stieg bei dessen Band Have Mercy ein. Mit der Jug-Band Have Mercy kam er 1976 nach Deutschland und blieb. Sie spielten auf der Straße und füllten wenig später auch die Clubs quer durch Deutschland. 1978 ging Have Mercy auseinander. Nur ein Jahr später beschlossen Günther Brackmann und Henry Heggen ihre akustische Power elektrisch umzusetzen. Die Band B. Sharp war geboren. Mit dieser Band tourte er durch Europa und spielte als Support u.a. für Joe Cocker, Mitch Ryder, Bo Diddley und Jonny Winter.
Heute ist er einer der bekanntesten und beliebtesten Harp-Spieler Hamburgs. Viele Musiker aus der Hamburger Szene spielen gern mit ihm zusammen, wie zum Beispiel die Blues-Legende Abi Wallenstein oder auch Inga Rumpf, auf deren letzter Platte er einige Stücke mit einspielte.
Sein Hauptaktionsgebiet ist derzeit die Band The Crazy Hambones. Die Band spielt Blues, Mitglieder sind Micha Maass (drums, vocals), Brian Barnett (guitar, vocals) und Henry Heggen (harp, lead vocals).
Henry Heggen - Meister der Bluesharp
Mundharmonika-Sound der Spitzenklasse, tolle Bluesstimme und viel jungenhafter Charme - so schätzt das Publikum Henry Heggen seit vielen Jahren
1955 in Florida geboren, zog es ihn schon als jungen Mann nach Europa, wo er in England Chris Turner kennen lernte, von dem er das Harpspiel erlernte. 1976 kam er mit der legendären Jug Band "Have Mercy" nach Deutschland, wo er bald seine eigene Formation gründete: Mit "B. Sharp" rockte er erfolgreich durch die Republik und spielte u. a. als Support für Joe Cocker.
Aus der Hamburger Musikszene ist er nicht wegzudenken. Ob Blues Legende Abi Wallenstein, die Pianisten Axel Zwingenberger und Vince Weber oder Inga Rumpf – alle stehen gerne mit Henry Heggen auf der Bühne und schätzen seine musikalischen und menschlichen Qualitäten.
Seit einiger Zeit macht der Musiker als Frontman einer neuen Band von sich reden. Den "Crazy Hambones" mit dem Berliner Drummer Micha Maass und dem Münchner Gitarristen Peter Crow C. ist mit ihrer aktuellen CD ("Blowin the family jewels") ein großer Wurf gelungen. Jeder der drei Musiker ist auch als Solist ein Genuss. Umso beeindruckender, wie sich alle dem Gesamtklang unterordnen ohne dabei ihre Individualität zu verlieren. Das Ergebnis ist herrlicher Memphis-Sound, der Bluesfans aller Altersgruppen begeistert.
He was born in 1955 in Florida, but quickly moved to Europe where he got to know Chris Turner who taught him playing the harmonica.
In 1976, he moved to Germany with his jug band "Have Mercy" where he immediately formed his own band "B. Sharp". He was succesful in Germany and even rocked with Joe Cocker.
Today he's a part of the blues scene in Hamburg. Henry already played with Abi Wallenstein, Axel Zwingenberg and Vince Weber or Inga Rumpf who all appreciate the high quality of playing and especially in a human way.
At the moment Heggen plays in the band "Crazy Hambones" and won the "Jazz and Blues Award" in 2009.
#
Leadbelly *20.01.1888
Leadbelly [ˈlɛdbɛli] (auch: Lead Belly[1]) (* 20. Januar 1889 als Hudson „Huddie“ William Ledbetter in Mooringsport, Louisiana; † 6. Dezember 1949 in New York[2]) war ein US-amerikanischer Bluessänger. Leadbelly spielte verschiedene Instrumente wie Akkordeon, Mandoline, Klavier und Mundharmonika; sein Lieblingsinstrument war eine zwölfsaitige Gitarre.
Leben
Seinen kräftigen Vortragsstil lernte Leadbelly, während er sich einige Jahre in den rauen Rotlichtbezirken von Shreveport und Dallas mit seinem Gesang sein Brot verdiente. 1916 wurde er das erste Mal wegen Körperverletzung zu einer Haftstrafe verurteilt und 1918 in Texas wegen Mordes zu 30 Jahren Zwangsarbeit. Gouverneur Pat Neff soll Leadbelly begnadigt haben, nachdem ihm dieser bei einem Gefängnisbesuch seine Bitte in Form eines Liedes vorgetragen habe. Tatsächlich wurde Leadbelly 1925 wegen guter Führung vorzeitig aus der Haft entlassen.
Fünf Jahre später wurde er erneut wegen Raubes und Mordversuchs in Louisiana inhaftiert. 1933 zog der Folklore-Forscher John Lomax mit seinem Sohn Alan durch die Haftanstalten Louisianas, um die Musik der Afro-Amerikaner für die Library of Congress aufzunehmen. Ein Jahr nachdem die beiden erste Aufnahmen mit Leadbelly gemacht hatten, wurde dieser auf den Wunsch von John Lomax hin begnadigt.
1935 kam Leadbelly nach New York und machte sich innerhalb der weißen, linksintellektuellen Künstlerszene rasch einen Namen. Hier kam er in Kontakt mit weißen Folkmusikern wie Woody Guthrie und Pete Seeger. Trotz seines großen Einflusses auf die weiße Folkmusik der 40er und 50er Jahre blieb ihm finanzieller Erfolg versagt. Ende der 40er Jahre versuchte er sein Glück in Frankreich und verbrachte einige Zeit in Paris. Auf seiner ersten Europatournee im Jahr 1949 erkrankte er an amyotropher Lateralsklerose und starb wenige Monate später in New York.
Werk
Die Aufnahmen von Leadbelly umfassen rund 170 Songs und Shouts.[3] Lieder von Leadbelly wurden immer wieder von verschiedensten Künstlern aufgegriffen und interpretiert wie Cotton Fields von Creedence Clearwater Revival auf ihrem 1969 veröffentlichten Album Willy and the Poor Boys. Einige seiner Kompositionen wurden zu erfolgreichen Top-10-Hits wie Goodnight Irene in der Interpretation der Weavers (1950), Rock Island Line von Lonnie Donegan (1956) oder Black Betty von Ram Jam (1977). Where Did You Sleep Last Night, das auf dem Volkslied In the Pines beruht, wurde von Nirvana bei ihrem Konzert MTV Unplugged in New York gecovert.
Leadbelly interpretierte auch zahlreiche, bereits als Traditionals einzustufende Lieder. Ein solcher, zum Standard dieses Musikgenres gewordener und vielfach interpretierter Song ist etwa Midnight Special, das Lied eines Häftlings, das im Refrain einen Zug nennt, der um Mitternacht sein Gefängnis passiert. Midnight Special wurde von den Musikforschern Lomax fälschlicherweise Leadbelly zugeschrieben. Tatsächlich aber existieren schon Textaufzeichnungen aus anderen Quellen aus dem Jahr 1905 bzw. frühere Tonaufzeichnungen mit anderen Interpreten.[4]
1980 wurde Leadbelly in die Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame aufgenommen, 1986 folgte die Aufnahme in die Blues Hall of Fame und 1988 in die Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Ab 1993 kam seinem Werk noch einmal größere Aufmerksamkeit zugute: die Band Nirvana, USA, veröffentlichte in diesem Jahr ihr Album MTV Unplugged in New York, dessen letztes Stück mit dem Titel Where Did You Sleep Last Night auf Huddie „Leadbelly“ Ledbetter's Adaption des Amerikanischen Volksliedes In the Pines (auch "Black Girl" oder "Where Did You Sleep Last Night") beruht.
Film
Im Film Jede Menge Ärger wurde Johnny Knoxvilles Charakter Eddie Leadbetter nach Huddie Ledbetter benannt, da dieser ebenfalls häufiger mit dem Gesetz in Konflikt geriet.[5]
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadbelly
Huddie William Ledbetter (January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949) was an American folk and blues musician notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the songbook of folk standards he introduced.
He is best known as Lead Belly. Though many releases list him as "Leadbelly", he himself wrote it as "Lead Belly". This is also the spelling on his tombstone,[1][2] as well as of the Lead Belly Foundation.[3] In 1994 the Lead Belly Foundation contacted an authority on the history of popular music, Colin Larkin, editor of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, to ask if the name "Leadbelly" could be altered to "Lead Belly" in the hope that other authors would follow suit and use the artist's correct appellation.
Although Lead Belly usually played the twelve-string guitar, he could also play the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and Cajun accordion ("windjammer").[4] In some of his recordings, such as in one of his versions of the folk ballad "John Hardy", he performs on the accordion. In other recordings he sings while clapping his hands or stomping his foot.
The topics of Lead Belly's music covered a wide range, including gospel; blues about women, liquor, prison life, and racism; and folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, the Scottsboro Boys, and Howard Hughes.
Lead Belly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 in the "Early Influence" category. In 2008, he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
Biography
Early life
Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter on the Jeter Plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana in either January 1888 or 1889. The 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy William Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, while the 1910 United States Census and the 1930 United States Census also gives his birth year as 1888. However, in April 1942, Ledbetter filled out his World War II draft registration with a birth date of January 23, 1889 and a birthplace of Freeport, Louisiana. His grave marker has the date on his draft registration.
Ledbetter was the younger of two children born to Wesley Ledbetter and Sallie Brown, preceded by a sister named Australia. The pronunciation of his name is purported to be "HYEW-dee" or "HUGH-dee."[5] However, Ledbetter can be heard pronouncing his name as "HUH-dee" on the track "Boll Weevil," from the Smithsonian Folkways album Lead Belly Sings for Children.[6] His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas.
By 1903, Huddie was already a "musicianer,"[7] a singer and guitarist of some note. He performed for nearby Shreveport audiences in St. Paul's Bottoms, a notorious red-light district there. He began to develop his own style of music after exposure to a variety of musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottoms, now referred to as Ledbetter Heights.
The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy" Ledbetter living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha, then seventeen, had been 15 when they married two years earlier. It was in Texas that Ledbetter received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. By his early 20s, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as a guitarist and occasional laborer.
Influenced by the sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912, Huddie wrote the song "The Titanic",[8] the first composed on the 12-string guitar later to become his signature instrument. Initially played when performing with Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897–1929) in and around Dallas, Texas, the song is about champion African-American boxer Jack Johnson's being denied passage on the Titanic. While Johnson had in fact been denied passage on a ship for being Black, it had not been the Titanic[9] Still, the verse sang: "Jack Johnson tried to get on board. The Captain, he says, 'I ain't haulin' no coal!' Fare thee, Titanic! Fare thee well!" a passage Ledbetter noted he had to leave out when playing in front of white audiences.[10]
Prison years
Ledbetter's volatile temper sometimes led him into trouble with the law. In 1915, he was convicted of carrying a pistol and sentenced to time on the Harrison County chain gang. He escaped, finding work in nearby Bowie County under the assumed name of Walter Boyd. In January 1918 he was imprisoned at the Imperial Farm (now Central Unit)[11] in Sugar Land, Texas, after killing one of his own relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight over a woman. While there he may have first heard the traditional prison song "Midnight Special".[12][page needed] In 1925 he was pardoned and released after writing a song to Governor Pat Morris Neff seeking his freedom, having served the minimum seven years of a 7-to-35-year sentence. Combined with his good behavior (which included entertaining the guards and fellow prisoners), his appeal to Neff's strong religious beliefs proved sufficient. It was a testament to his persuasive powers, as Neff had run for governor on a pledge not to issue pardons (the only recourse for prisoners, since in most Southern prisons there was no provision for parole).[citation needed] According to Charles K. Wolfe and Kip Lornell's book, The Life and Legend of Leadbelly (1999), Neff had regularly brought guests to the prison on Sunday picnics to hear Ledbetter perform.
In 1930 Ledbetter was sentenced to Louisiana's Angola Prison Farm, after a summary trial for attempted homicide for stabbing a white man in a fight. He was "discovered" there three years later during a visit by folklorists John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax.[13]
Deeply impressed by Ledbetter's vibrant tenor and extensive repertoire, the Lomaxes recorded him in 1933 on portable aluminum disc recording equipment for the Library of Congress. They returned with new and better equipment in July 1934, recording hundreds of his songs. On August 1, Ledbetter was released after having again served nearly all of his minimum sentence, following a petition the Lomaxes had taken to Louisiana Governor Oscar K. Allen at his urgent request. It was on the other side of a recording of his signature song, "Goodnight Irene."
A prison official later wrote John Lomax denying that Ledbetter's singing had anything to do with his release from Angola (state prison records confirm he was eligible for early release due to good behavior). However, both Ledbetter and the Lomaxes believed that the record they had taken to the governor had hastened his release from prison.
Moniker
There are several conflicting stories about how Ledbetter acquired the nickname "Lead Belly", though it was probably while in prison. Some claim his fellow inmates called him "Lead Belly" as a play on his family name and his physical toughness. It is recounted that during his second prison term, another inmate stabbed him in the neck (leaving him with a fearsome scar he subsequently covered with a bandana); Ledbetter nearly killed his attacker with his own knife.[14] Others say he earned the name after being wounded in the stomach with buckshot.[14] Another theory is that the name refers to his ability to drink moonshine, the home-made liquor which Southern farmers, black and white, made to supplement their incomes. Blues singer Big Bill Broonzy thought it came from a supposed tendency to lay about as if "with a stomach weighted down by lead" in the shade when the chain gang was supposed to be working.[15] Or it may be simply a corruption of his last name pronounced with a southern accent. Whatever its origin, he adopted the nickname as a pseudonym while performing.
Life after prison
By the time Lead Belly was released from prison the United States was deep in the Great Depression and jobs were very scarce. In September 1934, in need of regular work in order to avoid having his release canceled, Lead Belly met with John A. Lomax and asked him to take him on as a driver. For three months he assisted the 67-year-old in his folk song collecting abroad the South. (Son Alan was ill and did not accompany his father on this trip.)
In December Lead Belly participated in a "smoker" (group sing) at a Modern Language Association meeting at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where the senior Lomax had a prior lecturing engagement. He was written up in the press as a convict who had sung his way out of prison. On New Year's Day, 1935, the pair arrived in New York City, where Lomax was scheduled to meet with his publisher, Macmillan, about a new collection of folk songs. The newspapers were eager to write about the "singing convict" and Time magazine made one of its first filmed March of Time newsreels about him. Lead Belly attained fame (although not fortune).
The following week, he began recording for the American Record Corporation, but these recordings achieved little commercial success. Of the over 40 sides he recorded for ARC (intended to be released on their Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, and Romeo labels, and their very short-lived Paramount series), only five sides were actually issued. Part of the reason for the poor sales may have been because ARC insisted on releasing only his blues songs rather than the folk songs for which he would later become better known. In any case, Lead Belly continued to struggle financially. Like many performers, what income he made during his lifetime would come from touring, not from record sales.
In February 1935, he married his girlfriend, Martha Promise, who came north from Louisiana to join him.
The month of February was spent recording his and other African-American repertoire and interviews about his life with Alan Lomax for their forthcoming book, Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Lead Belly (1936). Concert appearances were however slow to materialize. In March 1935 Lead Belly accompanied John Lomax on a previously scheduled two-week lecture tour of colleges and universities in the Northeast, culminating at Harvard.
At the end of the month John Lomax decided he could no longer work with Lead Belly and gave him and Martha money to go back to Louisiana by bus. He gave Martha the money her husband had earned during three months of performing, but in installments, on the pretext Lead Belly would drink it all if given a lump sum. From Louisiana Lead Belly successfully sued Lomax both for the full amount and release from his management contract. The quarrel was very bitter with hard feelings on both sides. Curiously, in the midst of the legal wrangling, Lead Belly wrote to Lomax proposing they team up again. It was not to be. Further, the book about Lead Belly published by the Lomaxes in the fall of the following year proved a commercial failure.
In January 1936, Lead Belly returned to New York on his own without John Lomax in an attempted comeback. He performed twice a day at Harlem's Apollo Theater during the Easter season in a live dramatic recreation of the Time Life newsreel (itself a recreation) about his prison encounter with John A. Lomax, where he had worn stripes, though by this time he was no longer associated with Lomax.
Life magazine ran a three-page article titled, "Lead Belly - Bad Nigger Makes Good Minstrel," in its April 19, 1937 issue. It included a full-page, color (rare in those days) picture of him sitting on grain sacks playing his guitar and singing.[16] Also, included was a striking picture of Martha Promise (identified in the article as his manager); photos showing Lead Belly's hands playing the guitar (with the caption "these hands once killed a man"); Texas Governor Pat M. Neff; and the "ramshackle" Texas State Penitentiary. The article attributes both of his pardons to his singing of his petitions to the governors, who were so moved that they pardoned him. The article's text ends with "he... may well be on the brink of a new and prosperous period."
Lead Belly failed to stir the enthusiasm of Harlem audiences. Instead, he attained success playing at concerts and benefits for an audience of leftist folk music aficionados. He developed his own style of singing and explaining his repertoire in the context of Southern black culture, taking the hint from his previous participation in John A. Lomax's college lectures. He was especially successful with his repertoire of children's game songs (as a younger man in Louisiana he had sung regularly at children's birthday parties in the black community). He was written up as a heroic figure by the black novelist, Richard Wright, then a member of the Communist Party, in the columns of the Daily Worker, of which Wright was the Harlem editor. The two men became personal friends, though Lead Belly himself was apolitical — if anything he was a supporter of Wendell Willkie, the centrist Republican candidate, for whom he wrote a campaign song.
In 1939, Lead Belly was back in jail for assault, after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan. Alan Lomax, then 24, took him under his wing and helped raise money for his legal expenses, dropping out of graduate school to do so. After his release (in 1940-41), Lead Belly appeared as a regular on Alan Lomax and Nicholas Ray's groundbreaking CBS radio show, Back Where I Come From, broadcast nationwide. He also appeared in night clubs with Josh White, becoming a fixture in New York City's surging folk music scene and befriending the likes of Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Woody Guthrie, and a young Pete Seeger, all fellow performers on Back Where I Come From. During the first half of the decade he recorded for RCA, the Library of Congress, and for Moe Asch (future founder of Folkways Records), and in 1944 headed to California, where he recorded strong sessions for Capitol Records. Lead Belly was the first American country blues musician to see success in Europe.[14]
In 1949, Lead Belly had a regular radio broadcast on station WNYC in New York on Sunday nights on Henrietta Yurchenco's show. Later in the year he began his first European tour with a trip to France, but fell ill before its completion, and was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease.[13] His final concert was at the University of Texas at Austin in a tribute to his former mentor, John A. Lomax, who had died the previous year. Martha also performed at that concert, singing spirituals with her husband.
Lead Belly died later that year in New York City, and was buried in the Shiloh Baptist Church cemetery in Mooringsport, 8 miles (13 km) west of Blanchard, in Caddo Parish. He is honored with a statue across from the Caddo Parish Courthouse in Shreveport.
Technique
Lead Belly styled himself "King of the 12-string guitar," and despite his use of other instruments like the accordion, the most enduring image of Lead Belly as a performer is wielding his unusually large Stella twelve-string.[17] This guitar had a slightly longer scale length than a standard guitar, slotted tuners, ladder bracing, and a trapeze-style tailpiece to resist bridge lifting.
Lead Belly played with finger picks much of the time, using a thumb pick to provide a walking bass line and occasionally to strum.[citation needed] This technique, combined with low tunings and heavy strings, gives many of his recordings a piano-like sound. Lead Belly's tuning is debated,[by whom?] but appears to be a downtuned variant of standard tuning; more than likely he tuned his guitar strings relative to one another, so that the actual notes shifted as the strings wore. Lead Belly's playing style was popularized by Pete Seeger, who adopted the twelve-string guitar in the 1950s and released an instructional LP and book using Lead Belly as an exemplar of technique.
In some of the recordings where Lead Belly accompanied himself, he would make an unusual type of grunt between his verses, best described as "Haah!" in many of his songs such as "Looky Looky Yonder," "Take this Hammer,"[13] "Linin' Track" and "Julie Ann Johnson" feature this unusual vocalization. In the song, "Take this Hammer," Lead Belly explained, "Every time the men say 'haah,' the hammer falls. The hammer rings, and we swing, and we sing."[18] The "haah" sound can be heard in the work chants sung by Southern railroad section workers, "gandy dancers," where it was used to coordinate the crews as they laid and maintained the tracks before modern machinery was available.
Legacy
Lead Belly's work has been widely covered by subsequent musical acts, including Brian Wilson, Delaney Davidson, Tom Russell, Lonnie Donegan, Bryan Ferry ("Goodnight Irene"), The Beach Boys ("Cotton Fields"), Creedence Clearwater Revival ("Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields"), Elvis Presley,[19] Abba, Pete Seeger, The Weavers,[20] Harry Belafonte, Frank Sinatra, Ram Jam, The Animals, Jay Farrar, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Dr. John, Ry Cooder, Davy Graham, Maria Muldaur, Rory Block, Grateful Dead, Gene Autry, Odetta, Billy Childish (who named his son Huddie), Mungo Jerry, Paul King, Led Zeppelin ("Gallows Pole"), Van Morrison, Michelle Shocked, Tom Waits ("Goodnight, Irene"), Scott H. Biram, Ron Sexsmith, British Sea Power, Rod Stewart, Ernest Tubb, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ("Black Betty"), Blind Willies("In the Pines"), The White Stripes ("Boll Weevil"), The Fall, Hole, Smog, Old Crow Medicine Show, Spiderbait, Meat Loaf, Ministry, Raffi, Rasputina, Rory Gallagher, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Deer Tick, Hugh Laurie, X, Bill Frisell, Koerner, Ray & Glover, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana ("Where Did You Sleep Last Night", "They Hung Him On A Cross", "Ain't It A Shame", "Gray Goose"), Meat Puppets, Mark Lanegan, and WZRD ("Where Did You Sleep Last Night"), among many others.[21]
Modern rock audiences likely owe their familiarity with Lead Belly to Nirvana's performance of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on the televised concert later released as MTV Unplugged in New York.[22] Singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain refers to his attempt to convince David Geffen to purchase Lead Belly's guitar for him in an interval before the song is played (connecting the song with Lead Belly in a way that is more tangible than the liner notes where Lead Belly appears on other albums), and partly due to the fact that it sold nearly 7 million copies. In his notebooks, Cobain listed Lead Belly's "Last Session Vol. 1" as one of the 50 albums most influential to the formation of Nirvana's sound.
He is best known as Lead Belly. Though many releases list him as "Leadbelly", he himself wrote it as "Lead Belly". This is also the spelling on his tombstone,[1][2] as well as of the Lead Belly Foundation.[3] In 1994 the Lead Belly Foundation contacted an authority on the history of popular music, Colin Larkin, editor of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, to ask if the name "Leadbelly" could be altered to "Lead Belly" in the hope that other authors would follow suit and use the artist's correct appellation.
Although Lead Belly usually played the twelve-string guitar, he could also play the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and Cajun accordion ("windjammer").[4] In some of his recordings, such as in one of his versions of the folk ballad "John Hardy", he performs on the accordion. In other recordings he sings while clapping his hands or stomping his foot.
The topics of Lead Belly's music covered a wide range, including gospel; blues about women, liquor, prison life, and racism; and folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, the Scottsboro Boys, and Howard Hughes.
Lead Belly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 in the "Early Influence" category. In 2008, he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
Biography
Early life
Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter on the Jeter Plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana in either January 1888 or 1889. The 1900 United States Census lists "Hudy William Ledbetter" as 12 years old, born January 1888, while the 1910 United States Census and the 1930 United States Census also gives his birth year as 1888. However, in April 1942, Ledbetter filled out his World War II draft registration with a birth date of January 23, 1889 and a birthplace of Freeport, Louisiana. His grave marker has the date on his draft registration.
Ledbetter was the younger of two children born to Wesley Ledbetter and Sallie Brown, preceded by a sister named Australia. The pronunciation of his name is purported to be "HYEW-dee" or "HUGH-dee."[5] However, Ledbetter can be heard pronouncing his name as "HUH-dee" on the track "Boll Weevil," from the Smithsonian Folkways album Lead Belly Sings for Children.[6] His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas.
By 1903, Huddie was already a "musicianer,"[7] a singer and guitarist of some note. He performed for nearby Shreveport audiences in St. Paul's Bottoms, a notorious red-light district there. He began to develop his own style of music after exposure to a variety of musical influences on Shreveport's Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the Bottoms, now referred to as Ledbetter Heights.
The 1910 census of Harrison County, Texas, shows "Hudy" Ledbetter living next door to his parents with his first wife, Aletha "Lethe" Henderson. Aletha, then seventeen, had been 15 when they married two years earlier. It was in Texas that Ledbetter received his first instrument, an accordion, from his uncle Terrell. By his early 20s, having fathered at least two children, Ledbetter left home to make his living as a guitarist and occasional laborer.
Influenced by the sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912, Huddie wrote the song "The Titanic",[8] the first composed on the 12-string guitar later to become his signature instrument. Initially played when performing with Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897–1929) in and around Dallas, Texas, the song is about champion African-American boxer Jack Johnson's being denied passage on the Titanic. While Johnson had in fact been denied passage on a ship for being Black, it had not been the Titanic[9] Still, the verse sang: "Jack Johnson tried to get on board. The Captain, he says, 'I ain't haulin' no coal!' Fare thee, Titanic! Fare thee well!" a passage Ledbetter noted he had to leave out when playing in front of white audiences.[10]
Prison years
Ledbetter's volatile temper sometimes led him into trouble with the law. In 1915, he was convicted of carrying a pistol and sentenced to time on the Harrison County chain gang. He escaped, finding work in nearby Bowie County under the assumed name of Walter Boyd. In January 1918 he was imprisoned at the Imperial Farm (now Central Unit)[11] in Sugar Land, Texas, after killing one of his own relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight over a woman. While there he may have first heard the traditional prison song "Midnight Special".[12][page needed] In 1925 he was pardoned and released after writing a song to Governor Pat Morris Neff seeking his freedom, having served the minimum seven years of a 7-to-35-year sentence. Combined with his good behavior (which included entertaining the guards and fellow prisoners), his appeal to Neff's strong religious beliefs proved sufficient. It was a testament to his persuasive powers, as Neff had run for governor on a pledge not to issue pardons (the only recourse for prisoners, since in most Southern prisons there was no provision for parole).[citation needed] According to Charles K. Wolfe and Kip Lornell's book, The Life and Legend of Leadbelly (1999), Neff had regularly brought guests to the prison on Sunday picnics to hear Ledbetter perform.
In 1930 Ledbetter was sentenced to Louisiana's Angola Prison Farm, after a summary trial for attempted homicide for stabbing a white man in a fight. He was "discovered" there three years later during a visit by folklorists John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax.[13]
Deeply impressed by Ledbetter's vibrant tenor and extensive repertoire, the Lomaxes recorded him in 1933 on portable aluminum disc recording equipment for the Library of Congress. They returned with new and better equipment in July 1934, recording hundreds of his songs. On August 1, Ledbetter was released after having again served nearly all of his minimum sentence, following a petition the Lomaxes had taken to Louisiana Governor Oscar K. Allen at his urgent request. It was on the other side of a recording of his signature song, "Goodnight Irene."
A prison official later wrote John Lomax denying that Ledbetter's singing had anything to do with his release from Angola (state prison records confirm he was eligible for early release due to good behavior). However, both Ledbetter and the Lomaxes believed that the record they had taken to the governor had hastened his release from prison.
Moniker
There are several conflicting stories about how Ledbetter acquired the nickname "Lead Belly", though it was probably while in prison. Some claim his fellow inmates called him "Lead Belly" as a play on his family name and his physical toughness. It is recounted that during his second prison term, another inmate stabbed him in the neck (leaving him with a fearsome scar he subsequently covered with a bandana); Ledbetter nearly killed his attacker with his own knife.[14] Others say he earned the name after being wounded in the stomach with buckshot.[14] Another theory is that the name refers to his ability to drink moonshine, the home-made liquor which Southern farmers, black and white, made to supplement their incomes. Blues singer Big Bill Broonzy thought it came from a supposed tendency to lay about as if "with a stomach weighted down by lead" in the shade when the chain gang was supposed to be working.[15] Or it may be simply a corruption of his last name pronounced with a southern accent. Whatever its origin, he adopted the nickname as a pseudonym while performing.
Life after prison
By the time Lead Belly was released from prison the United States was deep in the Great Depression and jobs were very scarce. In September 1934, in need of regular work in order to avoid having his release canceled, Lead Belly met with John A. Lomax and asked him to take him on as a driver. For three months he assisted the 67-year-old in his folk song collecting abroad the South. (Son Alan was ill and did not accompany his father on this trip.)
In December Lead Belly participated in a "smoker" (group sing) at a Modern Language Association meeting at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where the senior Lomax had a prior lecturing engagement. He was written up in the press as a convict who had sung his way out of prison. On New Year's Day, 1935, the pair arrived in New York City, where Lomax was scheduled to meet with his publisher, Macmillan, about a new collection of folk songs. The newspapers were eager to write about the "singing convict" and Time magazine made one of its first filmed March of Time newsreels about him. Lead Belly attained fame (although not fortune).
The following week, he began recording for the American Record Corporation, but these recordings achieved little commercial success. Of the over 40 sides he recorded for ARC (intended to be released on their Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, and Romeo labels, and their very short-lived Paramount series), only five sides were actually issued. Part of the reason for the poor sales may have been because ARC insisted on releasing only his blues songs rather than the folk songs for which he would later become better known. In any case, Lead Belly continued to struggle financially. Like many performers, what income he made during his lifetime would come from touring, not from record sales.
In February 1935, he married his girlfriend, Martha Promise, who came north from Louisiana to join him.
The month of February was spent recording his and other African-American repertoire and interviews about his life with Alan Lomax for their forthcoming book, Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Lead Belly (1936). Concert appearances were however slow to materialize. In March 1935 Lead Belly accompanied John Lomax on a previously scheduled two-week lecture tour of colleges and universities in the Northeast, culminating at Harvard.
At the end of the month John Lomax decided he could no longer work with Lead Belly and gave him and Martha money to go back to Louisiana by bus. He gave Martha the money her husband had earned during three months of performing, but in installments, on the pretext Lead Belly would drink it all if given a lump sum. From Louisiana Lead Belly successfully sued Lomax both for the full amount and release from his management contract. The quarrel was very bitter with hard feelings on both sides. Curiously, in the midst of the legal wrangling, Lead Belly wrote to Lomax proposing they team up again. It was not to be. Further, the book about Lead Belly published by the Lomaxes in the fall of the following year proved a commercial failure.
In January 1936, Lead Belly returned to New York on his own without John Lomax in an attempted comeback. He performed twice a day at Harlem's Apollo Theater during the Easter season in a live dramatic recreation of the Time Life newsreel (itself a recreation) about his prison encounter with John A. Lomax, where he had worn stripes, though by this time he was no longer associated with Lomax.
Life magazine ran a three-page article titled, "Lead Belly - Bad Nigger Makes Good Minstrel," in its April 19, 1937 issue. It included a full-page, color (rare in those days) picture of him sitting on grain sacks playing his guitar and singing.[16] Also, included was a striking picture of Martha Promise (identified in the article as his manager); photos showing Lead Belly's hands playing the guitar (with the caption "these hands once killed a man"); Texas Governor Pat M. Neff; and the "ramshackle" Texas State Penitentiary. The article attributes both of his pardons to his singing of his petitions to the governors, who were so moved that they pardoned him. The article's text ends with "he... may well be on the brink of a new and prosperous period."
Lead Belly failed to stir the enthusiasm of Harlem audiences. Instead, he attained success playing at concerts and benefits for an audience of leftist folk music aficionados. He developed his own style of singing and explaining his repertoire in the context of Southern black culture, taking the hint from his previous participation in John A. Lomax's college lectures. He was especially successful with his repertoire of children's game songs (as a younger man in Louisiana he had sung regularly at children's birthday parties in the black community). He was written up as a heroic figure by the black novelist, Richard Wright, then a member of the Communist Party, in the columns of the Daily Worker, of which Wright was the Harlem editor. The two men became personal friends, though Lead Belly himself was apolitical — if anything he was a supporter of Wendell Willkie, the centrist Republican candidate, for whom he wrote a campaign song.
In 1939, Lead Belly was back in jail for assault, after stabbing a man in a fight in Manhattan. Alan Lomax, then 24, took him under his wing and helped raise money for his legal expenses, dropping out of graduate school to do so. After his release (in 1940-41), Lead Belly appeared as a regular on Alan Lomax and Nicholas Ray's groundbreaking CBS radio show, Back Where I Come From, broadcast nationwide. He also appeared in night clubs with Josh White, becoming a fixture in New York City's surging folk music scene and befriending the likes of Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Woody Guthrie, and a young Pete Seeger, all fellow performers on Back Where I Come From. During the first half of the decade he recorded for RCA, the Library of Congress, and for Moe Asch (future founder of Folkways Records), and in 1944 headed to California, where he recorded strong sessions for Capitol Records. Lead Belly was the first American country blues musician to see success in Europe.[14]
In 1949, Lead Belly had a regular radio broadcast on station WNYC in New York on Sunday nights on Henrietta Yurchenco's show. Later in the year he began his first European tour with a trip to France, but fell ill before its completion, and was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease.[13] His final concert was at the University of Texas at Austin in a tribute to his former mentor, John A. Lomax, who had died the previous year. Martha also performed at that concert, singing spirituals with her husband.
Lead Belly died later that year in New York City, and was buried in the Shiloh Baptist Church cemetery in Mooringsport, 8 miles (13 km) west of Blanchard, in Caddo Parish. He is honored with a statue across from the Caddo Parish Courthouse in Shreveport.
Technique
Lead Belly styled himself "King of the 12-string guitar," and despite his use of other instruments like the accordion, the most enduring image of Lead Belly as a performer is wielding his unusually large Stella twelve-string.[17] This guitar had a slightly longer scale length than a standard guitar, slotted tuners, ladder bracing, and a trapeze-style tailpiece to resist bridge lifting.
Lead Belly played with finger picks much of the time, using a thumb pick to provide a walking bass line and occasionally to strum.[citation needed] This technique, combined with low tunings and heavy strings, gives many of his recordings a piano-like sound. Lead Belly's tuning is debated,[by whom?] but appears to be a downtuned variant of standard tuning; more than likely he tuned his guitar strings relative to one another, so that the actual notes shifted as the strings wore. Lead Belly's playing style was popularized by Pete Seeger, who adopted the twelve-string guitar in the 1950s and released an instructional LP and book using Lead Belly as an exemplar of technique.
In some of the recordings where Lead Belly accompanied himself, he would make an unusual type of grunt between his verses, best described as "Haah!" in many of his songs such as "Looky Looky Yonder," "Take this Hammer,"[13] "Linin' Track" and "Julie Ann Johnson" feature this unusual vocalization. In the song, "Take this Hammer," Lead Belly explained, "Every time the men say 'haah,' the hammer falls. The hammer rings, and we swing, and we sing."[18] The "haah" sound can be heard in the work chants sung by Southern railroad section workers, "gandy dancers," where it was used to coordinate the crews as they laid and maintained the tracks before modern machinery was available.
Legacy
Lead Belly's work has been widely covered by subsequent musical acts, including Brian Wilson, Delaney Davidson, Tom Russell, Lonnie Donegan, Bryan Ferry ("Goodnight Irene"), The Beach Boys ("Cotton Fields"), Creedence Clearwater Revival ("Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields"), Elvis Presley,[19] Abba, Pete Seeger, The Weavers,[20] Harry Belafonte, Frank Sinatra, Ram Jam, The Animals, Jay Farrar, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Dr. John, Ry Cooder, Davy Graham, Maria Muldaur, Rory Block, Grateful Dead, Gene Autry, Odetta, Billy Childish (who named his son Huddie), Mungo Jerry, Paul King, Led Zeppelin ("Gallows Pole"), Van Morrison, Michelle Shocked, Tom Waits ("Goodnight, Irene"), Scott H. Biram, Ron Sexsmith, British Sea Power, Rod Stewart, Ernest Tubb, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ("Black Betty"), Blind Willies("In the Pines"), The White Stripes ("Boll Weevil"), The Fall, Hole, Smog, Old Crow Medicine Show, Spiderbait, Meat Loaf, Ministry, Raffi, Rasputina, Rory Gallagher, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Deer Tick, Hugh Laurie, X, Bill Frisell, Koerner, Ray & Glover, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana ("Where Did You Sleep Last Night", "They Hung Him On A Cross", "Ain't It A Shame", "Gray Goose"), Meat Puppets, Mark Lanegan, and WZRD ("Where Did You Sleep Last Night"), among many others.[21]
Modern rock audiences likely owe their familiarity with Lead Belly to Nirvana's performance of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on the televised concert later released as MTV Unplugged in New York.[22] Singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain refers to his attempt to convince David Geffen to purchase Lead Belly's guitar for him in an interval before the song is played (connecting the song with Lead Belly in a way that is more tangible than the liner notes where Lead Belly appears on other albums), and partly due to the fact that it sold nearly 7 million copies. In his notebooks, Cobain listed Lead Belly's "Last Session Vol. 1" as one of the 50 albums most influential to the formation of Nirvana's sound.
Luther Tucker *20.01.1936
Luther Tucker (* 20. Januar 1936 Memphis, Tennessee; † 18. Juni 1993, Greenbrae, Kalifornien) war ein US-amerikanischer Bluesgitarrist.Leben
Luther Tucker wuchs in Memphis auf. Sein Vater, ein Tischler, baute ihm seine erste Gitarre und seine Mutter, eine Boogie-Woogiepianistin, machte ihn mit Big Bill Broonzy bekannt. Ihre Intention war es, Luther von schlechten Einflüssen fernzuhalten.[1] Bei Broonzy lernte er Robert Lockwood junior kennen, der ihn unter seine Fittiche nahm. Seine Familie zog von Memphis nach Chicago, wo sich seine Kenntnisse vertieften.
Als Begleitmusiker arbeitete er mit vielen Größen des Chicago Blues. Seine ersten Auftritte hatte er als 15-Jähriger in der Band seines Onkels J.T. "Boogie" Brown. In der Band von Little Walter war er bei vielen der klassischen Walteraufnahmen dabei. Er nahm mit Otis Rush(Chicago/The Blues/Today! Volume 2)[2], Robben Ford, Sonny Boy Williamson II., Jimmy Rogers, Snooky Pryor, Muddy Waters("She's Nineteen Years Old", "Five Long Years" und "Elevate Me Mama)[3], John Lee Hooker, Elvin Bishop und James Cotton auf. Ende der 1960er-Jahre war er Mitglied in James Cottons Band, 1971 spielte er Gitarre in John Lee Hookers Coast-to-Coast Band. 1973 formierte er seine eigene Band, die Luther Tucker Band.[4] 1990 nahm er in Austin mit verschiedenen Größen der lokalen Szene(Kim Wilson, Reese Wynans, George Rains, Tony Coleman, Mark Kazanoff und Russell Jackson ) das Album Sad Hours auf.
Tucker spielte auf dem San Francisco Blues Festival 1973, 1976 und 1979, ebenso einige Male als Begleitmusiker für Freunde wie Fenton Robinson, Freddie King und Jimmy Reed.
1993 verstarb Luther Tucker an einem Herzinfarkt im Alter von 56 Jahren. Nach seinem Tod wurde ein Tribut-Konzert veranstaltet, auf dem viele seiner Wegbegleiter auftraten( unter anderen John Lee Hooker, Elvin Bishop, Boz Scaggs, Mark Naftalin, Billy Boy Arnold und Freddie Roulette)
Luther Tucker (January 20, 1936 – June 18, 1993[1]) was an American blues guitarist.
While soft spoken and shy, Tucker made his presence known through his unique and clearly recognizable guitar style. Tucker helped to define the music known as Chicago Blues, but played everything from blues to soul, rock, jazz and gospel, when given the chance. While never achieving the fame and notoriety of some of his contemporaries he was considered a great guitarist whether playing his own lead style or playing on the recordings of B. B. King, Mel Brown, Pat Hare, or Elmore James. He is considered one of the most prominent rhythm guitarists of Chicago Blues along with Eddie Taylor, Jody Williams and Freddie Robinson.
Career
Early years
Tucker was born in Memphis, Tennessee.[1] His father, a carpenter, built Tucker his first guitar, but his first real guitar was a Sears Silvertone that his mother got him to keep him out of trouble. His mother, who played boogie-woogie piano, introduced him to Big Bill Broonzy and to Robert Lockwood Jr., the stepson to Robert Johnson, usually acknowledged as "King of the Delta Blues". Tucker went on to become Robert Jr.'s protégé, a guitarist and an individual for whom he had the greatest admiration and respect. In fact, Tucker always referred to him as "Mr. Robert Jr. Lockwood".[1] Tucker's family moved from Memphis to Chicago when he was a teenager and his teenage contemporaries and friends with whom he traded licks, shared ideas and played included Freddie King, Magic Sam and Otis Rush.
Playing with bands
In 1952 he began playing with his uncle, J.T. "Boogie" Brown, saxophonist, studio musician, and sideman to slide guitarist, Elmore James. Tucker was soon back with Mr. Robert Jr. Lockwood, who was one of the most sought after sidemen and studio guitarists on the Chicago blues scene. Robert Jr. went to the musician's union asking that Tucker be allowed to play in clubs, and reassured the Union that he would act as a guardian to him and keep the 16-year old Tucker out of trouble. Robert Jr., who was capable of playing Delta Blues had been B.B. King's rhythm guitarist in 1948-1949 and brought a unique jazz style to (the new style known as) Chicago Blues. A tough task master, Robert Jr. drilled into Tucker everything from minor diminished ninth and thirteenth chords to big bar-chords and the subtle nuances of jazz guitar. Initially, Robert Jr. played lead guitar and Tucker played bass on a tuned-down six-string guitar (the Fender bass had not yet been invented) or Tucker would play rhythm guitar. Tucker learned to read music and began working as a studio guitarist at an early age. If someone wanted Robert Jr., they also got Tucker as part of the package. They worked with Little Walter off and on for seven years. First, as part of a twosome with Robert Jr., and later as a lead guitarist, Tucker recorded on numerous classic sides behind [(Little Walter)], Sonny Boy Williamson II, Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters, and [(Howlin' Wolf)]. He also recorded with Otis Rush, Snooky Pryor, and after moving to the West Coast, John Lee Hooker, Robben Ford, and Elvin Bishop.[2]
In the late 1960s Tucker had been working in Muddy Waters' band along with harmonica player, James Cotton, and drummer, Francis Clay. In 1968, a cooperative band was put together composed of Tucker on guitar; drummer, Sam Lay (best known for his work with Paul Butterfield); bassist and alumni of Howlin' Wolf's band, Bobby Anderson; Alberto Gianquinto, a pianist equally comfortable playing jazz, blues or classical music; and harmonica man and singer, James Cotton. First night out, the emcee at the club asked the band's name so he could announce them. For lack of a name, one of the band said, The James Cotton Blues Band. The name stuck. After a while, Sam Lay was replaced by Francis Clay. Clay, a veteran of Dizzy Gillespie's and Cab Calloway's big bands, Jay McShann's group and Muddy Water's band, brought a new dimension to the band and Tucker further developed his skills, playing soul tunes and jazz arrangements, utilizing the octave, minor and diminished chords he had learned from Robert Jr. The group traveled the country from Fillmore West, in San Francisco to Fillmore East in New York, and on to Great Britain, Europe and other points, sharing the stage with the biggest rock acts of the 1960s and 70's. The band spent a great deal of time in Northern California and in 1973 Tucker left The James Cotton Blues Band and relocated to the town of San Anselmo, California.
For several years he worked with John Lee Hooker's band, Grayson Street, L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson, and as a house musician at Clifford Antone's club in Austin, Texas. He finally formed the Luther Tucker Band where he also became known as a very competent and soulful singer.[1] He played in clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area until his death. Tucker played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1973, 1976, and 1979. He would also play as part of supporting bands behind visiting friends and bluesmen including Fenton Robinson, Freddie King and Jimmy Reed.
Luther Tucker died of a heart attack in June, 1993 in Greenbrae, California, at the age of 57.[3] His body was returned to Chicago, where he is buried in Restvale Cemetery in an unmarked plot.[3] He recorded two albums, one incomplete, both released posthumously.
On May 9, 2009 the second annual White Lake Blues Festival took place at the Howmet Playhouse Theater in Whitehall, Michigan. The concert was organized by executive producer, Steve Salter, of the nonprofit organization Killer Blues to raise monies to honor Tucker's unmarked grave with a headstone. The event was a success, and a headstone was placed in June, 2009.
While soft spoken and shy, Tucker made his presence known through his unique and clearly recognizable guitar style. Tucker helped to define the music known as Chicago Blues, but played everything from blues to soul, rock, jazz and gospel, when given the chance. While never achieving the fame and notoriety of some of his contemporaries he was considered a great guitarist whether playing his own lead style or playing on the recordings of B. B. King, Mel Brown, Pat Hare, or Elmore James. He is considered one of the most prominent rhythm guitarists of Chicago Blues along with Eddie Taylor, Jody Williams and Freddie Robinson.
Career
Early years
Tucker was born in Memphis, Tennessee.[1] His father, a carpenter, built Tucker his first guitar, but his first real guitar was a Sears Silvertone that his mother got him to keep him out of trouble. His mother, who played boogie-woogie piano, introduced him to Big Bill Broonzy and to Robert Lockwood Jr., the stepson to Robert Johnson, usually acknowledged as "King of the Delta Blues". Tucker went on to become Robert Jr.'s protégé, a guitarist and an individual for whom he had the greatest admiration and respect. In fact, Tucker always referred to him as "Mr. Robert Jr. Lockwood".[1] Tucker's family moved from Memphis to Chicago when he was a teenager and his teenage contemporaries and friends with whom he traded licks, shared ideas and played included Freddie King, Magic Sam and Otis Rush.
Playing with bands
In 1952 he began playing with his uncle, J.T. "Boogie" Brown, saxophonist, studio musician, and sideman to slide guitarist, Elmore James. Tucker was soon back with Mr. Robert Jr. Lockwood, who was one of the most sought after sidemen and studio guitarists on the Chicago blues scene. Robert Jr. went to the musician's union asking that Tucker be allowed to play in clubs, and reassured the Union that he would act as a guardian to him and keep the 16-year old Tucker out of trouble. Robert Jr., who was capable of playing Delta Blues had been B.B. King's rhythm guitarist in 1948-1949 and brought a unique jazz style to (the new style known as) Chicago Blues. A tough task master, Robert Jr. drilled into Tucker everything from minor diminished ninth and thirteenth chords to big bar-chords and the subtle nuances of jazz guitar. Initially, Robert Jr. played lead guitar and Tucker played bass on a tuned-down six-string guitar (the Fender bass had not yet been invented) or Tucker would play rhythm guitar. Tucker learned to read music and began working as a studio guitarist at an early age. If someone wanted Robert Jr., they also got Tucker as part of the package. They worked with Little Walter off and on for seven years. First, as part of a twosome with Robert Jr., and later as a lead guitarist, Tucker recorded on numerous classic sides behind [(Little Walter)], Sonny Boy Williamson II, Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters, and [(Howlin' Wolf)]. He also recorded with Otis Rush, Snooky Pryor, and after moving to the West Coast, John Lee Hooker, Robben Ford, and Elvin Bishop.[2]
In the late 1960s Tucker had been working in Muddy Waters' band along with harmonica player, James Cotton, and drummer, Francis Clay. In 1968, a cooperative band was put together composed of Tucker on guitar; drummer, Sam Lay (best known for his work with Paul Butterfield); bassist and alumni of Howlin' Wolf's band, Bobby Anderson; Alberto Gianquinto, a pianist equally comfortable playing jazz, blues or classical music; and harmonica man and singer, James Cotton. First night out, the emcee at the club asked the band's name so he could announce them. For lack of a name, one of the band said, The James Cotton Blues Band. The name stuck. After a while, Sam Lay was replaced by Francis Clay. Clay, a veteran of Dizzy Gillespie's and Cab Calloway's big bands, Jay McShann's group and Muddy Water's band, brought a new dimension to the band and Tucker further developed his skills, playing soul tunes and jazz arrangements, utilizing the octave, minor and diminished chords he had learned from Robert Jr. The group traveled the country from Fillmore West, in San Francisco to Fillmore East in New York, and on to Great Britain, Europe and other points, sharing the stage with the biggest rock acts of the 1960s and 70's. The band spent a great deal of time in Northern California and in 1973 Tucker left The James Cotton Blues Band and relocated to the town of San Anselmo, California.
For several years he worked with John Lee Hooker's band, Grayson Street, L.C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson, and as a house musician at Clifford Antone's club in Austin, Texas. He finally formed the Luther Tucker Band where he also became known as a very competent and soulful singer.[1] He played in clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area until his death. Tucker played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1973, 1976, and 1979. He would also play as part of supporting bands behind visiting friends and bluesmen including Fenton Robinson, Freddie King and Jimmy Reed.
Luther Tucker died of a heart attack in June, 1993 in Greenbrae, California, at the age of 57.[3] His body was returned to Chicago, where he is buried in Restvale Cemetery in an unmarked plot.[3] He recorded two albums, one incomplete, both released posthumously.
On May 9, 2009 the second annual White Lake Blues Festival took place at the Howmet Playhouse Theater in Whitehall, Michigan. The concert was organized by executive producer, Steve Salter, of the nonprofit organization Killer Blues to raise monies to honor Tucker's unmarked grave with a headstone. The event was a success, and a headstone was placed in June, 2009.
John Allen Campbell (January 20, 1952 – June 13, 1993)[1] was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, who was born in Shreveport, Louisiana.[1]
Biography
A guitarist who took blues technique to new heights in concerts with a blend of driving rhythms, staccato riffs and bravura slide guitar sequences, his favoured instruments were a 1952 Gibson Southern Jumbo acoustic, a 1934 National Steel and a 1940's National resophonic guitar.
He grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and his first group was the Texas based electric power trio, Junction. Formed in 1973, in Corpus Christi, Texas, the band consisted of John on guitar and vocals, Tim Delaney on bass and vocals, and Jack "Satch" Haupt on drums and vocals. The trio disbanded two years later, and Campbell cut his first album titled Street Suite. At the eve of the 1980s he spent a time at the Robin Hood Studios in Tyler, Texas and taped a demo with his acoustic versions of blues standards. In 2000 these twelve tracks were issued as the compilation album, Tyler, Texas Session.
As a solo artist, Campbell continued to play in clubs of east Texas, and he also appeared in New Orleans. In 1985 he moved to New York and joined the local blues scene. His next album, A Man And His Blues, featured Ronnie Earl as producer and guest guitarist, was recorded during two days in April 1988, and was released on a small German record label. Its follow-up releases were on Elektra, One Believer (1991) and Howlin' Mercy (1993). The latter included the single cover version of Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks".
At the time when his recordings and live performances, including an extensive U.S. tour with Buddy Guy as well as two European ventures in 1992 and 1993, were gaining him popularity, Campbell suffered heart failure, in his sleep, aged 41, at his home in New York.[2]
He is survived by his wife, Dolly Fox; his daughter, Paris; his daughter, Elizabeth; and his brother, William.
Biography
A guitarist who took blues technique to new heights in concerts with a blend of driving rhythms, staccato riffs and bravura slide guitar sequences, his favoured instruments were a 1952 Gibson Southern Jumbo acoustic, a 1934 National Steel and a 1940's National resophonic guitar.
He grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and his first group was the Texas based electric power trio, Junction. Formed in 1973, in Corpus Christi, Texas, the band consisted of John on guitar and vocals, Tim Delaney on bass and vocals, and Jack "Satch" Haupt on drums and vocals. The trio disbanded two years later, and Campbell cut his first album titled Street Suite. At the eve of the 1980s he spent a time at the Robin Hood Studios in Tyler, Texas and taped a demo with his acoustic versions of blues standards. In 2000 these twelve tracks were issued as the compilation album, Tyler, Texas Session.
As a solo artist, Campbell continued to play in clubs of east Texas, and he also appeared in New Orleans. In 1985 he moved to New York and joined the local blues scene. His next album, A Man And His Blues, featured Ronnie Earl as producer and guest guitarist, was recorded during two days in April 1988, and was released on a small German record label. Its follow-up releases were on Elektra, One Believer (1991) and Howlin' Mercy (1993). The latter included the single cover version of Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks".
At the time when his recordings and live performances, including an extensive U.S. tour with Buddy Guy as well as two European ventures in 1992 and 1993, were gaining him popularity, Campbell suffered heart failure, in his sleep, aged 41, at his home in New York.[2]
He is survived by his wife, Dolly Fox; his daughter, Paris; his daughter, Elizabeth; and his brother, William.
Richard Skibiński *20.01.1951
Richard "Skiba" Skibiński (b. 20. Januar 1951 [1] in Torun , d. 4. Juni 1983 [1] in Białystok ) - polnische Komponist und Instrumentalist spielt die Mundharmonika .
Im Jahr 1975, die Band in Bialystok gründete er Krankheit , in der er bis 1982 mit der Band bei vielen polnischen Festivals, Blues und Mundharmonika spielte geführt.
Er hat mit geführt John Mayall . Sehr oft mit anderen Auftragnehmern zusammengearbeitet:
Marmelade
Richard Riedl , Jaroslaw Tioskowem , Andrew Kotarski
John Skrzek
Im Jahr 1982 nahm er den fünften Platz in der Umfrage Jazz Forum Magazin in der Kategorie "Musiker des Jahres". Im selben Jahr wurde er ordentliches Mitglied der Bush und später fand sich in einem Duett Skibiński-Winder Super Session.
Im Jahr 1983 durch eine Aufnahme des ersten Albums begleitet Martyna Jakubowicz Maquillage .
Vom 21. Mai 1983 fand das letzte Mal bei einem Konzert in Poznan auf die Bühne.
Er starb zwei Wochen später an einer Überdosis von Drogen . Ruht auf dem Friedhof von St. Roch in Bialystok
Nach seinem Tod hat viele Künstler Songs seinem Andenken gewidmet aufgezeichnet (der bekannteste Song ist "Prison Blues" von geführt Jam ) und seit 1984 der Preis für den besten Interpreten der seinen Namen verliehen von den Autumn Blues in Bialystok statt.
2006 Metal Mind Productions - Funkaufnahmen Krankheit Live, Skibiński Winder Blues Ersetzungen und unsere Töchter hat Videomaterial mit Skibiński freigegeben.
Kasa Chorych 1981 ROCKOWISKO
Kasa Chorych i Ryszard "Skiba" Skibiński
Joe Blues *20.01.1948
Der Düsseldorfer Musiker "Joe Blues" ist mit seiner Band für erstklassigen Rhythm & Blues bekannt. Joe spielt USA-Blues der 20er/40er Jahre, Rock’n Roll der 50er, Britisch-Blues & Beat der 60er Jahre, zeitgenössischen Rhythm & Blues und Jazz-Standards.
Joe's Hammerstimme, Bluesharp, ruppig-freche Gitarre und die straighte Rhythmusgruppe erzeugen den "Original-StarClub-Sound" der Sixties. Auf Konzerten, Festivals und Partys hat Joe sein Publikum überzeugt. Joe Blues rockt and rollt!
Joe's Hammerstimme, Bluesharp, ruppig-freche Gitarre und die straighte Rhythmusgruppe erzeugen den "Original-StarClub-Sound" der Sixties. Auf Konzerten, Festivals und Partys hat Joe sein Publikum überzeugt. Joe Blues rockt and rollt!
Der Düsseldorfer Künstler und Musiker "Joe Blues" ( Joachim Harmut *20. Januar 1948) stammt aus dem Ruhrpott (Essen-Kettwig) und gehört zu den Urgesteinen des Blues an Rhein und Ruhr. Seit 1963 spielt Joe in Bands als Sänger, Gitarrist und Harpspieler. Bandleader, Sessionmusiker, Live, Studio, TV, Radio. Joe’s Programm: Blues, Jazz der 20er/40er Jahre, Rock’n Roll der 50er/60er Jahre, Modern Rhythm & Blues und eigene deutschsprachige Blues-Songs.
Nach Auftritten in den 60er Jahren (200 Gigs im Jahr) mit Blues und Rock'n Roll Bands wendet sich Joachim Harmut 1969 der experimentellen Musik zu. 1971 baut er unter Mithilfe seines Bruders Jürgen Harmut Tongeneratoren und Effekte, die in seine Musik einflossen.1972: Art-Rock, Elektronik-Rock mit seiner Band "SPHÄRENSÄGE", Gründungsmitglieder: Joachim Harmut, Renate "Rynata", Fredy Grosser, Hans-Jürgen Pütz. Konzerte: Kunstmarkt Köln, Düsseldorf, Ruhrgebiet, u.a.
Sessions mit: Klaus Dinger (Kraftwerk, NEU!), Wolfgang Flür (Kraftwerk), Charly Weiss , Nejadepour Houschang u.a. Auftritte: Kunstmarkt Köln, Altstadt Düsseldorf, Ruhrgebiet u.a. Seit 1995: experimenteller dadaBLUES JOE: Gesang, Gitarre, Bass, Drums, Ukulele, Bluesharp, Kazoo, Keyboard, Drumcomputer, Sampler, Tongenerator, Ringmodulator, Netzbrummen, Natursounds, Hammer, Säge u.a. Recording: LoFi-Diktiergerät, Mono-Kassettenrecorder, Digitalrecorder, 4 Spur Recorder im Wohnzimmer, Atelier, Proberaum, Studio und Live. Fünf Nr.1 Hits 2001-2003 in den mp3 Jazz/Rock Charts, über 30.000 downloads CD: total crazy “this trash is music” CD: dadaBLUES JOE CD: Cringer (bei Houte Areal).
Improvisation und Komposition: Ich spiele auf der Gitarre eine Bass- oder Rhythmusfigur, zeichne diese per Fußschalter mit dem „Echo-Loop-Sampler“ auf und lasse diese „Loop“ als Background laufen. Anschließend improvisiere ich melodisch darüber und schichte die Sounds und Noten zu "Clustern". Diese Technik ist für mich ein kompositorisches Mittel um Songs zu entwickeln. Beispielsongs: Drippin’ Note, Runnin’ Blues. Wenn ich dazu Gesang improvisiere, schreibe ich die Worte hinterher auf, mache daraus einen Text, entwickle den Song oder lasse die entstandene Musik für sich stehen. Ich mache auch Sessions mit befreundeten Musikern, die Texte und Songs komponiere ich jedoch allein. dadaBLUES ist Kunstmusik, die sich mit meinen Bildern zu "Multi-Media" verbindet. Ich mache Multi-Media und Art-Rock seit 1971. DadA lebt – DadA blüht!
Joachim Harmut verbindet Druckgrafik und dadaBLUES Musik zu einem Gesamtkunstwerk. 2000 internationales Mail Art Projekt mit Bild und Musik. 2006 beendet Joachim Harmut seine druckgraphische Arbeit, macht wieder Livemusik und legt sich den Künstlernamen "Joe Blues" zu.
Joe Blues Band: "Seit Jahren spielt Joe seinen Blues in den Musik-Kneipen der Düsseldorfer Altstadt. Wenn er auftritt, kommen die Bluesfreunde in Scharen und die Kneipen sind gerammelt voll" (Gernot Schwarz).
http://kultur.wikia.com/wiki/Joe_Blues Nach Auftritten in den 60er Jahren (200 Gigs im Jahr) mit Blues und Rock'n Roll Bands wendet sich Joachim Harmut 1969 der experimentellen Musik zu. 1971 baut er unter Mithilfe seines Bruders Jürgen Harmut Tongeneratoren und Effekte, die in seine Musik einflossen.1972: Art-Rock, Elektronik-Rock mit seiner Band "SPHÄRENSÄGE", Gründungsmitglieder: Joachim Harmut, Renate "Rynata", Fredy Grosser, Hans-Jürgen Pütz. Konzerte: Kunstmarkt Köln, Düsseldorf, Ruhrgebiet, u.a.
Sessions mit: Klaus Dinger (Kraftwerk, NEU!), Wolfgang Flür (Kraftwerk), Charly Weiss , Nejadepour Houschang u.a. Auftritte: Kunstmarkt Köln, Altstadt Düsseldorf, Ruhrgebiet u.a. Seit 1995: experimenteller dadaBLUES JOE: Gesang, Gitarre, Bass, Drums, Ukulele, Bluesharp, Kazoo, Keyboard, Drumcomputer, Sampler, Tongenerator, Ringmodulator, Netzbrummen, Natursounds, Hammer, Säge u.a. Recording: LoFi-Diktiergerät, Mono-Kassettenrecorder, Digitalrecorder, 4 Spur Recorder im Wohnzimmer, Atelier, Proberaum, Studio und Live. Fünf Nr.1 Hits 2001-2003 in den mp3 Jazz/Rock Charts, über 30.000 downloads CD: total crazy “this trash is music” CD: dadaBLUES JOE CD: Cringer (bei Houte Areal).
Improvisation und Komposition: Ich spiele auf der Gitarre eine Bass- oder Rhythmusfigur, zeichne diese per Fußschalter mit dem „Echo-Loop-Sampler“ auf und lasse diese „Loop“ als Background laufen. Anschließend improvisiere ich melodisch darüber und schichte die Sounds und Noten zu "Clustern". Diese Technik ist für mich ein kompositorisches Mittel um Songs zu entwickeln. Beispielsongs: Drippin’ Note, Runnin’ Blues. Wenn ich dazu Gesang improvisiere, schreibe ich die Worte hinterher auf, mache daraus einen Text, entwickle den Song oder lasse die entstandene Musik für sich stehen. Ich mache auch Sessions mit befreundeten Musikern, die Texte und Songs komponiere ich jedoch allein. dadaBLUES ist Kunstmusik, die sich mit meinen Bildern zu "Multi-Media" verbindet. Ich mache Multi-Media und Art-Rock seit 1971. DadA lebt – DadA blüht!
Joachim Harmut verbindet Druckgrafik und dadaBLUES Musik zu einem Gesamtkunstwerk. 2000 internationales Mail Art Projekt mit Bild und Musik. 2006 beendet Joachim Harmut seine druckgraphische Arbeit, macht wieder Livemusik und legt sich den Künstlernamen "Joe Blues" zu.
Joe Blues Band: "Seit Jahren spielt Joe seinen Blues in den Musik-Kneipen der Düsseldorfer Altstadt. Wenn er auftritt, kommen die Bluesfreunde in Scharen und die Kneipen sind gerammelt voll" (Gernot Schwarz).
Joe Blues Demo Clip 2011 Germany
Joe Blues - 2009 - Düsseldorf - John C Marshall
R.I.P.
„Whistlin’“ Alex Moore +20.01.1989
„Whistlin’“ Alex Moore (* 22. November 1899 als Alexander Herman Moore in Dallas; † 20. Januar 1989 ebenda) war ein US-amerikanischer Sänger und Klavierspieler des Texas Blues.
Nach dem Tode seines Vaters musste er im Alter von elf Jahren die Schule verlassen, um zu arbeiten.
Anfang der 1920er Jahre hatte er seine ersten Auftritte auf Feiern und in Klubs, nachdem er schon einige Jahre zuvor im Radio zu hören war. 1929 nahm er seine ersten drei Platten für Columbia Records auf. In der folgenden Zeit trat er weiter auf, und 1937 machte er weitere Plattenaufnahmen für Decca Records.
1987, zwei Jahre vor seinem Tod, wurde er von der Stiftung „National Endowment for the Arts“ für sein Lebenswerk geehrt.
Nach dem Tode seines Vaters musste er im Alter von elf Jahren die Schule verlassen, um zu arbeiten.
Anfang der 1920er Jahre hatte er seine ersten Auftritte auf Feiern und in Klubs, nachdem er schon einige Jahre zuvor im Radio zu hören war. 1929 nahm er seine ersten drei Platten für Columbia Records auf. In der folgenden Zeit trat er weiter auf, und 1937 machte er weitere Plattenaufnahmen für Decca Records.
1987, zwei Jahre vor seinem Tod, wurde er von der Stiftung „National Endowment for the Arts“ für sein Lebenswerk geehrt.
Whistlin' Alex Moore (November 22, 1899 – January 20, 1989)[1] was an American blues pianist, singer and whistler. He is best remembered for his recordings of "Across The Atlantic Ocean" and "Black Eyed Peas and Hog Jowls."[2]
Early life
Moore was born Alexander Herman Moore in Dallas, Texas.[3] After his father's death, Moore dropped out of school to support his mother and two siblings. He learned the piano before entering the United States Army in 1916. His overall sound during the 1920s combined elements of the blues, ragtime, barrelhouse boogie, and stride. The same decade saw Moore acquire his nickname, based upon a whistle he made while playing the piano.[4]
Career
In 1929, he made his debut recordings for Columbia Records. The records he made did not sell in great quantities, and Moore did not record again until 1937, when he issued a few sides on Decca Records.[1]
It was 1951 before Moore recorded again with RPM Records/Kent. However, throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Moore performed in clubs in Dallas and occasionally other parts of Texas. Arhoolie Records signed him to a recording contract in 1960, and those subsequent recordings saw him obtain nationwide recognition. Throughout the 1960s, Moore played at clubs and festivals in America, as well as a small number of festivals across Europe.[1] He toured with the American Folk Blues Festival in 1969, performing on the same bill as Earl Hooker and Magic Sam.[4] The same year he recorded a session in Stuttgart, Germany, which led to the release of Alex Moore in Europe.[4] He did not record again in either the 1970s or 1980s, yet continued to give live performances up to his death.[1]
He remembered and sang again the blues he had recorded in the 1920s and 1930s, such as "West Texas Woman" and "Blue Bloomer Blues", with their touching and poetic lyrics.[5]
In 1987, Moore was granted a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, becoming the first African American Texan to receive such an honor.[4]
The year before his death, he recorded Wiggle Tail, his final session for Rounder Records[1] On November 22, 1988, the state of Texas designated his birthday 'Alex Moore Day.'[3]
Personal
Moore died of a heart attack in January 1989 in Dallas, aged 89.[2][4] He never married, but was survived by a son and daughter. He was interred at the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Dallas.[4]
Legacy
Music journalist Tony Russell wrote that "Moore was so odd a performer that some newcomers to the blues have been uncertain whether to take him seriously. By the time he became moderately well-known on the international blues scene of the 1960s and 1970s; his always singular style had burgeoned into florid eccentricity, and he would reminisce tirelessly in a foggy half-shout about youthful high times in his hometown, over skipping blues and boogie-woogie piano patterns with occasional bursts of shrill whistling."
Early life
Moore was born Alexander Herman Moore in Dallas, Texas.[3] After his father's death, Moore dropped out of school to support his mother and two siblings. He learned the piano before entering the United States Army in 1916. His overall sound during the 1920s combined elements of the blues, ragtime, barrelhouse boogie, and stride. The same decade saw Moore acquire his nickname, based upon a whistle he made while playing the piano.[4]
Career
In 1929, he made his debut recordings for Columbia Records. The records he made did not sell in great quantities, and Moore did not record again until 1937, when he issued a few sides on Decca Records.[1]
It was 1951 before Moore recorded again with RPM Records/Kent. However, throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Moore performed in clubs in Dallas and occasionally other parts of Texas. Arhoolie Records signed him to a recording contract in 1960, and those subsequent recordings saw him obtain nationwide recognition. Throughout the 1960s, Moore played at clubs and festivals in America, as well as a small number of festivals across Europe.[1] He toured with the American Folk Blues Festival in 1969, performing on the same bill as Earl Hooker and Magic Sam.[4] The same year he recorded a session in Stuttgart, Germany, which led to the release of Alex Moore in Europe.[4] He did not record again in either the 1970s or 1980s, yet continued to give live performances up to his death.[1]
He remembered and sang again the blues he had recorded in the 1920s and 1930s, such as "West Texas Woman" and "Blue Bloomer Blues", with their touching and poetic lyrics.[5]
In 1987, Moore was granted a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, becoming the first African American Texan to receive such an honor.[4]
The year before his death, he recorded Wiggle Tail, his final session for Rounder Records[1] On November 22, 1988, the state of Texas designated his birthday 'Alex Moore Day.'[3]
Personal
Moore died of a heart attack in January 1989 in Dallas, aged 89.[2][4] He never married, but was survived by a son and daughter. He was interred at the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Dallas.[4]
Legacy
Music journalist Tony Russell wrote that "Moore was so odd a performer that some newcomers to the blues have been uncertain whether to take him seriously. By the time he became moderately well-known on the international blues scene of the 1960s and 1970s; his always singular style had burgeoned into florid eccentricity, and he would reminisce tirelessly in a foggy half-shout about youthful high times in his hometown, over skipping blues and boogie-woogie piano patterns with occasional bursts of shrill whistling."
Whistlin' Alex Moore
Etta James +20.01.2012
Etta James (* 25. Januar 1938 als Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, Kalifornien; † 20. Januar 2012 in Riverside, Kalifornien) war eine US-amerikanische Rhythm-and-Blues-, Blues-, Gospel-, Rock-’n’-Roll- und Jazz-Sängerin.
Leben
Etta James wurde als Tochter einer 14-jährigen Afro-Amerikanerin als Jamesetta Hawkins geboren. Ihren ersten Gesangsunterricht bekam sie im Alter von fünf Jahren von James Earle Hines, dem Direktor des „Echoes of Eden“-Chors der St. Paul Baptist Kirche in Los Angeles. Im Jahr 1950 zog sie mit ihrer Familie nach San Francisco.
Sie gründete 1952 das Trio „The Creolettes“, das von Johnny Otis entdeckt wurde. Darüber, wie es zu dieser Entdeckung kam, gibt es zahlreiche Versionen. Otis Version besagt, dass Etta James nach einem seiner Auftritte in San Francisco in sein Hotelzimmer kam und ihn zu einer Audition überredete. Etta James selbst erzählt, dass dies eines der Mädchen aus dem Trio gewesen sei und dass sie um zwei Uhr Johnny Otis vorgesungen hätten. Otis schlug ihr vor, die Silben ihres Vornamens zu vertauschen und daraus einen Künstlernamen zu machen. Ihre ersten Aufnahmen, zusammen mit „The Otis“, folgten alsbald. Der Song The Wallflower, eine Antwort auf Hank Ballards Lied Work with Me, Annie, wurde sofort ein Hit im R&B-Bereich. Später wurde der Song von Georgia Gibbs, als Dance with Me, Henry, neu interpretiert.
Bis 1960 sang sie als Etta James & the Peaches, danach wechselte sie zu Chess Records. Gleichwohl wollte sich lange Zeit kein Erfolg im Mainstream einstellen. Erst nach ihrem Wechsel zu Chess Records kam auch der kommerzielle Erfolg. Er begann mit All I Could Do Was Cry und setzte sich die ganzen 1960er Jahre fort. Mit dem Aufstieg der Disco-Musik am Beginn der 1970er-Jahre nahmen ihre Erfolge wieder ab, aber ihre bisherige Musik machten sie bereits zu einer Ikone der amerikanischen Musik. Nachdem sie ihre Drogensucht erfolgreich bekämpft hatte, engagierte sie sich in Anti-Drogen-Projekten. 1978 und 1980 war sie als Vorgruppe der Rolling Stones unterwegs. Bei der Eröffnung der Olympischen Sommerspiele 1984 in Los Angeles sang sie When the Saints Go Marching In. 1993 wurde sie von den Kritikern mit dem Living Blues Award als beste Blueskünstlerin ausgezeichnet; eine Auszeichnung, die sie auch 2004 erhielt. 1995 erschien ihre Biographie Rage to survive, geschrieben von David Ritz.
Ihr Gesang zeichnete sich durch eine volltönende, ausgereifte Stimme aus, die einem jüngeren Publikum vor allem bekannt ist, weil sie Mitte der 1990er Jahre in einem Cola-Werbefilm mit dem Muddy-Waters-Klassiker I Just Wanna Make Love to You zu hören war. In Österreich wurde Ende der 1990er Jahre ihr größter Hit At Last in einer Essigwerbung verwendet und so einem breiteren Publikum bekannt. Der Film Cadillac Records zeigt ihre Lebensphase vom Wechsel zu Chess Records (1960) bis zum Tod des Gründers Leonard Chess (1969). Der Film kam am 23. April 2009 in die deutschen Kinos. Beyoncé Knowles verkörpert darin Etta. 2011 ist sie in der Single Levels des schwedischen DJs Avicii als Sample zu hören.
Ihre Söhne Donto (Schlagzeug) und Sametto (Bass) sind ebenfalls Musiker und waren Teil ihrer Begleitband, The Roots Band. Sametto produzierte auch ihr mit dem Grammy ausgezeichnetes Album Let’s roll.
Etta James, die an Alzheimer-Krankheit, Leukämie und Hepatitis C erkrankt war,[1] hatte ihren letzten öffentlichen Auftritt im April 2009. Sie starb am 20. Januar 2012 an den Folgen einer schweren Lungenentzündung.[2]
Auszeichnungen
1993: Aufnahme in die Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[3]
1994: Grammy für die beste Jazz-Stimme
1999: Aufnahme des Titels At Last (Argo, 1961) in die Grammy Hall of Fame
2001: Aufnahme in die Blues Hall of Fame
2003: Grammy für das Lebenswerk
2003: Stern auf dem Hollywood Walk of Fame (Kategorie: Musik)
2004: Grammy für das beste zeitgenössische Blues-Album (Let’s Roll)
2005: Grammy für das beste zeitgenössische Blues-Album (Blues To The Bone)
2008: Aufnahme des Titels The Wallflower (aka Roll with me, Henry) (Modern Records 1955)
in die Grammy Hall of Fame
Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins; January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012) was an American singer-songwriter. Her style spanned a variety of music genres including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Something's Got a Hold on Me", and "I'd Rather Go Blind" for which she wrote the lyrics.[1] She faced a number of personal problems, including drug addiction, before making a musical resurgence in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.[2]
James is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and is the winner of six Grammys and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008.[3] Rolling Stone ranked James number 22 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number 62 on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists.[4][5]
Early life and career: 1938–1959
Jamesetta Hawkins was born on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, to Dorothy Hawkins, who was only 14 at the time. Her father has never been identified.[6] James speculated that he was the pool player Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, and met him briefly in 1987.[7] Due to her mother's frequent absences from their Watts apartment conducting relationships with various men, James lived with a series of foster parents, most notably "Sarge" and "Mama" Lu. James referred to her mother as "the Mystery Lady".[6]
James received her first professional vocal training at age five from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir, at the St. Paul Baptist Church in south central Los Angeles. She became a popular singing attraction there, and Sarge tried to pressure the church into paying him for her singing but they refused. During drunken poker games at home, he would often wake James up in the early hours of the morning and force her through beatings to sing for his friends. As she was a bed-wetter, and often soaked with her own urine on these occasions, the trauma of being forced to sing meant she had a lifelong reluctance to sing on demand.[8]
In 1950, Mama Lu died, and James' biological mother took her to the Fillmore District, San Francisco.[9] Within a couple of years, James began listening to doo-wop and was inspired to form a girl group, called the Creolettes (due to the members' light skinned complexions). The 14-year-old girl met musician Johnny Otis. Stories on how they met vary including Otis' version in which James had come to his hotel after one of his performances in the city and persuaded him to audition her. Another story came that Otis spotted the group performing at a Los Angeles nightclub and sought them to record his "answer song" to Hank Ballard's "Work with Me, Annie". Nonetheless, Otis took the group under his wing, helping them sign to Modern Records and changing their name from the Creolettes to the Peaches and gave the singer her stage name reversing Jamesetta into "Etta James". James recorded the version, which she was allowed to co-author, in 1954, and the song was released in early 1955 as "Dance with Me, Henry". Originally the name of the song was "Roll With Me, Henry" but was changed to avoid censorship due to the off-color title. In February of that year, the song reached number one on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Tracks chart.[10] Its success gave the group an opening spot on Little Richard's national tour.[11]
While on tour with Richard, pop singer Georgia Gibbs recorded her version of James' song, which was released under the title "The Wallflower", and became a crossover hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, which angered James. After leaving the Peaches, James had another R&B hit with "Good Rockin' Daddy", but struggled with follow-ups. When her contract with Modern came up in 1960, she decided to sign with Leonard Chess' namesake label, Chess Records, and shortly afterwards got involved in a relationship with singer Harvey Fuqua, founder of the doo-wop group, The Moonglows.
Bobby Murray, aka "Taters", toured with Etta James for 20 years. He wrote that James had her first hit single when she was 15 years of age and went steady with B.B. King when she was 16. Etta James believed the hit single "Sweet Sixteen" by King was about her.[12]
Chess and Warner Brothers years: 1960–1978
Dueting with Harvey Fuqua, James recorded for the Chess label, Argo, (later Cadet), and her first hit singles with Fuqua were "If I Can't Have You" and "Spoonful". Her first solo hit was the doo-wop styled rhythm and blues number, "All I Could Do Was Cry", becoming a number two R&B hit.[13] Leonard Chess had envisioned James as a classic ballad stylist who had potential to cross over to the pop charts and soon surrounded the singer with violins and other string instruments.[13] The first string-laden ballad James recorded was "My Dearest Darling" in May 1960, which peaked in the top five of the R&B chart. James sang background vocals on label mate Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A."[14][15]
Her debut album, At Last!, was released in late 1960 and was noted for its varied choice in music from jazz standards to blues numbers to doo-wop and rhythm and blues (R&B).[16] The album also included James' future classic, "I Just Want to Make Love to You" and "A Sunday Kind of Love". In early 1961, James released what was to become her signature song, "At Last", which reached number two on the R&B chart and number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. Though the song was not as successful as expected, it has become the most remembered version of the song.[14] James followed that up with "Trust in Me", which also included string instruments.[13] Later that same year, James released a second studio album, The Second Time Around. The album took the same direction as her previous album, covering many jazz and pop standards, and using strings on many of the songs spawning two hit singles, "Fool That I Am" and "Don't Cry Baby".[17]
James started adding gospel elements in her music the following year releasing "Something's Got a Hold on Me", which peaked at number four on the R&B chart and was also a top 40 pop hit.[18] That success was quickly followed by "Stop the Wedding", which reached number six on the R&B charts and also had gospel elements.[14] In 1963, she had another major hit with "Pushover" and released the live album Etta James Rocks the House, which was recorded at the New Era Club in Nashville, Tennessee.[13] After a couple years scoring minor hits, James' career started to suffer after 1965. After a period of isolation, James returned to recording in 1967 and reemerged with more gutsy R&B numbers thanks to her recording at the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama releasing her comeback hit "Tell Mama", which was co-written by Clarence Carter, and reached number ten R&B and number twenty three pop. An album of the same name was also released that year and included her take of Otis Redding's "Security".[19] The B-side of "Tell Mama" was "I'd Rather Go Blind", which became a blues classic in its own right and was recorded by many other artists. She wrote in her autobiography Rage To Survive that she heard the song outlined by her friend Ellington "Fugi" Jordan when she visited him in prison.[20] According to her account, she wrote the rest of the song with Jordan, but for tax reasons gave her songwriting credit to her partner at the time, Billy Foster.
Following this success, James became an in-demand concert performer though she never again reached the heyday of her early to mid-1960s success. She continued to chart in the R&B Top 40 in the early 1970s with singles such as "Losers Weepers" (1970) and "I Found a Love" (1972). Though James continued to record for Chess, she was devastated by the death of Chess founder Leonard Chess in 1969. James ventured into rock and funk with the release of her self-titled album in 1973 with production from famed rock producer Gabriel Mekler, who had worked with Steppenwolf and Janis Joplin, who had admired James and had covered "Tell Mama" in concert. The album, known for its mixtures of musical styles, was nominated for a Grammy Award.[19] The album did not produce any major hits, neither did the follow-up, Come A Little Closer, in 1974, though like Etta James before it, the album was also critically acclaimed. James continued to record for Chess (now owned by All Platinum Records), releasing one more album in 1976, Etta Is Betta Than Evvah!, and her 1978 Warner Brothers album Deep in the Night, produced by Jerry Wexler, saw the singer incorporating more rock-based music in her repertoire.[13] That same year, James was the opening act for The Rolling Stones and also performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Following this brief success, however, she left Chess Records and did not record for another ten years as she struggled with drug addiction and alcoholism.
Later career: 1988–2012
Though she continued to perform, little was heard of Etta James until 1987 when she was seen performing "Rock & Roll Music" with Chuck Berry on his "Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll" documentary. In 1989, James signed with Island Records and released the album Seven Year Itch. The album was produced by Barry Beckett. She released a second album, also produced by Barry Beckett, in 1989 titled Stickin' to My Guns. Both albums were recorded at FAME Studios.[19] Also in 1989 James filmed a live concert from the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles with Joe Walsh and Albert Collins, "Jazzvisions: Jump The Blues Away". Backing musicians consisted of many top-flight players from LA: Rick Rosas (bass); Michael Huey (drums); Ed Sanford (B3); Kip Noble (piano); and Etta's longtime guitar player Josh Sklair (guitar). James participated in rap singer Def Jef for the song "Droppin' Rhymes on Drums", which mixed James' jazz vocals with hip-hop. In 1992, James released The Right Time produced by Jerry Wexler on Elektra Records and the following year, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[10] James signed with Private Music Records in 1993 and recorded the Billie Holiday tribute album Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday.[18] The album later set a trend for James' music to incorporate more jazz elements.[13] The album won James her first Grammy Award for best jazz vocal performance in 1994. In 1995, she released the David Ritz-co authored autobiography, A Rage to Survive, and recorded the album Time After Time. Three years later she issued the Christmas album Etta James Christmas in 1998.[13]
By the mid-1990s, James' earlier classic music was included in commercials including, most notably, "I Just Wanna Make Love to You". Due to exposure of the song in a UK commercial, the song reached the top ten of the UK charts in 1996.[10] Continuing to record for Private Music, she released the blues album Matriarch of the Blues in 2000, which had James returning to her R&B roots with Rolling Stone hailing it as a "solid return to roots", further stating that the album found the singer "reclaiming her throne—and defying anyone to knock her off it".[18] In 2001, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the latter for her contributions to the developments of both rock and roll music and rockabilly. In 2003, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her 2004 release, Blue Gardenia, returned James to a jazz music style. Her final album for Private Music, Let's Roll, was released in 2005 and won James a Grammy for best contemporary blues album.[21]
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her No. 62 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[22] James has performed at the top world jazz festivals in the world, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1977, 1989, 1990 and 1993,[23] performed nine times at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival five times. Additionally, James often performed at free summer arts festivals throughout the United States.
In 2008, James was portrayed by Beyoncé Knowles in the film Cadillac Records, based on the James' label of 18 years, Chess Records, and how label founder and producer Leonard Chess helped the career of James and other label mates.[24] The film portrayed her pop hit "At Last", though James also had other big hits. James and Knowles were seen at a red carpet event following the film's release embracing each other. James later said that her previous criticizing remarks about Knowles for having performed "At Last" at the inauguration of Barack Obama were a joke stemming from how she felt hurt that she herself was not invited to sing her song.[25] It was later revealed that James' Alzheimer's disease and "drug induced dementia" contributed to her previous negative comments about Beyoncé Knowles.[26]
In April 2009, the 71-year-old James made her final television appearance performing "At Last" during an appearance on Dancing with the Stars. In May 2009, James received the Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year award from the Blues Foundation, the ninth time James had won the award. James carried on touring but by 2010 had to cancel concert dates due to her gradually failing health after it was revealed that she was suffering from dementia and leukemia. In November 2011, James released her final album, The Dreamer, which was critically acclaimed upon its release. James announced that this would be her final album. James's continuing relevance was affirmed in 2011 when the Swedish DJ Avicii achieved substantial chart success with the song "Levels", which samples her 1962 song, "Something's Got a Hold On Me". The same sample was also used by rapper Flo Rida in his hit 2011 single "Good Feeling". Both artists issued statements of condolence on James's death.[27]
Style and influence
James possessed the vocal range of a contralto.[28] James's musical style changed during the course of her career. When beginning her recording career in the mid-50s, James was marketed as an R&B and doo-wop singer.[13] After signing with Chess Records in 1960, James broke through as a traditional pop-styled singer, covering jazz and pop music standards on her debut album, At Last!.[29] James's voice deepened and coarsened, moving her musical style in her later years into the genres of soul and jazz.[13]
Etta James had once been considered one of the most overlooked blues and R&B musicians in Music history of the United States. It was not until the early 1990s, when James began receiving major industry awards from the Grammys and the Blues Foundation, that she began to receive wide recognition. In recent years, James was seen as bridging the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. James has influenced a wide variety of musicians including Diana Ross, Christina Aguilera, Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland,[18] and Hayley Williams of Paramore[30] as well as British artists The Rolling Stones,[31] Rod Stewart,[32] Elkie Brooks,[33] Amy Winehouse,[32] Paloma Faith,[34] Joss Stone[35] and Adele,[36] and also Belgian singer Dani Klein plus New Zealand singer Lorde.[37]
Her song, "Something's Got a Hold on Me", has been recognized in many ways. Brussels music act Vaya Con Dios covered the song on their 1990 album Night Owls. Another version, performed by Christina Aguilera, was in the 2010 film, Burlesque. Pretty Lights sampled the song in "Finally Moving", followed by Avicii's dance hit, "Levels", and again in Flo Rida's single, "Good Feeling".
Personal life
James encountered a string of legal problems during the early 1970s due to her heroin addiction. She was continuously in and out of rehabilitation centers, including the Tarzana Rehabilitation Center, in Los Angeles, California. Her husband Artis Mills, whom she married in 1969, accepted responsibility when they were both arrested for heroin possession and served a 10-year prison sentence.[38] He was released from prison in 1981 and was still married to James at her death.[18]
In 1974, James was sentenced to drug treatment instead of serving time in prison. She was in the Tarzana Psychiatric Hospital for 17 months, at age 36, and went through a great struggle at the start of treatment. In her autobiography, she said that the time she spent in the hospital changed her life. After leaving treatment, however, her substance abuse continued after she developed a relationship with a man who was also using drugs. In 1988, at the age of 50, she entered the Betty Ford Center, in Palm Springs, California, for treatment.[18] In 2010, she received treatment for a dependency on painkillers.[39]
James had two sons, Donto and Sametto. Both started performing with their mother — Donto played drums at Montreux in 1993, and Sametto played bass guitar circa 2003.[40]
Illness and death
James was hospitalized in January 2010 to treat an infection caused by MRSA, a bacterium that is resistant to most antibiotic treatments. During her hospitalization, her son Donto revealed that James had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2008.[26]
She was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2011. The illness became terminal and she died on January 20, 2012, just five days before her 74th birthday, at Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, California.[41][42] Her death came three days after that of Johnny Otis, the man who discovered her in the 1950s. Additionally, just 36 days after her death, her sideman Red Holloway also died.
The funeral, presided over by Reverend Al Sharpton, took place in Gardena, California eight days after her death. Singers Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera each gave a musical tribute.[43][44] She was entombed at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles County, California.
Awards
From 1989, James received over 30 awards and recognitions from eight different organizations, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences which organizes the Grammys.
In 1989, the newly formed Rhythm and Blues Foundation included James in their first Pioneer Awards for artists whose "lifelong contributions have been instrumental in the development of Rhythm & Blues music".[45] The following year, 1990, she received an NAACP Image Award, which is given for "outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts";[46] an award she cherished as it "was coming from my own people".[47]
1993, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
2001, Rockabilly Hall of Fame
April 18, 2003,[48] Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Hollywood Walk of Fame, star at 7080
Hollywood Blvd, and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Lifetime Achievement Award[49]
2006, Billboard R&B Founders Award[50]
Grammys
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. James has received six Grammy Awards. Her first was in 1995, when she was awarded Best Jazz Vocal Performance for the album Mystery Lady, which consisted of covers of Billie Holiday songs.[51] Two other albums have also won awards, Let's Roll (Best Contemporary Blues Album) in 2003, and Blues to the Bone (Best Traditional Blues Album) in 2004. Two of her early songs have been given Grammy Hall of Fame Awards for "qualitative or historical significance": "At Last", in 1999,[52] and "The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)" in 2008.[53] In 2003, she was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[54]
Blues Foundation
The members of the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up in Memphis, Tennessee, to foster the blues and its heritage,[55] have nominated James for a Blues Music Award nearly every year since its founding in 1980; and she received some form of Blues Female Artist of the Year award 14 times since 1989, continuously from 1999 to 2007.[56] In addition, the albums Life, Love, & The Blues (1999), Burnin' Down The House (2003), and Let's Roll (2004) were awarded Soul/Blues Album of the Year,[56] and in 2001 she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Etta James - I'd Rather Be Blind (Live at Montreux 1975)
Etta James made many appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival across her long and distinguished career from her first concert in 1975 through to her last in 2008.
This video focuses on the concert from 1975. It features many of her best loved tracks and songs that she is particularly associated with. Etta James was one of the most respected performers of her generation. In a career stretching over 60 years she was inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame and the Blues Hall Of Fame, won 3 Grammys and received many more nominations and was named Female Blues Artist Of The Year on no less than 14 occasions.
Etta James sadly passed away after a long illness in January 2012 and this video is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest female vocalists of the 20th century.
This video focuses on the concert from 1975. It features many of her best loved tracks and songs that she is particularly associated with. Etta James was one of the most respected performers of her generation. In a career stretching over 60 years she was inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame and the Blues Hall Of Fame, won 3 Grammys and received many more nominations and was named Female Blues Artist Of The Year on no less than 14 occasions.
Etta James sadly passed away after a long illness in January 2012 and this video is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest female vocalists of the 20th century.
John Jackson +20.01.2002
John Jackson (February 24, 1924 – January 20, 2002)[1] was an American Piedmont blues musician; his music did not become primary until his accidental "discovery" by folklorist Chuck Perdue in the 1960s. He had effectively given up playing for his community in 1949.
Life and career
He was born in John H Jackson[1] in Woodville, Virginia, United States into a musical family, and learned to play guitar at a young age. He moved to Fairfax in his twenties, where he worked as a gravedigger, among other jobs.[2]
His first recordings were released the early 1960s on the Arhoolie Records label.[2] He visited Europe several times, played at folk festivals, and also recorded for Rounder and Alligator Records.[2] He also appeared around Washington, D.C. with 'the Travelling Blues Workshop', which included Jackson, Archie Edwards, Flora Molton, Mother Scott, Phil Wiggins and John Cephas.[3]
Jackson died in 2002 of liver cancer in Fairfax Station, Virginia, at the age of 77.[1]
Jackson had six boys and one girl with his wife Cora Lee Carter Jackson. He was preceded in death by his wife Cora Lee (1990), and his sons John Jackson Jr (1978), Ned Jackson (1978), and MacArthur Jackson (1996). Two of his remaining sons died after him; Lee Floyd Jackson (2006) and Timothy Jackson (2008). His daughter Cora Elizabeth (Beth) Johnson and James Edward Jackson still live in the Fairfax, Virginia area.
In January, 2011, Jackson was nominated in the Blues Album and Live Performance Album categories for the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards.
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