1895 Eva Taylor*
1897 Blind Willie Johnson*
1908 Hammie Nixon*
1928 Robert Elem*
1944 David Evans*
1897 Blind Willie Johnson*
1908 Hammie Nixon*
1928 Robert Elem*
1944 David Evans*
1957 Todd Stewart Wolfe*
1962 Christian Willisohn*
1963 Mary Everhart*
1981 Blind James Campbell+
1982 Tommy Tucker+
1982 Big Leon Brooks+
1992 Judy Roderick+
Doug Duffey* 1)
1963 Mary Everhart*
1981 Blind James Campbell+
1982 Tommy Tucker+
1982 Big Leon Brooks+
1992 Judy Roderick+
Doug Duffey* 1)
Robert Collins*
Happy Birthday
Blind Willie Johnson *22.01.1897
„Blind” Willie Johnson (* 22. Januar 1897; † 18. September 1945) war ein US-amerikanischer Sänger und Gitarrist, dessen Werk sowohl im Blues als auch im Spiritual wurzelte. Während seine Texte ausnahmslos religiösen Inhalts waren, leiteten sich seine musikalischen Ausdrucksformen aus beiden traditionellen Quellen ab.
Leben
Kindheit und Jugend
Nach einer später entdeckten Sterbeurkunde wurde Johnson 1897 in der Nähe von Brenham in Texas geboren. Vorher waren andere Geburtsorte (Waco, Temple) und auch ein späteres Geburtsdatum (um 1902) genannt worden. Seine Kindheit verbrachte er größtenteils in Marlin. Johnsons Mutter starb, als er noch ein kleines Kind war; sein Vater heiratete danach erneut. Er war nicht von Geburt an blind. Als er ungefähr sieben Jahre alt war, schüttete ihm seine Stiefmutter infolge eines Wutanfalls Lauge in die Augen. Als Johnson älter wurde, begann er auf der Straße Gitarre zu spielen, um sich Geld zu verdienen. Schon damals verwendete er die Slide-Technik, jedoch nicht mit einem abgebrochenen Flaschenhals, sondern mit einer Zange. Johnson hatte aber eigentlich nicht vor, Blues-Musiker zu sein, der bibelfeste junge Mann wollte lieber Gospel singen.
Karriere
1927 lernte er seine erste Frau Willie B. Harris kennen, zusammen mit ihr begann er um Dallas und Waco herum aufzutreten. Sie inspirierte ihn, alte Lieder des 19. Jahrhunderts mit in sein Repertoire aufzunehmen, unter anderem Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning und Praise God I’m Satisfied. Später war Johnson mit einer Frau namens Angeline verheiratet. Bis heute ist keine Heiratsurkunde oder dergleichen gefunden worden, die belegen, ob bzw. in welchen Zeiträumen Johnson verheiratet war. Es wird angenommen, dass er mit Willie B. Harris von 1926 (oder 1927) bis 1932 (oder 1933) verheiratet war. Seine zweite Frau überlebte ihn und arbeitete als Krankenschwester.
Am 3. Dezember 1927 nahm er in den Studios der Columbia Records seine ersten sechs Stücke auf, darunter sein wohl bekanntestes Dark Was The Night – Cold Was The Ground. Ein Jahr später hielt er mit seiner Frau erneut eine Aufnahme-Session ab; 1929 reisten die beiden mit Elder Dave Ross nach New Orleans, wo er für Columbia zehn Songs aufnahm, darunter das Gospel-Stück Let Your Light Shine On Me. Außerdem spielte er nur noch einmal Lieder ein, im April 1930. Wieder dabei war seine Frau Willie. Dies war das letzte Mal für Johnson, dass er Platten aufnahm. Fortan trat er auf der Straße auf, um sich seinen Lebensunterhalt zu verdienen.
1945, vielleicht auch erst 1947, brannte sein Haus nieder. Da Johnson jedoch sehr arm war, blieb im nichts anderes übrig, als weiterhin in der Ruine zu leben. Blind Willie Johnson verstarb danach an einer Lungenentzündung.
Johnsons Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground ist auf der goldenen Schallplatte Voyager Golden Record enthalten, die sich an Bord der beiden interstellaren Raumsonden Voyager 1 und Voyager 2 befindet. Ebenso in der legendären Wireliste The Wire's "100 Records That Set The World On Fire (While No One Was Listening)".
"Blind" Willie Johnson (January 22, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was a gospel blues singer and guitarist. While the lyrics of his songs were usually religious, his music drew from both sacred and blues traditions and is distinguished by his slide guitar accompaniment and gravelly false-bass[clarification needed] voice, with occasional use of a tenor voice.
Life
Blind Willie Johnson, according to his death certificate, was born in 1897 near Brenham, Texas (before the discovery of his death certificate, Temple, Texas had been suggested as his birthplace).[1] When he was five, he told his father he wanted to be a preacher and then made himself a cigar box guitar. His mother died when he was young and his father remarried soon after her death.[2]
Johnson was not born blind, and, although it is not known how he lost his sight, Angeline Johnson told Samuel Charters that when Willie was seven his father beat his stepmother after catching her going out with another man. According to this account, the stepmother then blinded young Willie by throwing lye in his face.[2]
It is believed that Johnson married at least twice. He was married to Willie B. Harris. Her recollection of their initial meeting was recounted in the liner notes for Yazoo Records's "Praise God I'm Satisfied" album. He was later alleged to have been married to a woman named Angeline. Johnson was also said to be married to a sister of blues artist, L.C. Robinson.[citation needed] No marriage certificates have yet been discovered. As Angeline Johnson often sang and performed with him,[citation needed] the first person to attempt to research his biography, Samuel Charters, made the mistake of assuming it was Angeline who had sung on several of Johnson's records.[1] However, later research showed that it was Willie B. Harris.[1]
Johnson remained poor until the end of his life, preaching and singing in the streets of several Texas cities including Beaumont. A city directory shows that in 1945, a Rev. W.J. Johnson, undoubtedly Blind Willie, operated the House of Prayer at 1440 Forrest Street, Beaumont, Texas.[1] This is the same address listed on Johnson's death certificate. In 1945, his home burned to the ground. With nowhere else to go, Johnson lived in the burned ruins of his home, sleeping on a wet bed in the August/September Texas heat. He lived like this until he contracted malarial fever and died on September 18, 1945. (The death certificate reports the cause of death as malarial fever, with syphilis and blindness as contributing factors.)[1] In a later interview, his wife, Angeline said she tried to take him to a hospital but they refused to admit him because he was blind, while other sources report that his refusal was due to being black. And although there is some question as to where his exact grave location is, Blanchette Cemetery (which is the cemetery listed on the death certificate but location previously unknown) was officially located by two researchers in 2009. In 2010, those same researchers erected a monument to Johnson in the cemetery, but his exact gravesite remains unknown.[3]
Musical career
His father would often leave him on street corners to sing for money. Tradition has it that he was arrested for nearly starting a riot at a New Orleans courthouse with a powerful rendition of "If I Had My Way I'd Tear The Building Down", a song about Samson and Delilah. According to Samuel Charters, however, he was simply arrested while singing for tips in front of the Customs House by a police officer who misconstrued the title lyric and mistook it for incitement.[2] Timothy Beal argued that the officer did not, in fact, misconstrue the meaning of the song, but that "the ancient story suddenly sounded dangerously contemporary" to him.[4]
Johnson made 30 commercial recording studio record sides in five separate sessions for Columbia Records from 1927–1930. On some of these recordings Johnson uses a fast rhythmic picking style, while on others he plays slide guitar. According to a reputed one-time acquaintance, Blind Willie McTell (1898–1959), Johnson played with a brass ring, although other sources cite him using a knife. However, in enlargement, the only known photograph of Johnson seems to show that there is an actual bottleneck on the little finger of his left hand.[5] While his other fingers are apparently fretting the strings, his little finger is extended straight—which also suggests there is a slide on it as well.
Legacy
Several of Blind Willie Johnson's songs have been interpreted by other musicians, including "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed", "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine", "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground", "John the Revelator", "You'll Need Somebody on Your Bond", "Motherless Children" and "Soul of a Man".
"Dark Was the Night" was also included on the Voyager Golden Record, copies of which were mounted on both of the Voyager Project unmanned space probes. Carl Sagan, who was involved with the selection of the contents of the record, chose the song as he believed it properly encapsulated the essence of loneliness that mankind often faces. Voyager 1 has left the solar system and entered interstellar space, which Voyager 2 is expected to do around 2016.
Ry Cooder's slide guitar title song and soundtrack music of the Wim Wenders film Paris, Texas (1984) was based on "Dark Was the Night".
"Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" was played in the TV series The West Wing (season 5) episode 13, The Warfare of Genghis Khan. "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine" was played in the TV series The Walking Dead (season 5) episode 4 Slabtown.
Christian Willisohn *22.01.1962
Christian Willisohn (* 22. Januar 1962 in München) ist ein deutscher Blues-Pianist und Sänger.
Beim Konzert am 50sten Geburtstag, Incontri, Rohrbach/Ilm
Leben und Werk
Leben mit der Musik
Seine musikalische Laufbahn begann 1980 in Münchener Clubs; 1986 gab er seinen Beruf als Steinmetz und Bildhauer auf. 1987 spielte er mit Zora Young zum ersten Mal in den USA. Seither spielte er mit vielen internationalen Blues-Musikern. Heute tritt er in ganz Europa auf mit Klassikern und Eigenkompositionen mit Texten seiner Frau, Alexandra Mayer.[1]
1988 begann die anwährende Zusammenarbeit mit Lillian Boutté, 1992 mit dem holländischen Saxophonisten Boris Vanderlek. 1995 produzierte er zusammen mit Prof. Herbert Wiedemann von der Hochschule der Künste Berlin ein Lehrbuch für Blues & Boogie-Piano. 1996 gründete er mit dem Klavierbaumeister Rainer Schmidt[2] das Label Art By Heart[3]. Konzertreisen auf der „Sea Cloud II“ 2008 von Hamburg nach St. Petersburg, 2009 von Neapel nach Venedig. Herbst 2010: Die Band “Southern Spirit” formiert sich um ihn neu mit Boris van der Lek (saxophone), Titus Vollmer (guitar, vocal); Peter Kraus (drums, vocal), Matthias Engelhardt (bass).
Er besitzt die seltene Fähigkeit, über beliebige, vom Publikum gestellte Themen zu improvisieren und damit eine Brücke vom Jazz bis in die Klassik und andere Musik zu schlagen.
Filmmusik
Filmscore für “Der Sonnenstratege” in Zusammenarbeit mit [Titus Vollmer]
Hammie Nixon *22.01.1908
Hammie Nixon (* 22. Januar 1908 in Brownsville, Tennessee; † 17. August 1984 in Jackson, Tennessee) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Musiker, einer der frühen Virtuosen auf der Mundharmonika.
Neben der Blues Harp spielte Nixon Kazoo, Gitarre und den Jug (siehe Jug-Band). Über 50 Jahre lang trat er immer wieder mit Sleepy John Estes auf. Ihre ersten gemeinsamen Aufnahmen machten sie 1929. Nixon machte auch Aufnahmen mit Little Buddy Doyle, Lee Green, Charlie Pickett und Son Bonds.
Hammie Nixon etablierte die Mundharmonika, die zuvor ein Soloinstrument war, als Begleit- und Rhythmusinstrument für Bands. Er selbst spielte bei zahlreichen Jug-Bands, z. B. in seinen späten Jahren bei der Beale Street Jug Band. Seine letzte Aufnahme machte er 1984 kurz vor seinem Tod.
Hammie Nixon (January 22, 1908 – August 17, 1984)[1] was an American harmonica player.
Life and career
Born Hammie Nickerson in Brownsville, Tennessee,[2] he began his music career with jug bands in the 1920s and is best known as a country blues harmonica player, but also played the kazoo, guitar and jug. He played with guitarist Sleepy John Estes for half a century, first recording with Estes in 1929 for the Victor Records label.[1] He also recorded with Little Buddy Doyle, Lee Green, Clayton T. Driver, Charlie Pickett and Son Bonds.[1]
During the 1920s Nixon helped to pioneer the use of the harmonica as a rhythm instrument in a band setting, rather than as a novelty solo instrument. After Estes died in 1979, Nixon played with the Beale Street Jug Band (also called the Memphis Jug Band). Nixon's last recording, "Tappin' That Thing" (Hmg Records), was recorded shortly before his death in 1984, in Jackson, Tennessee.
Life and career
Born Hammie Nickerson in Brownsville, Tennessee,[2] he began his music career with jug bands in the 1920s and is best known as a country blues harmonica player, but also played the kazoo, guitar and jug. He played with guitarist Sleepy John Estes for half a century, first recording with Estes in 1929 for the Victor Records label.[1] He also recorded with Little Buddy Doyle, Lee Green, Clayton T. Driver, Charlie Pickett and Son Bonds.[1]
During the 1920s Nixon helped to pioneer the use of the harmonica as a rhythm instrument in a band setting, rather than as a novelty solo instrument. After Estes died in 1979, Nixon played with the Beale Street Jug Band (also called the Memphis Jug Band). Nixon's last recording, "Tappin' That Thing" (Hmg Records), was recorded shortly before his death in 1984, in Jackson, Tennessee.
When talking about deep bluesmen who are also great entertainers, the conversation will eventually get around to the coolest bassman/singer/showman the Windy City has in its blues arsenal, Big Mojo Elem. As a singer, he possesses a relatively high-pitched voice that alternately drips with honey and malice. As a bassist, his unique approach to the instrument makes him virtually one of a kind. Unlike most bass players, Elem seldom plays standard walking bass patterns, instead using a single-note groove that lends to any band he's a part of a decidedly juke-joint groove. And as a showman, he possesses an energy that makes other performers half his age look like they're sitting down. Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, Elem grew up in fertile blues territory. Originally a guitarist, he soaked up licks and ideas by observing masters like Robert Nighthawk and a young Ike Turner first-hand. By his 20th birthday, he had arrived in Chicago and was almost immediately pressed into professional service playing rhythm guitar behind Arthur "Big Boy" Spires and harmonica man Lester Davenport. By 1956, Elem had switched over to the newly arrived (in Chicago) electric bass, simply to stand out from the pack of guitar players searching the clubs looking for work. He formed a band with harp player Earl Payton and signed on a young Freddie King as their lead guitarist, playing on King's very first single for the El-Bee label in late 1956. After Freddie's success made him the bandleader, Big Mojo stayed with King off and on for the next eight years. The '50s and '60s also found him doing club work -- mostly on the West side -- with Magic Sam, Junior Wells, Shakey Jake Harris, Jimmy Dawkins, and Luther Allison, with a short stint in Otis Rush's band as well. Aside from a stray anthology cut and a now out of print album for a tiny European label, Elem's career has not been documented in much depth, but he remains one of the liveliest players on the scene.
Big Mojo Elem Talk To Your Daughter (1978)
Eva Taylor *22.01.1895
Eva Taylor (* 22. Januar 1895 in St. Louis als Irene Joy Gibbons; † 31. Oktober 1977 in Mineola, New York) war eine US-amerikanische Blues- und Jazzsängerin sowie Schauspielerin.
Leben und Wirken
Eva Taylor begann ihre Karriere bereits als Kinderstar in einer Revue-Tourneetruppe, die zwischen 1900 und 1920 auch Europa, Australien und Neuseeland bereiste.[1] Sie ging dann in den Vereinigten Staaten mit der Vaudeville-Truppe „Josephine Gassman and Her Pickaninnies“ auf Tournee. 1920 kam sie nach New York City, wo sie bald eine populäre Sängerin in den Nachtclubs von Harlem wurde. 1921 heiratete sie den Pianisten und Produzenten Clarence Williams; das Paar arbeitete dann an verschiedenen Projekten, zahlreichen Songs und einer Musik-Revue namens „Bottomland“ und an verschiedenen Radioprogrammen. 1922 entstanden Eva Taylors erste Aufnahmen für das afroamerikanische Label Black Swan, die sie als „The Dixie Nightingale“ vermarktete.[2] Sie wirkte dann in den 1920er und 1930er Jahren auf zahlreichen Blues-, Jazz- und populären Titeln von Okeh und Columbia Records mit und hatte 1925 erste Hits mit den Songs „Everybody Loves My Baby“ (#10) und „Cake Walkin’ Babies from Home“ (#13).
Als Leadsängerin war sie bei verschiedenen Aufnahmen von Williams' Formation Blue Five zu hören, wie auch bei dessen Sessions mit Louis Armstrong und Sidney Bechet 1924/25; dann 1929 bei Aufnahmen der Studioband The Charleston Chasers (Ain’t Misbehavin’) sowie bei Aufnahmen von Bluessängerinnen wie Sippie Wallace, Rosetta Crawford und Bessie Smith.[3] Obwohl sie zumeist unter ihrem Bühnennamen Eva Taylor auftrat, arbeitete sie gelegentlich auch unter ihrem Echtnamen als „Irene Gibbons and her Jazz Band“. 1927 trat Eva Taylor in dem Broadway-Stück Bottomland auf, das Williams geschrieben und produziert hatte und 21 Aufführungen erlebte.[4]
Ende der 1920er hatte Eva Taylor beim Sender NBC auch ihre eigene Radioshow[5] und gastierte in der Paul Whiteman Radio Show (1932).[6] Bis in die 1930er Jahre arbeitete sie mit Williams zusammen. Anfang der 1940er Jahre zog sie sich aus dem Musikgeschäft zurück und trat nur noch gelegentlich in Konzerten und Nachtclubs auf. Nach dem Tod ihre Mannes kehrte sie Mitte der 1960er Jahre ins Musikgeschäft zurück und ging auch in Europa auf Tourneen.
Eva Taylor (January 22, 1895 — October 31, 1977) was an American blues singer and stage actress.
Life and career
Born Irene Joy Gibbons in St. Louis, Missouri, on stage from the age of three, Taylor toured New Zealand, Australia and Europe before her teens.[1] She also toured extensively with the "Josephine Gassman and Her Pickaninnies" vaudeville act. She settled in New York by 1920. There she established herself as a performer in Harlem nightspots. Within a year she wed Clarence Williams, a producer (hired by Okeh Records), publisher, and piano player. The newlyweds worked together on radio and recordings. The couple recorded together through 1930s. Their legacy includes numbers made as the group Blue Five in the mid-1920s, which included jazz clarinetist/saxophonist Sidney Bechet, trumpet virtuoso Louis Armstrong, and such singers as Sippie Wallace and Bessie Smith.[2]
In 1922 Taylor made her first record for the African-American owned Black Swan Records, who billed her as "The Dixie Nightingale."[3] She would continue to record dozens of blues, jazz and popular sides for Okeh and Columbia throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Although she adopted the stage name of Eva Taylor, she also worked under her birth name in 'Irene Gibbons and her Jazz Band'.
She was part of The Charleston Chasers, the name given to a few all-star studio ensembles who recorded between 1925 and 1930. In 1927, Eva Taylor appeared on Broadway in Bottomland, a musical written and produced by her husband, lasted for twenty-one performances.[4] During 1929 Eva had her own radio show on NBC's Cavalcade,[5] then worked for many years on radio WOR, New York (guesting on Paul Whiteman's radio show in 1932).[6] Taylor stopped performing during the 1940s, but returned in the mid-1960s following her husband's death, touring throughout Europe.
Death
Eva Taylor died from cancer in 1977 in Mineola, New York. She was interred next to her husband, Clarence Williams, under the name of Irene Joy Williams in Saint Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale, New York.[7] Their son, Clarence Williams, Jr. (1923–1976), who predeceased his mother by one year, was the father of actor Clarence Williams III. Their daughter Joy Williams (1931-1970) was a singer-actress under stage name Irene Williams.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Taylor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TfbQP2phUQ#t=11
Eva Taylor-Shout Sister Shout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TfbQP2phUQ#t=11
R.I.P.
Big Leon Brooks +22.01.1982
Big Leon Brooks’ deep voice and heavy harmonica tone harkened back to Chicago blues of the 1950s—his style having been preserved by a long hiatus from music. He was influenced very little by the funkier, guitar-driven blues of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Leon was quick to point out that there were better harmonica players years ago. “We had quite a few harmonica players back then that were pretty damn good…. they had more weight, more tone. You got to really blow from within; you’ve got to have that feeling for music, blues music. This is something you don’t find many harp players with today.”
“The Big Man,” as he was aptly called around his home (he often wore shirts with “Big” embroidered on the pocket instead of his name), began playing harp when he was six years old. Growing up in Sunflower, Mississippi, he had a chance to learn from the masters. Leon recalled meeting Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), Elmore James, Boyd Gilmore and Charlie Booker. “I was raised up around those guys,” he remembered, “but I really learned a lot from the radio, too.”
Moving to Chicago in the early 1940s, Leon began playing with “kids in the neighborhood, on the street and down in Jewtown” (the Maxwell Street outdoor market). There he met his future mentor, Little Walter Jacobs. “I started out in Rice Miller’s style, but Little Walter was really my idol on harmonica, and I followed him around a lot. He was my coach.”
Still a teenager, Leon began slipping into the blues clubs, hanging around mostly at The Zanzibar, where he sat in with the Muddy Waters band. During the early ‘50s, he played with Freddie King and Jimmy Lee Robinson, before forming his first band with guitarist Charles Pearson in 1953. The pair joined Jimmy Rogers’ band for a couple years, before Leon split off to form his own group again. He kept bands together off and on, and worked as a sideman with Willie Johnson, Kansas City Red, Floyd Jones, Otis Rush and Robert Nighthawk throughout the ‘50s.
Then, in the early ‘60s, disenchanted with the more guitar-dominated sound of modern blues, Leon retired from music. “It got to a point where we couldn’t get no gigs. I said ‘the hell with it’, and started strictly working, driving a truck. I didn’t even go to a club.” Nearly fifteen years passed before Leon, after repeated coaxing from the West Side singer called Tail Dragger, decided to re-enter music in 1976. Guitarist Paul Cooper soon brought Leon to the North Side, and in 1977 the harpist began a Sunday night gig at Kingston Mines that lasted almost a year. Then Leon returned to the West Side, working with Tail Dragger, Eddie Taylor and James Scott at Mary’s, The Golden Slipper and The Show & Tell. He was back on the North Side with Scott at the Broadway Night Club before being hospitalized in November 1979 with a heart condition.
He made his recording debut on Alligator’s Living Chicago Blues series in 1980, recording four tracks with an all-star band. He went on to cut a full album, Let’s Go To Town, for the small Blues Over Blues label. Leon died in 1982, at the age of 49, still known only to a small number of hard-core blues fans who love the sound of classic, 1950’s-style Chicago blues.
Tommy Tucker +22.01.1982
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Tommy Tucker (eigentlicher Name Robert Higginbotham) (* 5. März 1933 in Springfield (Ohio); † 22. Januar 1982 in Newark, New Jersey) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Sänger und Pianist.
Werdegang
Über das Leben des Bluessängers und Pianisten Tommy Tucker ist nicht viel überliefert. Tommy Tucker war der Kousin von Joan Higginbotham, einer Astronautin, die sich im Dezember 2006 an Bord der Space Shuttle Discovery aufhielt.
Er lernte Klavier ab 1941 und schloss sich dem Bobby Wood-Orchester an, aus dem 1953 die Doo Wop-Formation Cavaliers hervorging. In Woods Band lernte er den Trompeter Clarence LeVille kennen, mit dem er im Jahr 1951 eine Hausband im Farm Dell Club in Dayton/Ohio gründete. Sie begleiteten hier Bluesgrößen wie Big Maybelle, Billie Holiday, Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, Little Willie John oder Amos Milburn. Danach wechselte er häufig die Gruppen, tauchte 1955 mit LeVille bei den Belvaderes auf, mit dem er danach 1956 auch bei den Dusters spielte. Zwei erfolglose Singles von je einer dieser Formationen waren das Ergebnis. 1957 schließt sich Tucker der Hausband des The Frolic Night Club in Springfield/Ohio an.
Zusammen mit Atlantic Records-Inhaber Ahmet Ertegün verfasste er den Song My Girl (I Really Love Her So), den er 1961 erfolglos als Solist herausbrachte.
Einziger Hit
Tuckers einziger und größter Hit war die Eigenkomposition und spätere Mods-Hymne Hi Heel Sneakers mit der markanten Slide-Gitarrenarbeit im Bottleneck-Stil von Welton „Dean“ Young, der mit Tucker bereits in den fünfziger Jahren zusammengearbeitet hatte. Nach Veröffentlichung des Jimmy Reed-ähnlichen Stils beim Chess Records-Tochterlabel Checker Records am 13. Januar 1964 gelangte der Titel bis auf Rang 11 der Popcharts und gehörte mit rund 200 Versionen zu den viel gecoverten Songs. Die Aufnahme wurde wahrscheinlich noch im Gründungsjahr 1962 der A-1-Tonstudios von Herb Abramson produziert. Long Tall Shorty, geschrieben von Don Covay und Herb Abramson, war der erfolglose Nachfolgehit vom Mai 1964, gecovert von den Kinks (auf der gleichnamigen LP vom 2. Oktober 1964). Abramson produzierte auch 1966 That’s Life für sein eigenes Festival-Label, konnte jedoch den künstlerischen Niedergang Tuckers nicht aufhalten.
Ende der 1960er Jahre ließ er sich als Grundstücksmakler in East Orange (New Jersey) nieder und kehrte 1974 ins Tonstudio zurück, wo ihn Altrocker Bo Diddley auf Alben wie Mother Tucker oder The Rocks is My Pillow – the Cold Ground is My Bed begleitete. Die Alben scheiterten ebenso wie die meisten Singles zuvor.
Nicht verwechselt werden darf Tommy Tucker, dessen Künstlernamen auf einen professionellen Footballspieler zurückgeht, mit dem Rockabilly-Sänger Tommy Ray Tucker. Tommy Tucker starb am 22. Januar 1982 am Einatmen giftiger Dämpfe.
Tommy Tucker (born Robert Higginbotham; March 5, 1933 – January 22, 1982)[1] was an American blues singer-songwriter and pianist. He is best known for the 1964 hit song, "Hi-Heel Sneakers", that went to No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and peaked at No. 23 in the UK Singles Chart.[2]
Biography
He was born Robert Higginbotham, to Leroy and Mary Higginbotham, the fifth of eleven children, in Springfield, Ohio, United States.
Tucker's follow-up release, "Long Tall Shorty", was less successful. Nevertheless, musicians that played on his albums included Louisiana Red, Willie Dixon and Donny Hathaway.
Tucker co-wrote a song with Atlantic Records founder executive Ahmet Ertegün, called "My Girl (I Really Love Her So)". Tucker left the music industry in the late 1960s, taking a position as a real estate agent in New Jersey. He also did freelance writing for a local newspaper in East Orange, New Jersey, writing of the plight and ignorance of black males in America, and the gullibility and exploitation of African Americans in general by the white-dominated media.[citation needed] Tucker currently has four albums selling in Europe and over the internet, through the Red Lightnin' record label.
Tucker was the father of up-and-coming blues artist Teeny Tucker (real name Regina Westbrook), and was the cousin of Joan Higginbotham, the U.S. female astronaut who launched in November 2006 on the Space Shuttle Discovery.[citation needed]
He was also friends with Davey Moore, the featherweight who died following a boxing contest with Sugar Ramos; and Johnny Lytle, the renowned vibraphonist.
Death
Tucker died in 1982 at the age of 48 at College Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, from inhaling carbon tetrachloride while refinishing the hardwood floors of his home; though his death has been alternatively attributed to food poisoning.
Blind James Campbell (September 17, 1906 - January 22, 1981[1]) was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is mostly remembered for his 1962-63 recording for the Arhoolie label with his Nashville Street Band.
James Campbell was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 17, 1906. He later became known as Blind James Campbell after an accident at a fertilizer plant left him permanently blinded. In 1936 he formed a band and began playing folk, country, pop, jazz and blues music at parties, dances and for other local events. The Nashville Street Band consisted of fiddler Beauford Clay (born 1900) who was a great influence on Campbell's playing, second guitarist Bell Ray (born 1909), bass horn player Ralph Robinson (born 1885), and trumpeter George Bell.
Campbell and his band appeared to be quite content with the steady work they were receiving, and did not seem to have any desire to pursue a career in recording. However, Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records became interested in the band after hearing a field recording of them made by a fellow blues fan, Donald Hill. Hill had recorded Campbell in the spring of 1959 and again in April 1961. Hill's recordings include Campbell singing country songs as well as blues. He also recorded Cambpell and his string band on a street corner in downtown Nashville and recorded him with Beauford Clay. Both the original tapes and digital copies of Hill's recordings have been deposited at Library of Congress as a part of the Hill/Mangurian collection of field recordings made between 1958 and 1961.
After listening to Hill's tapes, Strachwitz set off to Nashville to find and record Campbell and his band. After two recording sessions with Campbell and his band in 1962 and 1963, the Arhoolie LP Blind James Campbell And His Nashville Street Band (Arhoolie 1015) was released in 1963.
While these recordings never excelled Campbell into prominence, and the history of James Campbell and his band since the 1963 recordings is hazy, Strachwitz revisited these recordings and released them on CD in 1995, along with additional tracks from both recording sessions. Certainly, these recordings show evidence of a street band of considerable skill and quality, who were able to play American music from a variety of genres.
James Campbell died in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 22, 1981
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