1927 Big Daddy Kinsey*
1941 Wilson Pickett*
1943 Willie King*
1948 Bobby Whitlock*
1949 Dave Riley*
1952 Chuck E. Weiss*
1955 Michael Roach*
1960 R.J. Mischo*
1969 David Gogo*
1976 Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson+
2009 Edwin Joseph Bocage+
Happy Birthday
Big Daddy Kinsey *18.03.1927
Lester „Big Daddy“ Kinsey (* 18. März 1927 in Pleasant Grove, Mississippi; † 3. April 2001 in Gary, Indiana) war ein US-amerikanischer Bluesgitarrist, Mundharmonikaspieler und Sänger.
Leben
In seiner Jugend spielte er Gospelmusik mit Gitarrenbegleitung. In späterer Jugendzeit spielte er auf Partys, doch sein Vater, der Pastor der Gary’s Chase Street Church of God, mochte das nicht. 1944 übersiedelte er nach Gary, Indiana, wo er 1947 heiratete. Er arbeitete dort in einem Stahlwerk. 1957 gründete er eine Familienband (Big Daddy Kinsey and His Fabulous Sons), die bis 1972 bestand. Um seine Familie zu ernähren blieb er längere Zeit von der Musikszene fern, erst am Ende der 1960er-Jahre spielte er wieder Blues mit einer Gruppe namens The Soul Brothers.[1]
Seine musikalischen Wurzeln lagen sowohl in der Tradition des Deltas als auch im Chicago Blues der Nachkriegszeit. Seine Söhne Donald, Ralph und Kenneth sowie Ron Price formierten sich 1984 als The Kinsey Report und begleiteten ihren Vater bis zu dessen Tod 2001. Ihre musikalische Bandbreite reicht bis zu Bluesrock mit Einflüssen von Funk und sogar Reggae. 1993 veröffentlichten sie das Album „I Am the Blues“ [2], einem Tributalbum für Muddy Waters, auf dem sie mit Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Billy Branch, Sugar Blue und Pinetop Perkins zusammenarbeiteten.[3]
Big Daddy Kinsey starb 2001 im Alter von 71 Jahren an Prostatakrebs in Gary, Indiana.
Big Daddy Kinsey (March 18, 1927 — April 3, 2001)[1] was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.
Long before Lester "Big Daddy" Kinsey and his clan hit the international blues circuit, he established himself as the modern-day blues patriarch of Gary, Indiana and as the Steel City's answer to Muddy Waters. A slide guitarist and harp blower with roots in both the Mississippi Delta and postwar Chicago styles, Kinsey worked with local bands only long enough for his sons to mature into top-flight musicians, and after 1984 (when Big Daddy recorded his debut album, Bad Situation) the family act became one of the hottest attractions in contemporary blues. Big Daddy's material ranged from deep blues in the Muddy Waters vein to hard-rocking blues with touches of funk and even reggae, courtesy of sons Donald and Ralph (who venture even further afield in their own outings as the Kinsey Report). In the early '90s Kinsey released one of the most successful albums of his career, I Am the Blues, which featured contributions from Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Sugar Blue, and Pinetop Perkins. On April 3, 2001 he succumbed to prostate cancer, dying at the age of 74.
Big Daddy Kinsey & Sons ~ ''Howlin' Wolf'' 1990
R.J. Mischo *18.03.1960
Robert J. Mischo wurde am 18. März 1960 in Chilton, einer kleinen Stadt im Bundesstaat Wisconsin, geboren. Mit zwölf schenkte ihm sein älterer Bruder eine Harmonica. Ein paar Jahre später schleppte ihn just dieser Bruder in ein Konzert der Muddy Waters Blues Band - und nun war klar, R.J. wollte Bluesmusiker werden. Ende der siebziger Jahre spielte er in der Band des kürzlich verstorbenen Gitarristen Percy Strother und beschloss, seinen regulären Job aufzugeben. Produzent und Sänger/Harpspieler Lynwood Slim lebte damals in Minneapolis und zeigte R.J. ein paar Tricks. 1988 erschienen die ersten Aufnahmen von Blues DeLuxe, jener ersten eigenen Band von R.J. Mischo. Zusammen mit Gitarrist Teddy Morgan (später bei Antone's und Hightone unter Vertrag) gründete er Anfang der 90er Jahre die R.J. & Kid Morgan Blues Band - ein kurzlebiges Projekt, das in die Red Hot Blues Band mündete. Mit dieser eigenen Formation kam R.J. Mitte der 90er Jahre nach Europa und spielte auf einigen der renommiertesten Festivals. Auf der 'Breminale', dem großen Kulturfestival in Bremen, wurden 1995 die Aufnahmen für R.J.s erste CrossCut-CD mitgeschnitten, der Beginn einer bis heute währenden erfolgreichen Zusammenarbeit.
R.J. (Robert) Mischo began singing and playing harmonica in the Minneapolis area in the late '70s. He played with the blues heavyweights of that area and timeframe such as Muddy Waters sideman Mojo Buford, Percy Strother, and Milwaukee Slim. R.J. also fronted several of his own bands, including Blues Deluxe and R.J. & Kid Morgan Blues Band (which featured guitarist Teddy Morgan and singer Percy Strother). His 1992 album with that band, Ready to Go, won praises far and near and still has an unmatched magic about it. Mischo was nominated for several Minnesota Music Academy Awards while in Minneapolis, and in 1996, he won the award for Best Harmonica Player. In 1994 he released Gonna Rock Tonight. After a few tours of Europe, he re-formed the band and called it R.J. Mischo and His Red Hot Blues Band. Rough and Tough and Cool Disposition were recorded before Mischo departed for San Francisco in 1998. He recorded West Wind Blowin' there the following year. He and his band make regular appearances in the bay area and also tour the U.S. and Europe.
RJ Mischo is considered by critics and fans worldwide to be in the upper echelon of today’s great Harp players and singers. RJ started playing at the age of ten and by the time he was 19 he was working as a full-time professional musician. He began his career in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St. Paul, Minnesota an area that has spawned so many famous musicians. RJ cut his teeth with the legends of the Twin Cities’ Blues scene Percy Strother, Mojo Buford, Sonny Rogers, & Lazy Bill Lucas. He then formed “Blues Deluxe” quoted by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as “Minnesota’s hardest working Blues Band”. It was in 1992 that RJ caught the attention of Blues fans worldwide with the release of Ready to Go. This album is now of cult status amongst collectors.In 1996 RJ Mischo moved to California where he continued to grow & develop his skills. He established himself a wider audience with a prolific performance schedule at major venues and festivals across the United States, Europe and extensively up and down the West Coast.RJ’s vast discography features 12 of his own releases on several record labels and he also appears on at least 25 CDs as a guest or on compilations with Jimmie Vaughan, James Cotton, Kim Wilson, Candye Kane, G.Love, and John Mayall to name a few.RJ’s original songs “King of a Mighty Good Time” and “Two Hours From Tulsa” topped the playlist at No. 1 on SiriusXM Radio BB Kings’ Bluesville. RJ Mischo’s CDs, Knowledge You Can’t Get in College and Make It Good, made the top 50 list of Living Blues Magazine’s albums of the year. The 2012 release Make It Good featuring 13 Mischo originals on Delta Groove Records rose to #4 on the Living Blues radio charts. Blues Revue Magazine states “Do not pass go. Proceed directly to your favorite purveyor of fine blues and grab this sublimely savage Album”.
In addition, RJ’s music can be heard on Independent movie scores, TV commercials, and documentaries on the Discovery Channel. He has contributed to two Mel Bay harmonica instruction books, and is acknowledged in The Encyclopedia of Harmonica. RJ is featured on David Barrett’s Harmonica Masterclass website, and is now on the staff at Jon Gindick’s Harmonica Jam Camps held in Clarksdale, Mississippi and Ventura California.
RJ Mischo is endorsed by Hohner, the world’s largest manufacturer of harmonicas. His photo can be found on Hohner product packaging in music stores around the world.
Mischo has performed at major festivals and night clubs throughout the USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, England, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain, Belgium, France, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Slovenia, Finland, Lichtenstein & Luxembourg,
RJ Mischo’s music is drenched in the grease of the juke joint shuffles that have stayed in style since before they called it Rock & Roll. “Mischo’s magnificent tone, formidable chops, and affable, self-assured vocals…” make him a top entertainer; the kind of entertainer that only 25 years of touring experience will bring to the stage.
Robert Stanley "Bobby" Whitlock (born March 18, 1948 in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a member of blues-rock band Derek and the Dominos with Eric Clapton in 1970–71. Whitlock's musical career began with Memphis soul acts such as Sam & Dave and Booker T. & the MG's before he joined Delaney & Bonnie and Friends in 1968. His association with Delaney & Bonnie bandmate Clapton led to Whitlock participating in sessions for George Harrison's All Things Must Pass triple album (1970), in London, and the formation of Derek and the Dominos that year. On the band's sole studio album, the critically acclaimed Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970), Whitlock wrote or co-wrote a number of songs, including "Tell the Truth", "Anyday" and "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?"
Whitlock recorded four solo albums during the 1970s, among them Bobby Whitlock and Raw Velvet (both 1972), and contributed to albums by Clapton, John Lennon, Dr John and the Rolling Stones. He then retired from music until releasing It's About Time in 1999. Following his return, Whitlock has recorded and performed with wife CoCo Carmel and, since 2006, with other musicians based in Austin, Texas. Among his and Carmel's projects, the well-received Other Assorted Love Songs, Live from Whitney Chapel (2003) contains acoustic interpretations of songs originally recorded by Derek and the Dominos.
Biography
Early career 1965–68
The Stax Museum in Memphis, a replica of the now-demolished Stax studio where Whitlock spent part of his teenage years
In an article for Mojo magazine in May 2011, music journalist Phil Sutcliffe described Bobby Whitlock as "born in Memphis, learned Hammond organ peering over Booker T's shoulder at Stax studios".[1] While still a teenager, Whitlock befriended acts associated with Stax Records, including Albert King, Sam & Dave, the Staples Singers and Booker T. & the MG's,[2] and was the first white artist signed to the label.[3] His first contribution to a recording was in 1967, when he supplied handclaps on Sam & Dave's single "I Thank You".
Between 1965 and 1968, Whitlock performed regularly in the Memphis area, playing organ with local soul band the Short Cuts before forming the Counts.[4] In his 2010 autobiography, Whitlock writes of this period in Memphis: "It was a great time and town for music then, especially soul music. It was real rhythm and blues. Albert King R&B, that's what I'm talking about. It was loose and all about music everywhere that you turned."[5] With established Stax musicians such as Steve Cropper as his mentor,[6] and Donald "Duck" Dunn and Don Nix preparing to produce a pop album by him on a Stax subsidiary label, Whitlock instead left Memphis after meeting husband-and-wife team Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett.[7] Whitlock recalls that he was performing at a club with the Counts when the Bramletts invited him to join a soul-revue band they were forming in Los Angeles.[8][9]
Delaney & Bonnie 1968–70
Whitlock contributed on keyboards and vocals to two Delaney & Bonnie albums in 1969, Home and Accept No Substitute.[10] Their touring band, known as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, included musicians he would continue to work with on projects through to the early 1970s: bassist Carl Radle; drummers Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon;[11] and a horn section comprising Bobby Keys and Jim Price.[12][13] Another member was Eric Clapton, who joined the Friends line-up as lead guitarist midway through a US tour in July–August 1969.[10][14] On this tour, Delaney & Bonnie were supporting Clapton's short-lived supergroup with Steve Winwood, Blind Faith.[15][16] Clapton later described Whitlock as "without doubt the most energetic sideman I had ever seen".[17] Along with all the other members of Delaney & Bonnie,[14] Whitlock flew to England in November 1969 to prepare for a much-publicized European tour,[6] financed by Clapton.[10]
In his autobiography, Whitlock states that their arrival in London changed the dynamics within the band, as the Bramletts now considered themselves "big stars" and the ones solely responsible for the new-found success.[18] Once in London, Whitlock participated in a session for US soul singer Doris Troy's solo album on the Beatles' Apple record label.[6] The album, Doris Troy (1970), was co-produced by George Harrison,[19] who, having championed Delaney & Bonnie in the British press, accepted Clapton's invitation to join the tour.[20] Through Harrison, Whitlock and the band then played at John Lennon's "Peace for Christmas" concert, held at the Lyceum Ballroom in London on December 15, 1969.[21][nb 1]
In early 1970, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends backed Clapton on his debut solo album, Eric Clapton,[23] and toured America with the English guitarist.[24] Arguments over money with the Bramletts then led to the other Friends quitting the band and joining Leon Russell on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour.[10] Whitlock continued to work with Delaney & Bonnie until April,[10][25] following sessions for their To Bonnie from Delaney album (1970).[26][nb 2] On Cropper's advice,[25] he then returned to England to stay with Clapton at his Surrey home, Hurtwood Edge.[6]
Derek and the Dominos 1970–71
Seeking to start a new band, Whitlock and Clapton reunited with Radle and Gordon at a session for P.P. Arnold,[29] before going on to back Harrison on his 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass.[30] Whitlock has described the latter sessions as "spectacular in every way".[31] Although individual contributions remain hard to ascertain, due to the large cast of musicians on the Phil Spector-produced recording, Harrison biographer Simon Leng identifies Whitlock as one of two "core keyboard players" on All Things Must Pass.[32] Having traditionally favored Hammond organ as his keyboard instrument,[33] Whitlock played piano for the first time on a studio recording during the session for Harrison's "Beware of Darkness".[34][35][nb 3]
In June 1970, early in the All Things Must Pass sessions, Clapton, Whitlock, Radle and Gordon formed the blues-rock band Derek and the Dominos.[10] Their first release was a US-only single, "Tell the Truth", produced by Spector and written primarily by Whitlock.[38][39] In August, once their work on Harrison's album was complete, Derek and the Dominos toured the UK, playing to small venues.[40] That summer, Whitlock and his bandmates also participated in London sessions for Dr John's album The Sun, Moon & Herbs (1971).[41]
Unhappy with Spector's treatment of their sound,[10][41] the band went to Criteria Studios in Miami to work with producer Tom Dowd,[42][43] on what became a double album – Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970).[44] As well as a remake of "Tell the Truth",[45] the album included five other songs written or co-written by Whitlock,[46] including "Anyday", "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?", "Keep on Growing" and "Thorn Tree in the Garden".[1] The latter two tracks featured Whitlock on lead vocals, while on others he and Clapton shared the singing in a style reminiscent of Sam & Dave.[1][47]
After the recording [of Layla], we were on the road, and we scored an enormous amount of drugs to take with us. That was the beginning of the end ... [Still], on our worst night we were the best band on the planet. It was impossible for us to play badly.[8]
Adding to the power of the Dominos' music, Clapton's inspiration for the songs on Layla was his unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, Harrison's wife.[46][48] Whitlock began a relationship with Boyd's sister Paula at this time,[29][49] and was therefore, as he has described it, "in the inner circle ... in the middle of it with all of them".[31] He comments on a musical dialogue between Harrison and Clapton in their songs: "There were subliminal messages, going back and forth, between two good friends as a way of healing and setting each other free ... I have always known that the better part of those songs [on All Things Must Pass] were directed to Eric, just like Eric's were to George on the Layla record."[31]
Between October and December 1970,[10] Derek and the Dominos toured the United States in support of Layla, but the album made little commercial impact on release,[50] failing to chart in the UK.[1] Clapton's despondency at being rejected by Boyd, the band's drug consumption, and personal conflicts between the members,[14] particularly with Gordon, all contributed to the break-up of the Dominos in May 1971.[1][10]
Solo career 1971–76
Whitlock recorded his debut solo album, Bobby Whitlock (1972), at London's Olympic Studios in 1971, with Andy Johns as his co-producer.[50] The recording took place before the abortive sessions for the Dominos' second studio album; a press release for the 2013 reissue of Bobby Whitlock gives the recording date as starting in March 1971,[51] while Dominos biographer Jan Reid writes of sessions happening in January that year.[50] Whitlock played acoustic or electric rhythm guitar on much of the album,[52] which also included musical contributions from all the Dominos (often recorded separately),[50] the Bramletts, Harrison, Keys, Price and Keltner.[53] Among its tracks, "Where There's a Will" was a Whitlock–Bonnie Bramlett collaboration that had featured in Delaney & Bonnie's live shows in 1969–70,[54] and "A Day Without Jesus" was co-written by Whitlock and Don Nix.[55] The record peaked at number 140 on the US Billboard 200 chart,[56] the same magazine praising it as "a persuasively powerful first album".[57]
Whitlock's second solo album, also on ABC-Dunhill Records, was Raw Velvet, released in November 1972.[58] It included appearances by Clapton and Gordon, on "Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham", although the majority of the album, including another remake of "Tell the Truth", featured new associates such as guitarist Rick Vito and ex-Van der Graaf Generator bassist Keith Ellis.[59] The album was co-produced by Jimmy Miller, whose connection with the Rolling Stones[51] led to Whitlock making an uncredited contribution to the band's Exile on Main St. double album (1972).[3] By this point, Layla 's title track had become a hit song, following its release as a single to promote the History of Eric Clapton compilation (1972), leading to a critical reappraisal of Derek and the Dominos and belated commercial success.[60][61] A 1970-recorded live album, In Concert, was similarly well-received when issued in January 1973.[60] Raw Velvet peaked at number 190 on the Billboard 200, however, and it was Whitlock's last album to place on the chart.[56] Whitlock tried in vain to get Clapton to come out and play; realizing it was not going to happen, after two years of waiting, he went back to the United States.
You know I'm indirectly responsible for disco? [Clapton's manager] Robert Stigwood took the Dominos' money, used it to create RSO Records and record the Bee Gees. My deepest apologies to the entire music world.[8]
His next solo album was One of a Kind, co-produced with Bill Halverson[62] and released in 1975 on Capricorn Records.[63] Rock Your Sox Off followed in 1976, opening with a new recording of "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?"[64] Whitlock then withdrew from the music industry;[3] he told Mojo contributor Harry Shapiro in 2001: "I had my own problems to deal with."[10] Speaking to The Austin Chronicle in 2006, Whitlock said of his retirement, "It wasn't hard to stop, because there was nothing going on in music", and rued the popularity of disco.[8]
Later career
For much of the 1980s and 1990s, Whitlock lived on a farm in Mississippi, raising his children and doing occasional session work.[3] He had his own television show with Steve Cropper. A rare music release during this period was "Put Angels Around You", a duet with Scottish singer Maggie Bell, issued as a single in 1983 on the Swan Song label.[65]
In 1999, Whitlock resumed his solo career with It's About Time,[3] which included contributions from Cropper and saxophonist Jim Horn.[66] Michael Smith of AllMusic described the album as "one of Whitlock's most intriguing creations yet" and a "fine set from a musician we haven't heard enough from in recent years".[66] In April 2000, Whitlock reunited with Clapton to play live on the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland.[10] The following year, he contributed piano to Sweet Tea by blues guitarist Buddy Guy.[67]
In 2003, Whitlock and his wife, musician CoCo Carmel, collaborated on Other Assorted Love Songs, a live album that again revisited the Dominos' songs, as well as including a cover of Harrison's "All Things Must Pass".[68] Music critic Bruce Eder praised the album, writing: "The classic pieces [from Layla] hold up magnificently ... [H]ere, acoustic guitar and piano are more than sufficient accompaniment and, indeed, coupled with Whitlock's powerful singing and range, make a strong case for these being the definitive versions."[68]
Whitlock and Carmel moved to Austin, Texas in 2006.[8] The couple worked with musicians such as David Grissom, Stephen Bruton and Brannen Temple, and special guest Willie Nelson, on the album Lovers (2008)[69] and Metamorphosis (2010), another live recording. Released on the Domino label, Lovers included a song that Whitlock had begun writing with Clapton in the early 1970s, "Dear Veronica", and a remake of "Layla" that omitted the Gordon-composed piano ending, which Whitlock had never thought suitable for the track.[70] Vintage (2009) compiled his unreleased songs from the 1990s[71] and included appearances by Cropper and Horn.[72] Whitlock's solo album My Time (2009) featured musical contributions from Cropper, Keltner, Horn, Tim Drummond and Buddy Miller.[73] His subsequent releases with Carmel include Esoteric (2012) and another live album, Carnival: Live in Austin (2013).[71] In 2013, in connection with the release of the latter album, Whitlock and Carmel gave an interview for Tracy Thibodeaux's Pods o' Pop in which he spoke in depth about the formation of Derek and the Dominos, composing with Clapton, and playing on Harrison's All Things Must Pass.[74]
In 2010, Bobby Whitlock: A Rock 'n' Roll Autobiography, written with music historian Marc Roberty, was published, with a foreword by Eric Clapton.[75] Whitlock's first two solo albums appeared, remastered, as Where There's a Will, There's a Way: The ABC-Dunhill Recordings, released by Future Day Records in September 2013.
Whitlock recorded four solo albums during the 1970s, among them Bobby Whitlock and Raw Velvet (both 1972), and contributed to albums by Clapton, John Lennon, Dr John and the Rolling Stones. He then retired from music until releasing It's About Time in 1999. Following his return, Whitlock has recorded and performed with wife CoCo Carmel and, since 2006, with other musicians based in Austin, Texas. Among his and Carmel's projects, the well-received Other Assorted Love Songs, Live from Whitney Chapel (2003) contains acoustic interpretations of songs originally recorded by Derek and the Dominos.
Biography
Early career 1965–68
The Stax Museum in Memphis, a replica of the now-demolished Stax studio where Whitlock spent part of his teenage years
In an article for Mojo magazine in May 2011, music journalist Phil Sutcliffe described Bobby Whitlock as "born in Memphis, learned Hammond organ peering over Booker T's shoulder at Stax studios".[1] While still a teenager, Whitlock befriended acts associated with Stax Records, including Albert King, Sam & Dave, the Staples Singers and Booker T. & the MG's,[2] and was the first white artist signed to the label.[3] His first contribution to a recording was in 1967, when he supplied handclaps on Sam & Dave's single "I Thank You".
Between 1965 and 1968, Whitlock performed regularly in the Memphis area, playing organ with local soul band the Short Cuts before forming the Counts.[4] In his 2010 autobiography, Whitlock writes of this period in Memphis: "It was a great time and town for music then, especially soul music. It was real rhythm and blues. Albert King R&B, that's what I'm talking about. It was loose and all about music everywhere that you turned."[5] With established Stax musicians such as Steve Cropper as his mentor,[6] and Donald "Duck" Dunn and Don Nix preparing to produce a pop album by him on a Stax subsidiary label, Whitlock instead left Memphis after meeting husband-and-wife team Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett.[7] Whitlock recalls that he was performing at a club with the Counts when the Bramletts invited him to join a soul-revue band they were forming in Los Angeles.[8][9]
Delaney & Bonnie 1968–70
Whitlock contributed on keyboards and vocals to two Delaney & Bonnie albums in 1969, Home and Accept No Substitute.[10] Their touring band, known as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, included musicians he would continue to work with on projects through to the early 1970s: bassist Carl Radle; drummers Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon;[11] and a horn section comprising Bobby Keys and Jim Price.[12][13] Another member was Eric Clapton, who joined the Friends line-up as lead guitarist midway through a US tour in July–August 1969.[10][14] On this tour, Delaney & Bonnie were supporting Clapton's short-lived supergroup with Steve Winwood, Blind Faith.[15][16] Clapton later described Whitlock as "without doubt the most energetic sideman I had ever seen".[17] Along with all the other members of Delaney & Bonnie,[14] Whitlock flew to England in November 1969 to prepare for a much-publicized European tour,[6] financed by Clapton.[10]
In his autobiography, Whitlock states that their arrival in London changed the dynamics within the band, as the Bramletts now considered themselves "big stars" and the ones solely responsible for the new-found success.[18] Once in London, Whitlock participated in a session for US soul singer Doris Troy's solo album on the Beatles' Apple record label.[6] The album, Doris Troy (1970), was co-produced by George Harrison,[19] who, having championed Delaney & Bonnie in the British press, accepted Clapton's invitation to join the tour.[20] Through Harrison, Whitlock and the band then played at John Lennon's "Peace for Christmas" concert, held at the Lyceum Ballroom in London on December 15, 1969.[21][nb 1]
In early 1970, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends backed Clapton on his debut solo album, Eric Clapton,[23] and toured America with the English guitarist.[24] Arguments over money with the Bramletts then led to the other Friends quitting the band and joining Leon Russell on Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour.[10] Whitlock continued to work with Delaney & Bonnie until April,[10][25] following sessions for their To Bonnie from Delaney album (1970).[26][nb 2] On Cropper's advice,[25] he then returned to England to stay with Clapton at his Surrey home, Hurtwood Edge.[6]
Derek and the Dominos 1970–71
Seeking to start a new band, Whitlock and Clapton reunited with Radle and Gordon at a session for P.P. Arnold,[29] before going on to back Harrison on his 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass.[30] Whitlock has described the latter sessions as "spectacular in every way".[31] Although individual contributions remain hard to ascertain, due to the large cast of musicians on the Phil Spector-produced recording, Harrison biographer Simon Leng identifies Whitlock as one of two "core keyboard players" on All Things Must Pass.[32] Having traditionally favored Hammond organ as his keyboard instrument,[33] Whitlock played piano for the first time on a studio recording during the session for Harrison's "Beware of Darkness".[34][35][nb 3]
In June 1970, early in the All Things Must Pass sessions, Clapton, Whitlock, Radle and Gordon formed the blues-rock band Derek and the Dominos.[10] Their first release was a US-only single, "Tell the Truth", produced by Spector and written primarily by Whitlock.[38][39] In August, once their work on Harrison's album was complete, Derek and the Dominos toured the UK, playing to small venues.[40] That summer, Whitlock and his bandmates also participated in London sessions for Dr John's album The Sun, Moon & Herbs (1971).[41]
Unhappy with Spector's treatment of their sound,[10][41] the band went to Criteria Studios in Miami to work with producer Tom Dowd,[42][43] on what became a double album – Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970).[44] As well as a remake of "Tell the Truth",[45] the album included five other songs written or co-written by Whitlock,[46] including "Anyday", "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?", "Keep on Growing" and "Thorn Tree in the Garden".[1] The latter two tracks featured Whitlock on lead vocals, while on others he and Clapton shared the singing in a style reminiscent of Sam & Dave.[1][47]
After the recording [of Layla], we were on the road, and we scored an enormous amount of drugs to take with us. That was the beginning of the end ... [Still], on our worst night we were the best band on the planet. It was impossible for us to play badly.[8]
Adding to the power of the Dominos' music, Clapton's inspiration for the songs on Layla was his unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, Harrison's wife.[46][48] Whitlock began a relationship with Boyd's sister Paula at this time,[29][49] and was therefore, as he has described it, "in the inner circle ... in the middle of it with all of them".[31] He comments on a musical dialogue between Harrison and Clapton in their songs: "There were subliminal messages, going back and forth, between two good friends as a way of healing and setting each other free ... I have always known that the better part of those songs [on All Things Must Pass] were directed to Eric, just like Eric's were to George on the Layla record."[31]
Between October and December 1970,[10] Derek and the Dominos toured the United States in support of Layla, but the album made little commercial impact on release,[50] failing to chart in the UK.[1] Clapton's despondency at being rejected by Boyd, the band's drug consumption, and personal conflicts between the members,[14] particularly with Gordon, all contributed to the break-up of the Dominos in May 1971.[1][10]
Solo career 1971–76
Whitlock recorded his debut solo album, Bobby Whitlock (1972), at London's Olympic Studios in 1971, with Andy Johns as his co-producer.[50] The recording took place before the abortive sessions for the Dominos' second studio album; a press release for the 2013 reissue of Bobby Whitlock gives the recording date as starting in March 1971,[51] while Dominos biographer Jan Reid writes of sessions happening in January that year.[50] Whitlock played acoustic or electric rhythm guitar on much of the album,[52] which also included musical contributions from all the Dominos (often recorded separately),[50] the Bramletts, Harrison, Keys, Price and Keltner.[53] Among its tracks, "Where There's a Will" was a Whitlock–Bonnie Bramlett collaboration that had featured in Delaney & Bonnie's live shows in 1969–70,[54] and "A Day Without Jesus" was co-written by Whitlock and Don Nix.[55] The record peaked at number 140 on the US Billboard 200 chart,[56] the same magazine praising it as "a persuasively powerful first album".[57]
Whitlock's second solo album, also on ABC-Dunhill Records, was Raw Velvet, released in November 1972.[58] It included appearances by Clapton and Gordon, on "Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham", although the majority of the album, including another remake of "Tell the Truth", featured new associates such as guitarist Rick Vito and ex-Van der Graaf Generator bassist Keith Ellis.[59] The album was co-produced by Jimmy Miller, whose connection with the Rolling Stones[51] led to Whitlock making an uncredited contribution to the band's Exile on Main St. double album (1972).[3] By this point, Layla 's title track had become a hit song, following its release as a single to promote the History of Eric Clapton compilation (1972), leading to a critical reappraisal of Derek and the Dominos and belated commercial success.[60][61] A 1970-recorded live album, In Concert, was similarly well-received when issued in January 1973.[60] Raw Velvet peaked at number 190 on the Billboard 200, however, and it was Whitlock's last album to place on the chart.[56] Whitlock tried in vain to get Clapton to come out and play; realizing it was not going to happen, after two years of waiting, he went back to the United States.
You know I'm indirectly responsible for disco? [Clapton's manager] Robert Stigwood took the Dominos' money, used it to create RSO Records and record the Bee Gees. My deepest apologies to the entire music world.[8]
His next solo album was One of a Kind, co-produced with Bill Halverson[62] and released in 1975 on Capricorn Records.[63] Rock Your Sox Off followed in 1976, opening with a new recording of "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?"[64] Whitlock then withdrew from the music industry;[3] he told Mojo contributor Harry Shapiro in 2001: "I had my own problems to deal with."[10] Speaking to The Austin Chronicle in 2006, Whitlock said of his retirement, "It wasn't hard to stop, because there was nothing going on in music", and rued the popularity of disco.[8]
Later career
For much of the 1980s and 1990s, Whitlock lived on a farm in Mississippi, raising his children and doing occasional session work.[3] He had his own television show with Steve Cropper. A rare music release during this period was "Put Angels Around You", a duet with Scottish singer Maggie Bell, issued as a single in 1983 on the Swan Song label.[65]
In 1999, Whitlock resumed his solo career with It's About Time,[3] which included contributions from Cropper and saxophonist Jim Horn.[66] Michael Smith of AllMusic described the album as "one of Whitlock's most intriguing creations yet" and a "fine set from a musician we haven't heard enough from in recent years".[66] In April 2000, Whitlock reunited with Clapton to play live on the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland.[10] The following year, he contributed piano to Sweet Tea by blues guitarist Buddy Guy.[67]
In 2003, Whitlock and his wife, musician CoCo Carmel, collaborated on Other Assorted Love Songs, a live album that again revisited the Dominos' songs, as well as including a cover of Harrison's "All Things Must Pass".[68] Music critic Bruce Eder praised the album, writing: "The classic pieces [from Layla] hold up magnificently ... [H]ere, acoustic guitar and piano are more than sufficient accompaniment and, indeed, coupled with Whitlock's powerful singing and range, make a strong case for these being the definitive versions."[68]
Whitlock and Carmel moved to Austin, Texas in 2006.[8] The couple worked with musicians such as David Grissom, Stephen Bruton and Brannen Temple, and special guest Willie Nelson, on the album Lovers (2008)[69] and Metamorphosis (2010), another live recording. Released on the Domino label, Lovers included a song that Whitlock had begun writing with Clapton in the early 1970s, "Dear Veronica", and a remake of "Layla" that omitted the Gordon-composed piano ending, which Whitlock had never thought suitable for the track.[70] Vintage (2009) compiled his unreleased songs from the 1990s[71] and included appearances by Cropper and Horn.[72] Whitlock's solo album My Time (2009) featured musical contributions from Cropper, Keltner, Horn, Tim Drummond and Buddy Miller.[73] His subsequent releases with Carmel include Esoteric (2012) and another live album, Carnival: Live in Austin (2013).[71] In 2013, in connection with the release of the latter album, Whitlock and Carmel gave an interview for Tracy Thibodeaux's Pods o' Pop in which he spoke in depth about the formation of Derek and the Dominos, composing with Clapton, and playing on Harrison's All Things Must Pass.[74]
In 2010, Bobby Whitlock: A Rock 'n' Roll Autobiography, written with music historian Marc Roberty, was published, with a foreword by Eric Clapton.[75] Whitlock's first two solo albums appeared, remastered, as Where There's a Will, There's a Way: The ABC-Dunhill Recordings, released by Future Day Records in September 2013.
Bobby Whitlock - "LAYLA Live"
The Great Bobby Whitlock revisits a song he recorded with Eric Clapton
as Derek and the Dominos - Live in NYC at the Bottom Line Club 1992
Recorded on Oct 29, 1992
Recorded on Oct 29, 1992
David Gogo - Things Are About To Change - Live at Blues Summit 7
Chuck E. Weiss *18.03.1952
Chuck E. Weiss (* 1952 in Denver, USA) ist ein US-amerikanischer Songwriter, Schlagzeuger und Sänger.
Chuck E. Weiss wuchs in Denver, Colorado auf, wo seine Eltern einen Plattenladen besaßen. Durch seine Eltern und bei seinen Besuchen in der örtlichen Blues-Bar Ebbett’s Field lernte er Lightnin’ Hopkins kennen, der von seinem Schlagzeugspiel beeindruckt war und ihn mit auf Tour nahm. So bekam Weiss die Gelegenheit zu Auftritten mit Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Roger Miller, Dr. John und anderen.
1981 veröffentlichte er sein Debütalbum the Other Side of Town, unter der Mitwirkung von Dr. John, Rickie Lee Jones und anderen. Erst 1999 erschien sein nächstes Album Extremely Cool in Zusammenarbeit mit Tom Waits als Co-Produzenten. Waits singt auch auf den letzten zwei Titeln des Albums. Kennengelernt hatten die beiden sich bereits 1972 im Ebbett’s Field, als Weiss in der Hausband des Clubs spielte. Auch wenn Waits 1999 mit seinem typischen Sound schon nahezu drei Jahrzehnte international sehr erfolgreich war, ist es schwer zu beurteilen, wer wen in Gesangs- und Kompositionsstil mehr beeinflusst hat.
Eine größere Bandbreite von Delta Blues bis Zydeco und mit deutlich geringeren Anklängen an Waits zeigte dann das folgende Album Old Souls and Wolf Tickets aus dem Jahre 2002. 2006 erschien 23rd & Stout, dessen musikalische Mischung aus Rock ’n’ Roll, Jazz und Blues Weiss selbst als „discom-bop-ulated jive“ bezeichnet.
Bis zum Erscheinen des Albums Red Beans and Weiss 2014 sollte wieder der für Weiss typisch lange Zeitraum vergehen. Es erschien auf dem Independent-Label ANTI-Records, bei dem inzwischen auch Tom Waits veröffentlicht, und wurde von Waits und Jonny Depp produziert.
Chuck E. Weiss war der Typ aus Rickie Lee Jones Hit Chuck E.’s in Love aus deren 1979er Debütalbum, von dem es im Lied heißt, dass er verliebt ist „in das kleine Mädchen, das diesen Song singt“. Jones, die damals mit Tom Waits liiert war, sagte allerdings, der Song sei fiktiv. Alle drei lebten zu dieser Zeit im Tropicana Motel in Los Angeles inmitten einer regen Musikszene mit Künstlern wie Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, Frank Zappa und anderen.
Referenzen an Weiss sind ebenfalls auf den Tom Waits Alben Small Change und Nighthawks at the Diner vorhanden; Weiss erscheint außerdem auf dem Coverfoto von Nighthawks ….
Weiss selbst nennt als sein großes Vorbild Louis Jordan.
Zitate
„Dieser kleine jüdische Junge mit dem großen alten Kopf ist einer der besten Musiker dieser Stadt und des ganzen Landes.“
– Willie Dixon
Chuck E. Weiss wuchs in Denver, Colorado auf, wo seine Eltern einen Plattenladen besaßen. Durch seine Eltern und bei seinen Besuchen in der örtlichen Blues-Bar Ebbett’s Field lernte er Lightnin’ Hopkins kennen, der von seinem Schlagzeugspiel beeindruckt war und ihn mit auf Tour nahm. So bekam Weiss die Gelegenheit zu Auftritten mit Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Roger Miller, Dr. John und anderen.
1981 veröffentlichte er sein Debütalbum the Other Side of Town, unter der Mitwirkung von Dr. John, Rickie Lee Jones und anderen. Erst 1999 erschien sein nächstes Album Extremely Cool in Zusammenarbeit mit Tom Waits als Co-Produzenten. Waits singt auch auf den letzten zwei Titeln des Albums. Kennengelernt hatten die beiden sich bereits 1972 im Ebbett’s Field, als Weiss in der Hausband des Clubs spielte. Auch wenn Waits 1999 mit seinem typischen Sound schon nahezu drei Jahrzehnte international sehr erfolgreich war, ist es schwer zu beurteilen, wer wen in Gesangs- und Kompositionsstil mehr beeinflusst hat.
Eine größere Bandbreite von Delta Blues bis Zydeco und mit deutlich geringeren Anklängen an Waits zeigte dann das folgende Album Old Souls and Wolf Tickets aus dem Jahre 2002. 2006 erschien 23rd & Stout, dessen musikalische Mischung aus Rock ’n’ Roll, Jazz und Blues Weiss selbst als „discom-bop-ulated jive“ bezeichnet.
Bis zum Erscheinen des Albums Red Beans and Weiss 2014 sollte wieder der für Weiss typisch lange Zeitraum vergehen. Es erschien auf dem Independent-Label ANTI-Records, bei dem inzwischen auch Tom Waits veröffentlicht, und wurde von Waits und Jonny Depp produziert.
Chuck E. Weiss war der Typ aus Rickie Lee Jones Hit Chuck E.’s in Love aus deren 1979er Debütalbum, von dem es im Lied heißt, dass er verliebt ist „in das kleine Mädchen, das diesen Song singt“. Jones, die damals mit Tom Waits liiert war, sagte allerdings, der Song sei fiktiv. Alle drei lebten zu dieser Zeit im Tropicana Motel in Los Angeles inmitten einer regen Musikszene mit Künstlern wie Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, Frank Zappa und anderen.
Referenzen an Weiss sind ebenfalls auf den Tom Waits Alben Small Change und Nighthawks at the Diner vorhanden; Weiss erscheint außerdem auf dem Coverfoto von Nighthawks ….
Weiss selbst nennt als sein großes Vorbild Louis Jordan.
Zitate
„Dieser kleine jüdische Junge mit dem großen alten Kopf ist einer der besten Musiker dieser Stadt und des ganzen Landes.“
– Willie Dixon
Chuck E. Weiss is an American songwriter and vocalist.
History
Chuck E. Weiss grew up in Denver, Colorado, United States, where his parents owned a record store (The Record Center, 434 16th Street). Through his parents, and by spending time at the local blues bar Ebbetts Field, he met Lightnin' Hopkins. Hopkins was impressed with his drum playing and took him on tour, where Weiss had the opportunity to play with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Roger Miller, Dr. John, and others.
Radio
Weiss was a disc jockey on alternative rock station KFML-FM-Denver in the early 1970s.
Television
Weiss appeared on an episode of Storage Wars that aired on June 25, 2013. He was paired with Barry Weiss who was attending the auction incognito as an elderly woman. In the May 14, 2002 episode of Gilmore Girls entitled "Lorelai's Graduation Day", he appeared as The Proprietor of a record store in NYC in which Rory and Jess browse.
He also made a cameo on Married With Children as a homeless man in an episode but the appearance is brief (date unknown) and on an episode of Brotherly Love as Leo the garbage man.
Music
Weiss was initially featured on the 1990 album L.A. Ya Ya, a compilation of performances by Los Angeles-based blues artists.[1]
Weiss released the album Extremely Cool in 1999, featuring extensive collaboration with Tony Gilkyson and Tom Waits, who co-produced the album for his longtime acquaintance (they met in 1974 at Ebbetts Field, where Weiss played in the house band)[2] and appears on at least two tracks. The style is heavily reminiscent of Waits, both in composition and vocal approach. Either could have influenced the other. The opening track Devil With Blue Suede Shoes was produced by Johnny Depp and features none other than Toby Dammit on drums. It was used in Depp's film The Brave.
Old Souls and Wolf Tickets was released in early 2002, also produced by Gilkyson, perhaps less reminiscent of Tom Waits and more redolent of Delta blues acts decades older. Weiss's music includes strains of every rhythmic style from nursery rhymes to zydeco.
Weiss was the subject of Rickie Lee Jones's hit song "Chuck E.'s In Love", from her 1979 debut album. At the time Jones was linked romantically to Tom Waits. All three lived in the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles, in the middle of a fertile musical scene including Levi and the Rockats, Stray Cats, Black Flag, Frank Zappa and others.
Weiss is referred to in Tom Waits titles and lyrics from the album Small Change, as well as passing references on Nighthawks at the Diner.
Weiss has also played with Willie Dixon, who was quoted on the original packaging of Extremely Cool ("Ain't ya got ears son? That little Jew boy with the big old head be one of the best musicians in this town, this country even.") "Down the Road a Piece," from Old Souls & Wolf Tickets, is a 1970 recording of the two playing together.
In 1995, Weiss played washboard on P's self-titled album. The band featured Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers and actor Johnny Depp.[3]
Weiss says his biggest musical idol is Louis Jordan.
In 2006, Weiss released the album 23rd & Stout, an album more reminiscent of Waits's 1980s output, featuring an exploration of many blues and rumba styles, as well as a tribute to Sterling Holloway, entitled "Sho' Is Cold". Also featured is long time friend and collaborator Diablo Dimes.
Weiss has been associated with Los Angeles and Southern California for years, saying he does not like to travel by airplane. Weiss played 11 years of Mondays at a club called The Central before it fell on hard times. Weiss and his friend Johnny Depp (who was executive producer on the first track on Extremely Cool) were instrumental in resuscitating it as the Viper Room, which later became notorious when River Phoenix died there in 1993. Extremely Cool makes reference to Canter's Kibitz Room, a small nightclub in a larger diner in Los Angeles's Fairfax District, where Weiss has also played habitually. His regular band is called The God Damn Liars.
History
Chuck E. Weiss grew up in Denver, Colorado, United States, where his parents owned a record store (The Record Center, 434 16th Street). Through his parents, and by spending time at the local blues bar Ebbetts Field, he met Lightnin' Hopkins. Hopkins was impressed with his drum playing and took him on tour, where Weiss had the opportunity to play with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Roger Miller, Dr. John, and others.
Radio
Weiss was a disc jockey on alternative rock station KFML-FM-Denver in the early 1970s.
Television
Weiss appeared on an episode of Storage Wars that aired on June 25, 2013. He was paired with Barry Weiss who was attending the auction incognito as an elderly woman. In the May 14, 2002 episode of Gilmore Girls entitled "Lorelai's Graduation Day", he appeared as The Proprietor of a record store in NYC in which Rory and Jess browse.
He also made a cameo on Married With Children as a homeless man in an episode but the appearance is brief (date unknown) and on an episode of Brotherly Love as Leo the garbage man.
Music
Weiss was initially featured on the 1990 album L.A. Ya Ya, a compilation of performances by Los Angeles-based blues artists.[1]
Weiss released the album Extremely Cool in 1999, featuring extensive collaboration with Tony Gilkyson and Tom Waits, who co-produced the album for his longtime acquaintance (they met in 1974 at Ebbetts Field, where Weiss played in the house band)[2] and appears on at least two tracks. The style is heavily reminiscent of Waits, both in composition and vocal approach. Either could have influenced the other. The opening track Devil With Blue Suede Shoes was produced by Johnny Depp and features none other than Toby Dammit on drums. It was used in Depp's film The Brave.
Old Souls and Wolf Tickets was released in early 2002, also produced by Gilkyson, perhaps less reminiscent of Tom Waits and more redolent of Delta blues acts decades older. Weiss's music includes strains of every rhythmic style from nursery rhymes to zydeco.
Weiss was the subject of Rickie Lee Jones's hit song "Chuck E.'s In Love", from her 1979 debut album. At the time Jones was linked romantically to Tom Waits. All three lived in the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles, in the middle of a fertile musical scene including Levi and the Rockats, Stray Cats, Black Flag, Frank Zappa and others.
Weiss is referred to in Tom Waits titles and lyrics from the album Small Change, as well as passing references on Nighthawks at the Diner.
Weiss has also played with Willie Dixon, who was quoted on the original packaging of Extremely Cool ("Ain't ya got ears son? That little Jew boy with the big old head be one of the best musicians in this town, this country even.") "Down the Road a Piece," from Old Souls & Wolf Tickets, is a 1970 recording of the two playing together.
In 1995, Weiss played washboard on P's self-titled album. The band featured Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers and actor Johnny Depp.[3]
Weiss says his biggest musical idol is Louis Jordan.
In 2006, Weiss released the album 23rd & Stout, an album more reminiscent of Waits's 1980s output, featuring an exploration of many blues and rumba styles, as well as a tribute to Sterling Holloway, entitled "Sho' Is Cold". Also featured is long time friend and collaborator Diablo Dimes.
Weiss has been associated with Los Angeles and Southern California for years, saying he does not like to travel by airplane. Weiss played 11 years of Mondays at a club called The Central before it fell on hard times. Weiss and his friend Johnny Depp (who was executive producer on the first track on Extremely Cool) were instrumental in resuscitating it as the Viper Room, which later became notorious when River Phoenix died there in 1993. Extremely Cool makes reference to Canter's Kibitz Room, a small nightclub in a larger diner in Los Angeles's Fairfax District, where Weiss has also played habitually. His regular band is called The God Damn Liars.
Willie King
a charismatic preacher of the blues
Willie King isn't just one of them bluesguys, who play the blues only for the fun of it. King is one hundred percent heart and soul and he combines good solid soulful blues with a strong social and political envolvement.a charismatic preacher of the blues
Willie King was born in 1943 in Prairie Point, deeply into the cotton fields of Mississippi. He was raised by his grandparents who taught him the rules of life and, with his hand on his butt, King says he can still feel those lessons. Lord have mercy....
Young Willie grew up in rather poor circumstances since his grandparents were sharecroppers and as a young black man he experienced the hate and the humiliation of deeply rooted racism. His mother was only fourteen when she gave birth to him. Nevertheless he had the luck of growing up with blues and gospel and thus became interested in music at a young age. His grandmother had a jook house where the blues was played at parties and at age 13 he got his first acoustic guitar, a Gibson.
Speaking about his musical influences King refers to Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker. Howlin' Wolf, from nearby West Point, in particular has been a great inspiration for King and Wolf's influence on his work is very obvious. King also mentions Jesse Daniels a bluesman who has gathered only local fame, but meant a lot for King's musical development.
At age 24 King lives in Chicago for about a year trying to earn some money, like so many others did. And just like R.L. Burnside and some others he turned his back upon the Windy City and returned to the South. King settled in rural Old Memphis near Aliceville, back in the woods of western Alabama, just across the Mississippi state line. There he concentrated on working for the local community and through his organization, The Rural Members Association, he is supporting all kinds of social relief programs and educational projects. "We continue to work together and reach out to help others in need. It is not about how much we can put in our pocket and walk away with, it is about helping people". Furthermore he plays an important role in the activities of the Alabama Blues Project, an organization that is set out to pass on the blues torch to younger generations, black and white.
In many of his songs King speaks about his social and political beliefs. 'Clean up the ghetto' and 'Stand up and speak the truth' are some of the titles that illustrate his strong commitment. In his performances as well as in daily life Willie King preaches (and practices) the message of love, peace and understanding. He considers the blues a gift from heaven and through his music he wants to bring people together and give them hope and inspiration. "The blues is a healer", King says.
Willie King lives in an old trailer and since 1998 he is the driving spirit behind the Freedom Creek Blues Festival that is held on the grounds behind his trailer. This charismatic artist brings his very danceable blues to many stages throughout the South and gradually his star is rising nationally and abroad. But his most favorite venue is Bettie's Place, a small juke joint in Prairie Point, Mississippi, where King can be found almost every Sunday playing and preaching the blues.
Update 03-09-2009:
On the day he turned 66 years old, March 8, 2009, Willie King died of a massive heart attack. A great loss for blues culture and the local community for which he meant so much. A tribute:
Michael Roach, one of thirteen children born to Ted and Sadie Roach of Washington, D.C., USA, sings and plays guitar in an East Coast style of blues that dates back to the 1920s. After spending several years learning directly from such well known figures as John Jackson, John Cephas and Jerry Ricks, Michael Roach has developed his own style and is now an exceptional performer. He interacts with his audience and entertains as he plays.
For the past 25 years, Michael has conducted numerous workshops throughout the USA and Europe. As a cultural arts performer, Michael has promoted African-American culture through the use of blues music. He has lectured for the Smithsonian Institute (USA), Oxford University (UK) and more recently at the University of Metz (France). In July 2004, he was involved in the organization of a conference held at the University of Gloucestershire (UK) called ‘Overseas Blues – European Perspectives on African American Music’. The University Press of Mississippi published the papers from the conference in 2007.
Michael is the founder of the European Blues Association and currently serves as its Director of Development and Secretary. He is the Director, Guitar Instructor and Vocals Teacher for the annual Blues Week 2000 – 2015 program (a week of lectures, guitar, harmonica, piano/keyboards and vocals tuition) at Exeter University (2000/2004), the University of Northampton (2005/2013) and the University of Worcester (2015). Michael also presented ‘Deep Blue’, a three part series on blues music featured on BBC Radio 4 in March 2003. It is Michael’s communication skills together with his musicianship that has enabled him to bring about a greater understanding of blues music and the Black experience.
For the past 25 years, Michael has conducted numerous workshops throughout the USA and Europe. As a cultural arts performer, Michael has promoted African-American culture through the use of blues music. He has lectured for the Smithsonian Institute (USA), Oxford University (UK) and more recently at the University of Metz (France). In July 2004, he was involved in the organization of a conference held at the University of Gloucestershire (UK) called ‘Overseas Blues – European Perspectives on African American Music’. The University Press of Mississippi published the papers from the conference in 2007.
Michael is the founder of the European Blues Association and currently serves as its Director of Development and Secretary. He is the Director, Guitar Instructor and Vocals Teacher for the annual Blues Week 2000 – 2015 program (a week of lectures, guitar, harmonica, piano/keyboards and vocals tuition) at Exeter University (2000/2004), the University of Northampton (2005/2013) and the University of Worcester (2015). Michael also presented ‘Deep Blue’, a three part series on blues music featured on BBC Radio 4 in March 2003. It is Michael’s communication skills together with his musicianship that has enabled him to bring about a greater understanding of blues music and the Black experience.
Wilson Pickett *18.03.1941
Wilson Pickett (* 18. März 1941 in Prattville, Alabama; † 19. Januar 2006[1] in Reston, Virginia) war ein US-amerikanischer Sänger. Er war einer der populärsten Soul-Sänger der 1960er Jahre.
Leben
1955 zog Pickett nach Detroit, wo er in verschiedensten Kirchenchören sang; auch gehörte er zur Gospelgruppe The Violinaires. 1961 schloss er sich der Rhythm and Blues-Formation The Falcons an, die einen neuen Leadsänger suchten, nachdem Eddie Floyd ihnen den Rücken gekehrt hatte. 1962 schrieb er für sie den Mini-Hit I Found a Love, als Folge dessen der Falcons-Produzent Robert Bateman Pickett zu einer Solo-Karriere anstachelte. Pickett trennte sich dann von den Falcons und verpflichtete sich 1963 bei Lloyd Price’ Label Double L Records. Mit der Single If You Need Me tauchte Pickett erstmals in den US-amerikanischen Pop-Charts auf. Der Song wurde später viel gecovert, unter anderem von Solomon Burke und den Rolling Stones.
1964 bekam Pickett von Jerry Wexler einen Vertrag bei Atlantic Records angeboten, den er annahm. Nach In The Midnight Hour von 1965 folgte bis 1971 Hit auf Hit, darunter das bekannte Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, das ebenfalls auch von den Rolling Stones interpretiert wurde und später ein großer Hit für die Blues Brothers werden sollte. Viele seiner Hits schrieb Pickett selbst, wobei ihm Steve Cropper als Co-Autor zur Seite stand. Im März 1971 tourte Pickett zusammen mit vielen anderen Musikern aus den USA und aus Afrika durch Ghana. In Deutschland hatte Pickett keinen nennenswerten kommerziellen Erfolg; nur zwei seiner Titel erreichten die Verkaufs-Hitlisten. Seine höchste Platzierung dort war 1968 eine Nummer 32 mit dem Titel Stagg-O-Lee.
1973 verließ Pickett Atlantic auf dem Zenit seiner Karriere und wechselte zu RCA Records, was er später sehr bereute. Mit seiner Debüt-Single Take a Closer Look at the Woman You’re With auf dem neuen Label tauchte er ein vorerst letztes Mal in den US-amerikanischen Pop-Charts auf, dann ließen die Erfolge stark nach. Pickett trat zwar weiterhin auf und veröffentlichte auch neues Material, doch konnte er sich damit weder in den US-amerikanischen Single- noch in den Albumcharts platzieren.
Ab den frühen 1980er Jahren kam Pickett häufiger mit dem Gesetz in Konflikt. Er verprügelte Promoter, Manager und Musiker, landete, nachdem er eine Person mit einer Schusswaffe bedroht hatte, im Gefängnis und musste 1987 ins Krankenhaus eingeliefert werden, da er sich mit Mitgliedern seiner Band geschlagen hatte. Im selben Jahr gelangte Picket mit einer Neuveröffentlichung von In The Midnight Hour (Motown) bis auf Position 62 in den britischen Singlecharts – es war seine erste nennenswerte Platzierung seit den frühen 1970ern.
1991 wurde Pickett in die Rock and Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen.[2] Er verfiel mehr und mehr dem Alkohol. Im Januar 1992 musste er sein Haus in Englewood aufgrund von Mietrückständen verlassen. Im darauffolgenden April fuhr er in betrunkenem Zustand einen 86-jährigen Fußgänger an und verletzte diesen lebensgefährlich. Im Mai wurde er zu einer Geldstrafe sowie einer Entziehungskur verurteilt, nachdem er seine Freundin geschlagen hatte. 1993 landete er aufgrund des Verkehrsunfalls vom vorhergehenden Jahr für ein Jahr im Gefängnis mit fünfjähriger Bewährungszeit. Bereits im April 1996 wurde Pickett wegen des Besitzes von zwei Gramm Kokain erneut inhaftiert.
Einige Jahre nach seiner Entlassung kehrte er ins Studio zurück und erhielt für sein 1999er Album It’s Harder Now eine Grammy-Nominierung.
Eine Neuaufnahme seines Titel 634-5789 ist mit ihm und anderen Sängern im Film Blues Brothers 2000 zu hören.
Wilson Pickett starb in einem Krankenhaus in Reston, US-Bundesstaat Virginia, infolge eines Herzinfarkts.
In den 60er Jahren zählte er zu den populärsten Soulsängern neben Otis Redding und Aretha Franklin. In Wilson Picketts (1941-2006) Gesang klingt ebenso die Klage des frühen Gospel und Blues wie auch der rauhe Sound der Straßen von Detroit, wo er aufwuchs. Der Spitzname "Wicked Pickett" stand Zeit seines Lebens nicht nur für seine kraftvollen Bühnendarbietungen sondern auch für sein unberechenbares Verhalten im Alltag.
Wilson Pickett - Biografie
Im Film "The Commitements" ist er so etwas wie eine abwesende Vaterfigur: Die Erwartung, dass Wilson Pickett mit der langsam zu lokalem Ruhm gekommenen Soulband aus Dublin jammen will, hält die Streitenden zusammen und lässt sie von einer großen Karriere träumen. Doch Pickett erscheint nicht. Dabei hatten die jungen Musiker davon geträumt, mit ihm gemeinsam Hits wie "In The Midnight Hour" oder "Mustang Sally" zu spielen. Erst nach dem großen Krach, als alle schon auseinander gelaufen waren, kommt doch noch eine Limousine. Der Klub allerdings ist geschlossen. Der Star steigt nicht mal aus.
Als Alan Parkers Film 1991 in die Kinos kam, war der Star der 60er gerade in die Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen worden. Das war eines der angenehmeren Kapitel seines späteren Lebens. Seit den 80er Jahren war er immer wieder wegen Alkohol und Gewalttätigkeiten vor Gericht und mehrfach im Gefängnis. "Wicked Pickett" war schon in den 60er Jahren ein völlig unberechenbarer Künstler, der auch schon mal Streitigkeiten mit Schusswaffen regeln wollte. Seine Gewaltausbrüche haben vielleicht einen Grund in seiner Kindheit.
Geboren wurde Wilson Pickett am 18. März 1941 in Prattville, Alabama als jüngstes von 11 Kindern, die schon früh auf dem gepachteten Baumwollfeld der Familie mithelfen mussten. In der Kirche seines Großvaters begann er schon als Kind Gospel zu singen. In den 50er Jahren zog er mit seinem Vater nach Detroit, um seiner gewalttätigen Mutter zu entfliehen. Diese hatte ebenso wie der Großvater Prügel als regelmäßige Erziehungsmethode eingesetzt. Daran war letztlich auch die Ehe seiner Eltern gescheitert.
In der Autostadt schloss sich Pickett der Gospelgruppe Violinaires an. Doch wenige Jahre später verließ er sie, um gemeinsam mit The Falcons Rhythm & Blues zu singen. Nach einem lokalen Mini-Hit startete er auf Anregung eines Produzenten 1963 seine Solokarriere.
Diese kam richtig in Gang, als er 1964 von Jerry Wexler einen Vertrag bei Atlantic angeboten bekam. Dort erschien 1965 sein erster großer Hit "In The Midnight Hour", der in Memphis mit der Hausband von Stax aufgenommen wurde. Bis zum Oktober 1965 entstanden weitere mittlerweile legendäre Aufnahmen in den Staxstudios, unter anderem "6345789" oder "Ninety-Nine and A Half (Won't Do)". Einige dieser Hits hatte Pickett selbst oder gemeinsam mit Streve Cropper oder Eddie Floyd geschrieben.
Als Stax-Chef Jim Stewart im Dezember 1965 allerdings beschloss, künftig keine Produktionen für labelfremde Künstler zu machen, zog Pickett für die nächsten Aufnahmen in die Fame-Studios in Muscle Shoals. Dort entstanden mit der Band des Studios weitere Hits wie "Mustang Sally", "Funky Broadway" und "Land of the 1000 Dances". Auf dem Höhepunkt seiner Karriere bei Atlantic verließ er das Label und unterzeichnete 1973 bei RCA. Diese Entscheidung allerdings sollte er schon bald bedauern. Nur noch eine Single aus dieser Zeit gelangte in die Popcharts. Dann ging es zunächst mit seiner Popularität bergab. Dies hatte allerdings auch damit zu tun, dass die aufkommende Disco-Welle das Interesse am klassischen Soul bei den Singlekäufern sinken ließ. Pickett allerdings veröffentlichte weiterhin regelmäßig Alben und tourte.
Ab den 80er Jahren machte er allerdings mehr mit seinen Gerichtsverhandlungen als durch seine Musik von sich reden: Er verprügelte Bandmitglieder, Manager und andere. Und als er einen mit einer Schusswaffe bedroht hatte, wurde er zu einer Gefängnisstrafe verurteilt. 1987 musste er nach einer Prügelei mit seiner Band gar ins Krankenhaus eingeliefert werden. Außerdem wurde er zu einem starken Alkoholiker, der 1992 betrunken einen Rentner überfuhr. Dies brachte ihm eine weitere Gefängnisstrafe ein. Weitere Inhaftierungen folgten, als er seine Freundin verprügelte und wegen des Besitzes von Kokain.
Erst 1999 kam er wieder zu Aufnahmen in ein Studio. Das Album "It's Harder Now" brachte ihm neben einer Grammy-Nominierung auch noch diverse andere Auszeichungen ein. Und im Film "Blues Brothers 2000" nahm er gemeinsam mit Johnny Lang und den Blues Brothers eine Neufassung von "634 5789" auf.
Bis 2004 war er konstant auf Tour. Dann allerdings zwang ihn seine nachlassende Gesundheit zum Ruhestand. Am 19. Januar 2006 starb er nach einem Herzinfarkt in Reston, Virginia. Sein nach dem gesundheitlichen Zusammenbruch oft geäußerter Plan, ein Gospelalbum zu veröffentlichen und damit zu seinen Wurzeln zurück zu kehren, blieb unverwirklicht.
Wilson Pickett - Biografie
Im Film "The Commitements" ist er so etwas wie eine abwesende Vaterfigur: Die Erwartung, dass Wilson Pickett mit der langsam zu lokalem Ruhm gekommenen Soulband aus Dublin jammen will, hält die Streitenden zusammen und lässt sie von einer großen Karriere träumen. Doch Pickett erscheint nicht. Dabei hatten die jungen Musiker davon geträumt, mit ihm gemeinsam Hits wie "In The Midnight Hour" oder "Mustang Sally" zu spielen. Erst nach dem großen Krach, als alle schon auseinander gelaufen waren, kommt doch noch eine Limousine. Der Klub allerdings ist geschlossen. Der Star steigt nicht mal aus.
Als Alan Parkers Film 1991 in die Kinos kam, war der Star der 60er gerade in die Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen worden. Das war eines der angenehmeren Kapitel seines späteren Lebens. Seit den 80er Jahren war er immer wieder wegen Alkohol und Gewalttätigkeiten vor Gericht und mehrfach im Gefängnis. "Wicked Pickett" war schon in den 60er Jahren ein völlig unberechenbarer Künstler, der auch schon mal Streitigkeiten mit Schusswaffen regeln wollte. Seine Gewaltausbrüche haben vielleicht einen Grund in seiner Kindheit.
Geboren wurde Wilson Pickett am 18. März 1941 in Prattville, Alabama als jüngstes von 11 Kindern, die schon früh auf dem gepachteten Baumwollfeld der Familie mithelfen mussten. In der Kirche seines Großvaters begann er schon als Kind Gospel zu singen. In den 50er Jahren zog er mit seinem Vater nach Detroit, um seiner gewalttätigen Mutter zu entfliehen. Diese hatte ebenso wie der Großvater Prügel als regelmäßige Erziehungsmethode eingesetzt. Daran war letztlich auch die Ehe seiner Eltern gescheitert.
In der Autostadt schloss sich Pickett der Gospelgruppe Violinaires an. Doch wenige Jahre später verließ er sie, um gemeinsam mit The Falcons Rhythm & Blues zu singen. Nach einem lokalen Mini-Hit startete er auf Anregung eines Produzenten 1963 seine Solokarriere.
Diese kam richtig in Gang, als er 1964 von Jerry Wexler einen Vertrag bei Atlantic angeboten bekam. Dort erschien 1965 sein erster großer Hit "In The Midnight Hour", der in Memphis mit der Hausband von Stax aufgenommen wurde. Bis zum Oktober 1965 entstanden weitere mittlerweile legendäre Aufnahmen in den Staxstudios, unter anderem "6345789" oder "Ninety-Nine and A Half (Won't Do)". Einige dieser Hits hatte Pickett selbst oder gemeinsam mit Streve Cropper oder Eddie Floyd geschrieben.
Als Stax-Chef Jim Stewart im Dezember 1965 allerdings beschloss, künftig keine Produktionen für labelfremde Künstler zu machen, zog Pickett für die nächsten Aufnahmen in die Fame-Studios in Muscle Shoals. Dort entstanden mit der Band des Studios weitere Hits wie "Mustang Sally", "Funky Broadway" und "Land of the 1000 Dances". Auf dem Höhepunkt seiner Karriere bei Atlantic verließ er das Label und unterzeichnete 1973 bei RCA. Diese Entscheidung allerdings sollte er schon bald bedauern. Nur noch eine Single aus dieser Zeit gelangte in die Popcharts. Dann ging es zunächst mit seiner Popularität bergab. Dies hatte allerdings auch damit zu tun, dass die aufkommende Disco-Welle das Interesse am klassischen Soul bei den Singlekäufern sinken ließ. Pickett allerdings veröffentlichte weiterhin regelmäßig Alben und tourte.
Ab den 80er Jahren machte er allerdings mehr mit seinen Gerichtsverhandlungen als durch seine Musik von sich reden: Er verprügelte Bandmitglieder, Manager und andere. Und als er einen mit einer Schusswaffe bedroht hatte, wurde er zu einer Gefängnisstrafe verurteilt. 1987 musste er nach einer Prügelei mit seiner Band gar ins Krankenhaus eingeliefert werden. Außerdem wurde er zu einem starken Alkoholiker, der 1992 betrunken einen Rentner überfuhr. Dies brachte ihm eine weitere Gefängnisstrafe ein. Weitere Inhaftierungen folgten, als er seine Freundin verprügelte und wegen des Besitzes von Kokain.
Erst 1999 kam er wieder zu Aufnahmen in ein Studio. Das Album "It's Harder Now" brachte ihm neben einer Grammy-Nominierung auch noch diverse andere Auszeichungen ein. Und im Film "Blues Brothers 2000" nahm er gemeinsam mit Johnny Lang und den Blues Brothers eine Neufassung von "634 5789" auf.
Bis 2004 war er konstant auf Tour. Dann allerdings zwang ihn seine nachlassende Gesundheit zum Ruhestand. Am 19. Januar 2006 starb er nach einem Herzinfarkt in Reston, Virginia. Sein nach dem gesundheitlichen Zusammenbruch oft geäußerter Plan, ein Gospelalbum zu veröffentlichen und damit zu seinen Wurzeln zurück zu kehren, blieb unverwirklicht.
Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American R&B, soul and rock and roll singer and songwriter.
A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100. Among his best-known hits are "In the Midnight Hour" (which he co-wrote), "Land of 1,000 Dances", "Mustang Sally", and "Funky Broadway".[2]
Pickett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, in recognition of his impact on songwriting and recording.[3]
Early life
Pickett was born March 18, 1941 in Prattville, Alabama,[2] and sang in Baptist church choirs. He was the fourth of 11 children and called his mother "the baddest woman in my book," telling historian Gerri Hirshey: "I get scared of her now. She used to hit me with anything, skillets, stove wood — (one time I ran away) and cried for a week. Stayed in the woods, me and my little dog." Pickett eventually left to live with his father in Detroit in 1955.[4]
Early musical career (1955–1964)
Pickett's forceful, passionate style of singing was developed in the church and on the streets of Detroit,[3] under the influence of recording stars such as Little Richard, whom he referred to as "the architect of rock and roll.[5]
In 1955, Pickett joined the Violinaires, a gospel group. The group accompanied the Soul Stirrers, the Swan Silverones, and the Davis Sisters on church tours across the country.[citation needed] After singing for four years in the popular gospel-harmony group, Pickett, lured by the success of gospel singers who had moved to the lucrative secular music market, joined the Falcons in 1959.[3]
By 1959, Pickett recorded the song "Let Me Be Your Boy" with Florence Ballard and the Primettes as background singers. The song is the B-side of his 1963 single "My Heart Belongs to You".
The Falcons were an early vocal group bringing gospel into a popular context, thus paving the way for soul music. The group featured notable members who became major solo artists; when Pickett joined the group, Eddie Floyd and Sir Mack Rice were members. Pickett's biggest success with the Falcons was "I Found a Love", co-written by Pickett and featuring his lead vocals. While only a minor hit for the Falcons, it paved the way for Pickett to embark on a solo career. Pickett later had a solo hit with a re-recorded two-part version of the song, included on his 1967 album The Sound of Wilson Pickett.
Soon after recording "I Found a Love", Pickett cut his first solo recordings, including "I'm Gonna Cry", in collaboration with Don Covay. Pickett also recorded a demo for a song he co-wrote, "If You Need Me", a slow-burning soul ballad featuring a spoken sermon. Pickett sent the demo to Jerry Wexler, a producer at Atlantic Records. Wexler gave it to the label's recording artist Solomon Burke, Atlantic's biggest star at the time. Burke admired Pickett's performance of the song, but his own recording of "If You Need Me" became one of his biggest hits (#2 R&B, #37 pop) and is considered a soul standard. Pickett was crushed when he discovered that Atlantic had given away his song. When Pickett—with a demo tape under his arm—returned to Wexler's studio, Wexler asked whether he was angry about this loss, but denied it saying "It's over".[6] "First time I ever cried in my life".[citation needed] Pickett's version was released on Double L Records and was a moderate hit, peaking at #30 R&B and #64 pop.
Pickett's first significant success as a solo artist came with "It's Too Late," an original composition (not to be confused with the Chuck Willis standard of the same name). Entering the charts on July 27, 1963, it peaked at #7 on the R&B chart (#49 pop); the same title was used for Pickett's debut album, released in the same year. Compiling several of Pickett's single releases for Double L, It's Too Late showcased a raw soulful sound that foreshadowed the singer's performances throughout the coming decade. The single's success persuaded Wexler and Atlantic to buy Pickett's recording contract from Double L in 1964.
Rise to stardom: "In the Midnight Hour" (1965)
Pickett's Atlantic career began with the self-produced single, "I'm Gonna Cry". Looking to boost Pickett's chart chances, Atlantic paired him with record producer Bert Berns and established songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. With this team, Pickett recorded "Come Home Baby," a duet with singer Tami Lynn, but this single failed to chart.[2]
Pickett's breakthrough came at Stax Records' studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded his third Atlantic single, "In the Midnight Hour" (1965).[7] This song was Pickett's first big hit, peaking at #1 R&B, #21 pop (US), and #12 (UK).[2] It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[8]
The genesis of "In the Midnight Hour" was a recording session on May 12, 1965, at which Wexler worked out a powerful rhythm track with studio musicians Steve Cropper and Al Jackson of the Stax Records house band, including bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn. (Stax keyboard player Booker T. Jones, who usually played with Dunn, Cropper and Jackson as Booker T. & the M.G.'s, did not play on the studio sessions with Pickett.) Wexler said to Cropper and Jackson, "Why don't you pick up on this thing here?" He performed a dance step. Cropper explained in an interview that Wexler told them that "this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes."
Stax/Fame years (1965–1967)
Pickett recorded three sessions at Stax in May and October 1965. He was joined by keyboardist Isaac Hayes for the October sessions. In addition to "In the Midnight Hour," Pickett's 1965 recordings included the singles "Don't Fight It," (#4 R&B, #53 pop) "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A,)" (#1 R&B, #13 pop) and "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" (#13 R&B, #53 pop). All but "634-5789" were original compositions which Pickett co-wrote with Eddie Floyd or Steve Cropper or both; "634-5789" was credited to Cropper and Floyd alone.
For his next sessions, Pickett did not return to Stax, as the label's owner, Jim Stewart, had decided in December 1965 to ban outside productions. Wexler took Pickett to Fame Studios, a studio with a closer association with Atlantic Records, located in a converted tobacco warehouse in nearby Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Pickett recorded some of his biggest hits there, including the highest-charting version of "Land of 1,000 Dances", which was his third R&B #1 and his biggest pop hit, peaking at #6. It was a million-selling disc.[8]
Other big hits from this era in Pickett's career included two covers: Mack Rice's "Mustang Sally", (#6 R&B, #23 pop), and Dyke & the Blazers' "Funky Broadway", (R&B #1, #8 pop).[2] Both tracks were million sellers.[8] The band heard on most of Pickett's Fame recordings included keyboardist Spooner Oldham, guitarist Jimmy Johnson, drummer Roger Hawkins, and bassist Tommy Cogbill.[9]
Later Atlantic years (1967–1972)
Near the end of 1967, Pickett began recording at American Studios in Memphis with producers Tom Dowd and Tommy Cogbill, and began recording songs by Bobby Womack. The songs "I'm in Love," "Jealous Love," "I've Come a Long Way," "I'm a Midnight Mover," (co-written by Pickett and Womack), and "I Found a True Love" were Womack-penned hits for Pickett in 1967 and 1968. Pickett recorded works by other songwriters in this period; Rodger Collins' "She's Lookin' Good" and a cover of the traditional blues standard "Stagger Lee" were Top 40 hits Pickett recorded at American. Womack was the guitarist on all recordings.
Pickett returned to Fame Studios in late 1968 and early 1969, where he worked with a band that featured guitarist Duane Allman, Hawkins, and bassist Jerry Jemmott. A #16 pop hit cover of the Beatles' "Hey Jude" came out of the Fame sessions, as well as the minor hits "Mini-Skirt Minnie" and "Hey Joe".
Late 1969 found Pickett at Criteria Studios in Miami. Hit covers of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (#16 R&B, #92 pop) and the rchies' "Sugar Sugar" (#4 R&B, #25 pop), and the Pickett original "She Said Yes" (#20 R&B, #68 pop) came from these sessions.
Pickett then teamed up with established Philadelphia-based hitmakers Gamble and Huff for the 1970 album Wilson Pickett in Philadelphia, which featured his next two hit singles, "Engine No. 9" and "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You", the latter selling one million copies.[8]
Following these two hits, Pickett returned to Muscle Shoals and the band featuring David Hood, Hawkins and Tippy Armstrong. This lineup recorded Pickett's fifth and last R&B #1 hit, "Don't Knock My Love, Pt. 1".[2] It was another Pickett recording that rang up sales in excess of a million copies.[8] Two further hits followed in 1971: "Call My Name, I'll Be There" (#10 R&B, #52 pop) and "Fire and Water" (#2 R&B, #24 pop), a cover of a song by Free.
Pickett recorded several tracks in 1972 for a planned new album on Atlantic, but after the single "Funk Factory" reached #11 R&B and #58 pop in June 1972, he left Atlantic for RCA Records. His final Atlantic single, a cover of Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not to Come," was culled from Pickett's 1971 album Don't Knock My Love.
In 2010, Rhino Handmade released a comprehensive compilation of these years titled Funky Midnight Mover – The Studio Recordings (1962–1978). The compilation included all recordings originally issued during Pickett's Atlantic years along with previously unreleased recordings. This collection was sold online only by Rhino.com.
Post-Atlantic recording career
Pickett continued to record with success on the R&B charts for RCA in 1973 and 1974, scoring four top 30 R&B hits with "Mr. Magic Man", "Take a Closer Look at the Woman You're With", "International Playboy" (a re-recording of a song he had previously recorded for Atlantic), and "Soft Soul Boogie Woogie". However, he was failing to cross over to the pop charts with regularity, as none of these songs reached higher than #90 on the Hot 100. In 1975, with Pickett's once-prominent chart career on the wane, RCA dropped Pickett from the label. After being dropped, he formed the short-lived Wicked label, where he released one LP, Chocolate Mountain. In 1978, he made a disco album with Big Tree Records titled Funky Situation, which is a coincidence as, at that point, Big Tree was distributed by his former label, Atlantic. The following year, he released an album on EMI titled I Want You.
Pickett continued to record sporadically with several labels over the following decades, occasionally making the lower to mid-range of the R&B charts, but he had no pop hit after 1974. His last record was issued in 1999, although he remained fairly active on the touring front until falling ill in 2004.
Pickett appeared in the 1998 film Blues Brothers 2000, in which he performed "634–5789" with Eddie Floyd and Jonny Lang. He was previously mentioned in the 1980 film Blues Brothers, which features several members of Pickett's backing band, as well as a performance of "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love."
Personal life and honors
Pickett's personal life was troubled. Even in his heyday in the 1960s, he was temperamental and preoccupied with guns; Don Covay described him as "young and wild".[citation needed] In 1987, as his recording career was drying up, Pickett was given two years' probation and fined $1,000 for carrying a loaded shotgun in his car.[citation needed] In 1991, he was arrested for allegedly yelling death threats while driving a car over the front lawn of Donald Aronson, the mayor of Englewood, New Jersey.[10] The following year, he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.
In 1993, Pickett struck an 86-year-old pedestrian, Pepe Ruiz, with his car in Englewood.[10] Ruiz, who had helped organize the New York animation union, died later that year.[11] Pickett pleaded guilty to drunken driving charges and received a reduced sentence of one year in jail and five years probation.[12][13] Pickett had been previously convicted of various drug offenses.[citation needed]
Throughout the 1990s, despite his personal troubles, Pickett was repeatedly honored for his contributions to music. In addition to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, his music was prominently featured in the film The Commitments, with Pickett as an off-screen character. In 1993, he was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
Pickett was a popular composer, writing songs that were recorded by many artists, including Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, Booker T. & the MGs, Genesis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hootie & the Blowfish, Echo & the Bunnymen, Roxy Music, Bruce Springsteen, Los Lobos, the Jam and Ani DiFranco, among others.
Several years after his release from jail, Pickett returned to the studio and received a Grammy Award nomination for the 1999 album It's Harder Now. The comeback resulted in his being honored as Soul/Blues Male Artist of the Year by the Blues Foundation in Memphis.[14] It's Harder Now was voted 'Comeback Blues Album of the Year' and 'Soul/Blues Album of the Year.'
He co-starred in the 2002 documentary Only the Strong Survive, directed by D. A. Pennebaker, a selection of both the 2002 Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. In 2003, Pickett was a judge for the second annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.[15]
Pickett spent the twilight of his career playing dozens of concert dates every year until 2004, when he began suffering from health problems. While in the hospital, he returned to his spiritual roots and told his sister that he wanted to record a gospel album,[5] but he never recovered.
Pickett was the father of six children.
On September 10, 2014, TVOne's Unsung aired a documentary on him.[16]
Death
Pickett died from a heart attack on January 19, 2006, in Reston, Virginia. He was 64.[17] He was laid to rest in a mausoleum at Evergreen Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.[18] Pickett spent many years in Louisville after his mother moved there from Alabama.[citation needed] The eulogy was delivered by Pastor Steve Owens of Decatur, Georgia. Little Richard, a long-time friend of Pickett's, spoke about him and preached a message at the funeral.[19] Pickett was remembered on March 20, 2006, at New York's B.B. King Blues Club with performances by the Commitments, Ben E. King, his long-term backing band the Midnight Movers, soul singer Bruce "Big Daddy" Wayne, and Southside Johnny in front of an audience that included members of his family, including two brothers.
A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100. Among his best-known hits are "In the Midnight Hour" (which he co-wrote), "Land of 1,000 Dances", "Mustang Sally", and "Funky Broadway".[2]
Pickett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, in recognition of his impact on songwriting and recording.[3]
Early life
Pickett was born March 18, 1941 in Prattville, Alabama,[2] and sang in Baptist church choirs. He was the fourth of 11 children and called his mother "the baddest woman in my book," telling historian Gerri Hirshey: "I get scared of her now. She used to hit me with anything, skillets, stove wood — (one time I ran away) and cried for a week. Stayed in the woods, me and my little dog." Pickett eventually left to live with his father in Detroit in 1955.[4]
Early musical career (1955–1964)
Pickett's forceful, passionate style of singing was developed in the church and on the streets of Detroit,[3] under the influence of recording stars such as Little Richard, whom he referred to as "the architect of rock and roll.[5]
In 1955, Pickett joined the Violinaires, a gospel group. The group accompanied the Soul Stirrers, the Swan Silverones, and the Davis Sisters on church tours across the country.[citation needed] After singing for four years in the popular gospel-harmony group, Pickett, lured by the success of gospel singers who had moved to the lucrative secular music market, joined the Falcons in 1959.[3]
By 1959, Pickett recorded the song "Let Me Be Your Boy" with Florence Ballard and the Primettes as background singers. The song is the B-side of his 1963 single "My Heart Belongs to You".
The Falcons were an early vocal group bringing gospel into a popular context, thus paving the way for soul music. The group featured notable members who became major solo artists; when Pickett joined the group, Eddie Floyd and Sir Mack Rice were members. Pickett's biggest success with the Falcons was "I Found a Love", co-written by Pickett and featuring his lead vocals. While only a minor hit for the Falcons, it paved the way for Pickett to embark on a solo career. Pickett later had a solo hit with a re-recorded two-part version of the song, included on his 1967 album The Sound of Wilson Pickett.
Soon after recording "I Found a Love", Pickett cut his first solo recordings, including "I'm Gonna Cry", in collaboration with Don Covay. Pickett also recorded a demo for a song he co-wrote, "If You Need Me", a slow-burning soul ballad featuring a spoken sermon. Pickett sent the demo to Jerry Wexler, a producer at Atlantic Records. Wexler gave it to the label's recording artist Solomon Burke, Atlantic's biggest star at the time. Burke admired Pickett's performance of the song, but his own recording of "If You Need Me" became one of his biggest hits (#2 R&B, #37 pop) and is considered a soul standard. Pickett was crushed when he discovered that Atlantic had given away his song. When Pickett—with a demo tape under his arm—returned to Wexler's studio, Wexler asked whether he was angry about this loss, but denied it saying "It's over".[6] "First time I ever cried in my life".[citation needed] Pickett's version was released on Double L Records and was a moderate hit, peaking at #30 R&B and #64 pop.
Pickett's first significant success as a solo artist came with "It's Too Late," an original composition (not to be confused with the Chuck Willis standard of the same name). Entering the charts on July 27, 1963, it peaked at #7 on the R&B chart (#49 pop); the same title was used for Pickett's debut album, released in the same year. Compiling several of Pickett's single releases for Double L, It's Too Late showcased a raw soulful sound that foreshadowed the singer's performances throughout the coming decade. The single's success persuaded Wexler and Atlantic to buy Pickett's recording contract from Double L in 1964.
Rise to stardom: "In the Midnight Hour" (1965)
Pickett's Atlantic career began with the self-produced single, "I'm Gonna Cry". Looking to boost Pickett's chart chances, Atlantic paired him with record producer Bert Berns and established songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. With this team, Pickett recorded "Come Home Baby," a duet with singer Tami Lynn, but this single failed to chart.[2]
Pickett's breakthrough came at Stax Records' studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded his third Atlantic single, "In the Midnight Hour" (1965).[7] This song was Pickett's first big hit, peaking at #1 R&B, #21 pop (US), and #12 (UK).[2] It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[8]
The genesis of "In the Midnight Hour" was a recording session on May 12, 1965, at which Wexler worked out a powerful rhythm track with studio musicians Steve Cropper and Al Jackson of the Stax Records house band, including bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn. (Stax keyboard player Booker T. Jones, who usually played with Dunn, Cropper and Jackson as Booker T. & the M.G.'s, did not play on the studio sessions with Pickett.) Wexler said to Cropper and Jackson, "Why don't you pick up on this thing here?" He performed a dance step. Cropper explained in an interview that Wexler told them that "this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes."
Stax/Fame years (1965–1967)
Pickett recorded three sessions at Stax in May and October 1965. He was joined by keyboardist Isaac Hayes for the October sessions. In addition to "In the Midnight Hour," Pickett's 1965 recordings included the singles "Don't Fight It," (#4 R&B, #53 pop) "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A,)" (#1 R&B, #13 pop) and "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)" (#13 R&B, #53 pop). All but "634-5789" were original compositions which Pickett co-wrote with Eddie Floyd or Steve Cropper or both; "634-5789" was credited to Cropper and Floyd alone.
For his next sessions, Pickett did not return to Stax, as the label's owner, Jim Stewart, had decided in December 1965 to ban outside productions. Wexler took Pickett to Fame Studios, a studio with a closer association with Atlantic Records, located in a converted tobacco warehouse in nearby Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Pickett recorded some of his biggest hits there, including the highest-charting version of "Land of 1,000 Dances", which was his third R&B #1 and his biggest pop hit, peaking at #6. It was a million-selling disc.[8]
Other big hits from this era in Pickett's career included two covers: Mack Rice's "Mustang Sally", (#6 R&B, #23 pop), and Dyke & the Blazers' "Funky Broadway", (R&B #1, #8 pop).[2] Both tracks were million sellers.[8] The band heard on most of Pickett's Fame recordings included keyboardist Spooner Oldham, guitarist Jimmy Johnson, drummer Roger Hawkins, and bassist Tommy Cogbill.[9]
Later Atlantic years (1967–1972)
Near the end of 1967, Pickett began recording at American Studios in Memphis with producers Tom Dowd and Tommy Cogbill, and began recording songs by Bobby Womack. The songs "I'm in Love," "Jealous Love," "I've Come a Long Way," "I'm a Midnight Mover," (co-written by Pickett and Womack), and "I Found a True Love" were Womack-penned hits for Pickett in 1967 and 1968. Pickett recorded works by other songwriters in this period; Rodger Collins' "She's Lookin' Good" and a cover of the traditional blues standard "Stagger Lee" were Top 40 hits Pickett recorded at American. Womack was the guitarist on all recordings.
Pickett returned to Fame Studios in late 1968 and early 1969, where he worked with a band that featured guitarist Duane Allman, Hawkins, and bassist Jerry Jemmott. A #16 pop hit cover of the Beatles' "Hey Jude" came out of the Fame sessions, as well as the minor hits "Mini-Skirt Minnie" and "Hey Joe".
Late 1969 found Pickett at Criteria Studios in Miami. Hit covers of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (#16 R&B, #92 pop) and the rchies' "Sugar Sugar" (#4 R&B, #25 pop), and the Pickett original "She Said Yes" (#20 R&B, #68 pop) came from these sessions.
Pickett then teamed up with established Philadelphia-based hitmakers Gamble and Huff for the 1970 album Wilson Pickett in Philadelphia, which featured his next two hit singles, "Engine No. 9" and "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You", the latter selling one million copies.[8]
Following these two hits, Pickett returned to Muscle Shoals and the band featuring David Hood, Hawkins and Tippy Armstrong. This lineup recorded Pickett's fifth and last R&B #1 hit, "Don't Knock My Love, Pt. 1".[2] It was another Pickett recording that rang up sales in excess of a million copies.[8] Two further hits followed in 1971: "Call My Name, I'll Be There" (#10 R&B, #52 pop) and "Fire and Water" (#2 R&B, #24 pop), a cover of a song by Free.
Pickett recorded several tracks in 1972 for a planned new album on Atlantic, but after the single "Funk Factory" reached #11 R&B and #58 pop in June 1972, he left Atlantic for RCA Records. His final Atlantic single, a cover of Randy Newman's "Mama Told Me Not to Come," was culled from Pickett's 1971 album Don't Knock My Love.
In 2010, Rhino Handmade released a comprehensive compilation of these years titled Funky Midnight Mover – The Studio Recordings (1962–1978). The compilation included all recordings originally issued during Pickett's Atlantic years along with previously unreleased recordings. This collection was sold online only by Rhino.com.
Post-Atlantic recording career
Pickett continued to record with success on the R&B charts for RCA in 1973 and 1974, scoring four top 30 R&B hits with "Mr. Magic Man", "Take a Closer Look at the Woman You're With", "International Playboy" (a re-recording of a song he had previously recorded for Atlantic), and "Soft Soul Boogie Woogie". However, he was failing to cross over to the pop charts with regularity, as none of these songs reached higher than #90 on the Hot 100. In 1975, with Pickett's once-prominent chart career on the wane, RCA dropped Pickett from the label. After being dropped, he formed the short-lived Wicked label, where he released one LP, Chocolate Mountain. In 1978, he made a disco album with Big Tree Records titled Funky Situation, which is a coincidence as, at that point, Big Tree was distributed by his former label, Atlantic. The following year, he released an album on EMI titled I Want You.
Pickett continued to record sporadically with several labels over the following decades, occasionally making the lower to mid-range of the R&B charts, but he had no pop hit after 1974. His last record was issued in 1999, although he remained fairly active on the touring front until falling ill in 2004.
Pickett appeared in the 1998 film Blues Brothers 2000, in which he performed "634–5789" with Eddie Floyd and Jonny Lang. He was previously mentioned in the 1980 film Blues Brothers, which features several members of Pickett's backing band, as well as a performance of "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love."
Personal life and honors
Pickett's personal life was troubled. Even in his heyday in the 1960s, he was temperamental and preoccupied with guns; Don Covay described him as "young and wild".[citation needed] In 1987, as his recording career was drying up, Pickett was given two years' probation and fined $1,000 for carrying a loaded shotgun in his car.[citation needed] In 1991, he was arrested for allegedly yelling death threats while driving a car over the front lawn of Donald Aronson, the mayor of Englewood, New Jersey.[10] The following year, he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.
In 1993, Pickett struck an 86-year-old pedestrian, Pepe Ruiz, with his car in Englewood.[10] Ruiz, who had helped organize the New York animation union, died later that year.[11] Pickett pleaded guilty to drunken driving charges and received a reduced sentence of one year in jail and five years probation.[12][13] Pickett had been previously convicted of various drug offenses.[citation needed]
Throughout the 1990s, despite his personal troubles, Pickett was repeatedly honored for his contributions to music. In addition to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, his music was prominently featured in the film The Commitments, with Pickett as an off-screen character. In 1993, he was honored with a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
Pickett was a popular composer, writing songs that were recorded by many artists, including Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, Booker T. & the MGs, Genesis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hootie & the Blowfish, Echo & the Bunnymen, Roxy Music, Bruce Springsteen, Los Lobos, the Jam and Ani DiFranco, among others.
Several years after his release from jail, Pickett returned to the studio and received a Grammy Award nomination for the 1999 album It's Harder Now. The comeback resulted in his being honored as Soul/Blues Male Artist of the Year by the Blues Foundation in Memphis.[14] It's Harder Now was voted 'Comeback Blues Album of the Year' and 'Soul/Blues Album of the Year.'
He co-starred in the 2002 documentary Only the Strong Survive, directed by D. A. Pennebaker, a selection of both the 2002 Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. In 2003, Pickett was a judge for the second annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.[15]
Pickett spent the twilight of his career playing dozens of concert dates every year until 2004, when he began suffering from health problems. While in the hospital, he returned to his spiritual roots and told his sister that he wanted to record a gospel album,[5] but he never recovered.
Pickett was the father of six children.
On September 10, 2014, TVOne's Unsung aired a documentary on him.[16]
Death
Pickett died from a heart attack on January 19, 2006, in Reston, Virginia. He was 64.[17] He was laid to rest in a mausoleum at Evergreen Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.[18] Pickett spent many years in Louisville after his mother moved there from Alabama.[citation needed] The eulogy was delivered by Pastor Steve Owens of Decatur, Georgia. Little Richard, a long-time friend of Pickett's, spoke about him and preached a message at the funeral.[19] Pickett was remembered on March 20, 2006, at New York's B.B. King Blues Club with performances by the Commitments, Ben E. King, his long-term backing band the Midnight Movers, soul singer Bruce "Big Daddy" Wayne, and Southside Johnny in front of an audience that included members of his family, including two brothers.
Wilson Pickett - In The Midnight Hour - HQ Audio )))
R.I.P.
Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson +18.03.1976
Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson (August 30, 1934 – March 18, 1976) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was also known as Luther "Snake" Johnson or Luther "Georgia Boy" Johnson, and was otherwise billed as both Luther King and Little Luther (under the latter he recorded for Chess Records in the 1960s).[1]
Allmusic journalist, Ron Wynn, stated "Johnson's own inimitable vocals, raspy lines and tart guitar eventually create his own aura... a good, occasionally outstanding blues artist."[2]
He is not to be confused with Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson.
He was born Lucious Brinson in Davisboro, Georgia, United States.[1] He was raised on a farm and taught himself to play guitar.[3]
After service in the US Army up to 1953,[3] Johnson played guitar with a local gospel group called the Milwaukee Supreme Angels. However, he graduated towards blues and set up his own trio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before relocating to Chicago, Illinois in the early 1960s.[1][3] He backed Elmore James prior to his death, and in 1964, released a solo single on the Chess Records label entitled "The Twirl", billed as Little Luther. He then joined Muddy Waters backing band in 1966. Johnson worked with various musicians over this period, including Chicago Bob Nelson, before recording his debut album, Come on Home in 1969.[1][3]
In 1970, Johnson moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and found work on the blues festival and college circuits for the next few years.[1] Black & Blue Records released Johnson's Born in Georgia in 1972, and this was followed by Chicken Shack (1974), Lonesome in My Bedroom (1975), and the final album issued in his lifetime, Get Down to the Nitty Gritty (1976).[3][4]
Johnson died of cancer in Boston in March 1976, aged 41.[1] He was interred at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Mattapan, Massachusetts.
Edwin Joseph Bocage +18.03.2009
Eddie
Bo (eigentlich Edwin Joseph Bocage; * 20. September 1930 in New
Orleans; † 18. März 2009 ebenda) war ein US-amerikanischer Musiker und
Veteran der New Orleanser R&B-Szene.
Leben und Wirken
Bo wuchs in einer musikalischen Familie auf; seine Mutter spielte Piano im Stil von Professor Longhair. Nach Ableistung seines Wehrdienstes studierte er an der Grundwald School of Music in seiner Heimatstadt, wo er sich mit dem Jazzpiano von Art Tatum und Oscar Peterson beschäftigte. In den 1950ern begleitete er Big Joe Turner, Earl King, Guitar Slim, Johnny Adams, Lloyd Price, Ruth Brown, Smiley Lewis und The Platters auf Tourneen.
Während der späten 1960er- und 1970er-Jahre war Eddie Bo als Sänger, Songwriter, Produzent und Pianist tätig. Er nahm seit 1955 für Label wie Ace, Apollo, Arrow, At Last, Blue-Jay, Bo-Sound, Checker, Chess, Cinderella, Nola, Ric, Scram, Seven B oder Swan auf und kam mit Titeln wie Check Mr Popeye (1961), Hook and Sling (1969)[1] oder Check Your Bucket (1970) in die Charts. Einige seiner Songs wurden von Musikern wie Little Richard (Slippin’ and Slidin'), Etta James (My Dearest Darling) oder Tommy Ridgley (In the Same Old Way) erfolgreich übernommen. Als Produzent und Arrangeur arbeitete er für Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, Art Neville, Chris Kenner, Chuck Carbo, Irma Thomas, Johnny Adams, Mary Jane Hooper, Robert Parker, The Vibrettes und The Explosions.
Weiterhin nahm er mit der Dirty Dozen Brass Band auf und tourte mit Willy DeVille, auf dessen Alben Victory Mixture und Big Easy Fantasy er auch zu hören ist. Mit Raful Neal und Rockin’ Tabby Thomas hatte er seit den 1990er-Jahren Projekte unter den Namen The Louisiana Legends, The District Court und The Hoodoo Kings.
Preise und Auszeichnungen
Unter den Preisen, die Bo erhielt, sind zwei Lifetime Achievement Awards der South Louisiana Music Association und Music/Offbeat Best of the Beat. Seine Geburtsstadt nominierte ihn als ihren Musikalischen Botschafter für Pakistan.
Leben und Wirken
Bo wuchs in einer musikalischen Familie auf; seine Mutter spielte Piano im Stil von Professor Longhair. Nach Ableistung seines Wehrdienstes studierte er an der Grundwald School of Music in seiner Heimatstadt, wo er sich mit dem Jazzpiano von Art Tatum und Oscar Peterson beschäftigte. In den 1950ern begleitete er Big Joe Turner, Earl King, Guitar Slim, Johnny Adams, Lloyd Price, Ruth Brown, Smiley Lewis und The Platters auf Tourneen.
Während der späten 1960er- und 1970er-Jahre war Eddie Bo als Sänger, Songwriter, Produzent und Pianist tätig. Er nahm seit 1955 für Label wie Ace, Apollo, Arrow, At Last, Blue-Jay, Bo-Sound, Checker, Chess, Cinderella, Nola, Ric, Scram, Seven B oder Swan auf und kam mit Titeln wie Check Mr Popeye (1961), Hook and Sling (1969)[1] oder Check Your Bucket (1970) in die Charts. Einige seiner Songs wurden von Musikern wie Little Richard (Slippin’ and Slidin'), Etta James (My Dearest Darling) oder Tommy Ridgley (In the Same Old Way) erfolgreich übernommen. Als Produzent und Arrangeur arbeitete er für Al “Carnival Time” Johnson, Art Neville, Chris Kenner, Chuck Carbo, Irma Thomas, Johnny Adams, Mary Jane Hooper, Robert Parker, The Vibrettes und The Explosions.
Weiterhin nahm er mit der Dirty Dozen Brass Band auf und tourte mit Willy DeVille, auf dessen Alben Victory Mixture und Big Easy Fantasy er auch zu hören ist. Mit Raful Neal und Rockin’ Tabby Thomas hatte er seit den 1990er-Jahren Projekte unter den Namen The Louisiana Legends, The District Court und The Hoodoo Kings.
Preise und Auszeichnungen
Unter den Preisen, die Bo erhielt, sind zwei Lifetime Achievement Awards der South Louisiana Music Association und Music/Offbeat Best of the Beat. Seine Geburtsstadt nominierte ihn als ihren Musikalischen Botschafter für Pakistan.
Edwin
Joseph Bocage (September 20, 1930 – March 18, 2009),[1] known as Eddie
Bo, was an American singer and pianist from New Orleans. Schooled in
jazz, he was known for his blues, soul and funk recordings,
compositions, productions and arrangements. He debuted on Ace Records in
1955 and released more single records than anyone else in New Orleans
other than Fats Domino.[2]
Eddie Bo worked and recorded for more than 40 different record labels, including Ace, Apollo Records, Arrow, At Last, Blue-Jay, Bo-Sound, Checker, Chess, Cinderella, Nola, Ric (for which his carpentry skills were used to build them a studio), Scram, Seven B, and Swan. He is described at Allmusic as "a sorely underappreciated veteran of the New Orleans R&B scene."[3]
Biography
Early life
Eddie Bo grew up in Algiers, Louisiana and in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.[1] He came from a long line of ship builders with the male members of his family being bricklayers, carpenters and masons by day and musicians by night. Eddie's mother was a self-taught pianist in the style of friend, Professor Longhair. The Bocage family was involved in the traditional jazz community with cousins Charles, Henry and Peter, who played with Sidney Bechet, contributing to jazz orchestras before World War II.[2]
Eddie graduated from Booker T. Washington High School before going into the army. After his army stint, he returned to New Orleans to study at the Grunewald School of Music.[3] There he learned piano, music theory and to sight read, and arrange music. It was at this time that he was influenced by Russian classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz[4] and was introduced to bebop pianists Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson. He began playing in the New Orleans jazz scene, but made a switch to R&B after deciding it was more popular and brought in more money.[3] Like a lot of other local musicians Eddie frequented the premier blues venue in town, the Dew Drop Inn on LaSalle Street.[5] He played at the Club Tijuana under the name of Spider Bocage, later forming the Spider Bocage Orchestra, which toured the country supporting singers Big Joe Turner, Earl King, Guitar Slim, Johnny Adams, Lloyd Price, Ruth Brown, Smiley Lewis, and The Platters.[3][6]
Recording and production career
His first released record in 1955 was "Baby", recorded for Johnny Vincent's Ace Records. His next release, in 1956 on Apollo Records, was "I'm Wise" which Little Richard later recorded as "Slippin' and Slidin'".[7] After several releases on Ace he recorded "My Dearest Darling" in 1957 for Chess Records; the song, co-written by Bo and Paul Gayten, became a national chart hit in 1960 when recorded by Etta James.[8] From 1959, he recorded for Ric Records, and had regional hits including "Every Dog Has Its Day" and "Tell It Like It Is", and in 1961 recorded the novelty dance song "Check Mr Popeye", reissued nationally by Swan Records, which became one of his best-known recordings though not a national hit.[1][7]
During the 1960s, Bo continued to release singles on a string of local record labels, including Rip, Cinderella, and Blue Jay, though only a few achieved national distribution.[9] On these records, his style got funkier, and he used more of his jazz training, helping to create a distinctively different and influential New Orleans piano style.[3] He recorded the renowned "Pass The Hatchet" under the nom de disque, Roger and the Gypsies for Joe Banashak's Seven B label as well as "Fence of Love" and "SGB" (Stone Graveyard Business) under his own name. He either wrote or produced most of the titles on Seven B records.[citation needed] He also worked as a record producer, with musicians including Irma Thomas, Chris Kenner, Johnny Adams.[3] Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Art Neville, Chuck Carbo, Mary Jane Hooper, Robert Parker, and The Explosions. In 1969, at the height of funk, he had his only national chart hit, "Hook and Sling, Pts. 1 & 2," which reached number 13 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 73 on the pop chart.[10][11] The song, on the Scram label, was recorded in just one take. He then formed his own label, Bo-Sound, and had another regional hit with "Check Your Bucket."[3]
From the early 1970s Bo worked in the music business only sporadically, after setting up his own renovation business. In 1977 he released two albums, The Other Side of Eddie Bo and Watch for the Coming, which he produced himself.[3] In the late 1980s and 1990s he recorded with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, with whom he toured Europe, and resurrected his Bo-Sound label.[3] He joined Willy DeVille to play on two DeVille records, Victory Mixture and Big Easy Fantasy, and he toured with DeVille as well. He later joined up with Raful Neal and Rockin' Tabby Thomas playing and recording under the names The Louisiana Legends, The District Court and The Hoodoo Kings.[12] He continued to perform frequently in New Orleans and at festivals elsewhere, and toured intermittently.[3] He also bought a doctor's office and salon on Banks Street which he and his manager converted into an eatery for fans called "Check Your Bucket" after his 1970 hit.[13] Like his home and recording studio it was hit by Hurricane Katrina while Bo was on tour in Paris.[14] Due to Bo's carpentry and bricklaying skills he took on the task of completing the hurricane damage repairs himself.[15]
Death and aftermath
Eddie Bo died on March 18, 2009, in Picayune, Mississippi, United States, of a heart attack, aged 78.[1][15] After his death, his body was cremated on the instructions of a woman claiming to be his sister, though other close relatives of Bo have subsequently claimed that she was unrelated to him.[15]
A memorial concert was held in his memory on April 1, 2009, with guests including Dr. John, Irma Thomas and Allen Toussaint.[15]
Family
Eddie Bo was survived by two sisters; Gloria Bocage-Sterling, who lives in Oakland, California, and Lisa Bocage-Howard, and two brothers; Oliver and Cornelius; plus eight children: Valeri Ann Bocage, Edwin Joseph Bocage, Jr., Owen David Bocage, Nancy Marie Bocage-Siegel, Cheryl Bocage-Joseph, Tanya Bocage-Sales, Sonjia Bocage-Anderson, and Tomekia Bocage-Jones.
Awards and recognitions
He won many music awards including two Lifetime Achievement awards from the South Louisiana Music Association and Music/Offbeat Best of the Beat.[6] His song "Hook & Sling" was featured on the breakbeat compilation Ultimate Breaks and Beats. May 22, 1997 was declared "Eddie Bo Day" in New Orleans by mayor Marc Morial while Bo was playing in Karachi, Pakistan. Bo was also named New Orleans' music ambassador to Pakistan.
Eddie Bo worked and recorded for more than 40 different record labels, including Ace, Apollo Records, Arrow, At Last, Blue-Jay, Bo-Sound, Checker, Chess, Cinderella, Nola, Ric (for which his carpentry skills were used to build them a studio), Scram, Seven B, and Swan. He is described at Allmusic as "a sorely underappreciated veteran of the New Orleans R&B scene."[3]
Biography
Early life
Eddie Bo grew up in Algiers, Louisiana and in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.[1] He came from a long line of ship builders with the male members of his family being bricklayers, carpenters and masons by day and musicians by night. Eddie's mother was a self-taught pianist in the style of friend, Professor Longhair. The Bocage family was involved in the traditional jazz community with cousins Charles, Henry and Peter, who played with Sidney Bechet, contributing to jazz orchestras before World War II.[2]
Eddie graduated from Booker T. Washington High School before going into the army. After his army stint, he returned to New Orleans to study at the Grunewald School of Music.[3] There he learned piano, music theory and to sight read, and arrange music. It was at this time that he was influenced by Russian classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz[4] and was introduced to bebop pianists Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson. He began playing in the New Orleans jazz scene, but made a switch to R&B after deciding it was more popular and brought in more money.[3] Like a lot of other local musicians Eddie frequented the premier blues venue in town, the Dew Drop Inn on LaSalle Street.[5] He played at the Club Tijuana under the name of Spider Bocage, later forming the Spider Bocage Orchestra, which toured the country supporting singers Big Joe Turner, Earl King, Guitar Slim, Johnny Adams, Lloyd Price, Ruth Brown, Smiley Lewis, and The Platters.[3][6]
Recording and production career
His first released record in 1955 was "Baby", recorded for Johnny Vincent's Ace Records. His next release, in 1956 on Apollo Records, was "I'm Wise" which Little Richard later recorded as "Slippin' and Slidin'".[7] After several releases on Ace he recorded "My Dearest Darling" in 1957 for Chess Records; the song, co-written by Bo and Paul Gayten, became a national chart hit in 1960 when recorded by Etta James.[8] From 1959, he recorded for Ric Records, and had regional hits including "Every Dog Has Its Day" and "Tell It Like It Is", and in 1961 recorded the novelty dance song "Check Mr Popeye", reissued nationally by Swan Records, which became one of his best-known recordings though not a national hit.[1][7]
During the 1960s, Bo continued to release singles on a string of local record labels, including Rip, Cinderella, and Blue Jay, though only a few achieved national distribution.[9] On these records, his style got funkier, and he used more of his jazz training, helping to create a distinctively different and influential New Orleans piano style.[3] He recorded the renowned "Pass The Hatchet" under the nom de disque, Roger and the Gypsies for Joe Banashak's Seven B label as well as "Fence of Love" and "SGB" (Stone Graveyard Business) under his own name. He either wrote or produced most of the titles on Seven B records.[citation needed] He also worked as a record producer, with musicians including Irma Thomas, Chris Kenner, Johnny Adams.[3] Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Art Neville, Chuck Carbo, Mary Jane Hooper, Robert Parker, and The Explosions. In 1969, at the height of funk, he had his only national chart hit, "Hook and Sling, Pts. 1 & 2," which reached number 13 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 73 on the pop chart.[10][11] The song, on the Scram label, was recorded in just one take. He then formed his own label, Bo-Sound, and had another regional hit with "Check Your Bucket."[3]
From the early 1970s Bo worked in the music business only sporadically, after setting up his own renovation business. In 1977 he released two albums, The Other Side of Eddie Bo and Watch for the Coming, which he produced himself.[3] In the late 1980s and 1990s he recorded with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, with whom he toured Europe, and resurrected his Bo-Sound label.[3] He joined Willy DeVille to play on two DeVille records, Victory Mixture and Big Easy Fantasy, and he toured with DeVille as well. He later joined up with Raful Neal and Rockin' Tabby Thomas playing and recording under the names The Louisiana Legends, The District Court and The Hoodoo Kings.[12] He continued to perform frequently in New Orleans and at festivals elsewhere, and toured intermittently.[3] He also bought a doctor's office and salon on Banks Street which he and his manager converted into an eatery for fans called "Check Your Bucket" after his 1970 hit.[13] Like his home and recording studio it was hit by Hurricane Katrina while Bo was on tour in Paris.[14] Due to Bo's carpentry and bricklaying skills he took on the task of completing the hurricane damage repairs himself.[15]
Death and aftermath
Eddie Bo died on March 18, 2009, in Picayune, Mississippi, United States, of a heart attack, aged 78.[1][15] After his death, his body was cremated on the instructions of a woman claiming to be his sister, though other close relatives of Bo have subsequently claimed that she was unrelated to him.[15]
A memorial concert was held in his memory on April 1, 2009, with guests including Dr. John, Irma Thomas and Allen Toussaint.[15]
Family
Eddie Bo was survived by two sisters; Gloria Bocage-Sterling, who lives in Oakland, California, and Lisa Bocage-Howard, and two brothers; Oliver and Cornelius; plus eight children: Valeri Ann Bocage, Edwin Joseph Bocage, Jr., Owen David Bocage, Nancy Marie Bocage-Siegel, Cheryl Bocage-Joseph, Tanya Bocage-Sales, Sonjia Bocage-Anderson, and Tomekia Bocage-Jones.
Awards and recognitions
He won many music awards including two Lifetime Achievement awards from the South Louisiana Music Association and Music/Offbeat Best of the Beat.[6] His song "Hook & Sling" was featured on the breakbeat compilation Ultimate Breaks and Beats. May 22, 1997 was declared "Eddie Bo Day" in New Orleans by mayor Marc Morial while Bo was playing in Karachi, Pakistan. Bo was also named New Orleans' music ambassador to Pakistan.
You Got Your Mojo Working - Eddie Bo
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