1899 Thomas A. Dorsey*
1915 Willie Dixon*
1935 James Cotton*
1936 Syl Johnson*
1946 Paul 'Wine' Jones*
1952 Dan
Aykroyd*
1964 Ludwig
Seuss*
1967 Chubby Carrier*
1977 Baby Boy Warren+
2013 Texas Johnny Brown+
Happy Birthday
James Cotton *01.07.1935
James Cotton (* 1. Juli 1935 in Tunica, Mississippi) ist ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Mundharmonikaspieler.James Cotton wuchs als jüngstes von acht Kindern in Tunica auf. Mit dem Mundharmonikaspielen begann er, nachdem er Sonny Boy Williamson II. in der Radiosendung King Biscuit Time gehört hatte. Mit neun Jahren besuchte er Williamson, der ihn unter seine Fittiche nahm. Er berichtete lange, dass er erzählt habe, er sei Waise. Erst in späteren Lebensjahren gab James Cotton zu, dass diese Geschichte erfunden sei. Mit fünfzehn Jahren trat er bereits mit lokalen Bluesgrößen auf und hatte eine 15-minütige Bluessendung auf KWEM, einer Radiostation in West Memphis, Arkansas. Während der Woche musste er aber als Lastwagenfahrer arbeiten um seinen Lebensunterhalt zu verdienen. Sam Phillips, der Besitzer von Sun Records lud ihn ein, für ihn aufzunehmen und so entstanden 1953 und 1954 die ersten Aufnahmen unter seinem Namen.
Er war seit 1954, er ersetzte Little Walter, bis 1966/67 ständiges Mitglied der Muddy Waters Band und spielte später immer wieder bei Waters Schallplatten-Aufnahmen - auch in den späten 70er unter der Produktion von Johnny Winter. Obwohl er Mitglied der Band von Waters war, war er erstmals 1958 auf Schallplattenaufnahmen zu hören, da die Plattenfirma Chess Records auf Little Walter als Harmonikaspieler bestand. 1965 bildete er das Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet,bei dem Otis Spann Klavier spielte. 1966 tourte er mit Janis Joplin, er war aber auch der Opener für verschiedene andere Bands der späten 1960er-Jahre wie z. B. The Grateful Dead oder Led Zeppelin, aber auch für andere Bluesmusiker wie Freddie King oder B. B. King.
Durch eine Kehlkopfkrebs-OP ist Cotton gezwungen seit Mitte der 1990er-Jahre nur noch als Harpspieler und nicht mehr als Sänger in Erscheinung zu treten. Mit dem James Cotton Trio (James Cotton Harmonika, David Maxwell Klavier, Rico McFarland Gitarre, alternierend Mojo Buford oder Darrell Nulisch Gesang) ist er noch regelmäßig auf Tournee.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cotton
James Cotton (born July 1, 1935)[1] is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band. Although he played drums early in his career, Cotton is famous for his work on the harmonica. Cotton began his professional career playing the blues harp in Howlin' Wolf's band in the early 1950s.[3] He made his first recordings in Memphis for Sun Records under the direction of Sam Phillips. In 1955, he was recruited by Muddy Waters to come to Chicago and join Waters' band. Cotton became Muddy's band leader and stayed with Waters' group until 1965.[4] In 1965 he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, with Otis Spann on piano to record between gigs with Muddy Waters' band and eventually left Waters to form his own full-time touring group. His first full album, on the Verve label, was produced by guitarist Mike Bloomfield and vocalist/songwriter Nick Gravenites, both of whom were later members of the band Electric Flag.[5] In the 1970s, Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Waters' Grammy Award winning 1977 album Hard Again, produced by Johnny Winter.
Career
Born in Tunica, Mississippi, United States, Cotton became interested in music when he first heard Sonny Boy Williamson II on the radio. He left home with his uncle and moved to West Helena, Arkansas, finding Williamson there. For many years Cotton claimed that he told Williamson that he was an orphan, and that Williamson took him in and raised him; a story he admitted in recent years is not true. Williamson did however mentor Cotton during his early years.[3] When Williamson left the south to live with his estranged wife in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he left his band in Cotton's hands. Cotton was quoted as saying, "He just gave it to me. But I couldn't hold it together 'cause I was too young and crazy in those days an' everybody in the band was grown men, so much older than me."
Although he played drums early in his career, Cotton is famous for his work on the harmonica. Cotton began his professional career playing the blues harp in Howlin' Wolf's band in the early 1950s.[3] He made his first recordings as a solo artist for the Sun Records label in Memphis, Tennessee in 1953.[3] In 1954, he recorded an electric blues single "Cotton Crop Blues" which featured a heavily distorted power chord-driven electric guitar solo by Pat Hare.[6] Cotton began to work with the Muddy Waters Band around 1955.[3] He performed songs such as "Got My Mojo Working" and "She's Nineteen Years Old", although he did not appear on the original recordings; long-time Muddy Waters harmonica player Little Walter was utilized on most of Muddy's recording sessions in the 1950s. Cotton's first recording session with Waters took place in June 1957, and he would alternate with Little Walter on Muddy's recording sessions until the end of the decade.
In 1965 he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, utilizing Otis Spann on piano to record between gigs with Muddy Waters' band. Their performances were captured by producer Samuel Charters on volume two of the Vanguard recording Chicago/The Blues/Today!. After leaving Muddy's band in 1966, Cotton toured with Janis Joplin while pursuing a solo career.[3] He formed the James Cotton Blues Band in 1967. They mainly performed their own arrangements of popular blues and R&B material from the 1950s and 1960s. Cotton formed a blues band, which included a horn section, in the tradition of Bobby Bland. After Bland's death, his son told news media that Bland had recently discovered that James Cotton was his half-brother.[7]
In the 1970s, Cotton recorded several albums with Buddah Records. Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Waters' Grammy Award winning 1977 album Hard Again, produced by Johnny Winter. In the 1980s he recorded for Chicago's Alligator Records, and rejoined the Alligator roster in 2010.[8] The James Cotton Blues Band received a Grammy nomination in 1984 for Live From Chicago: Mr. Superharp Himself! on Alligator and a second for his 1987 release, Take Me Back on the Blind Pig label. He finally was awarded a Grammy for Deep in the Blues in 1996 for Best Traditional Blues Album.[9] Cotton appeared on the cover of Living Blues magazine in 1987 in the July/August issue (#76).[10] He was featured in the same publication's 40th anniversary issue, released in 2010 in August/September.
In 2006, Cotton was inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame at a ceremony conducted by the Blues Foundation in Memphis. In addition, he has won or shared ten Blues Music Awards.[11]
Cotton battled throat cancer in the mid-1990s, but he continued to tour, utilizing singers or his backing band members as vocalists. On March 10, 2008, Cotton and Ben Harper inducted Little Walter into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They performed "Juke" and "My Babe" together at the induction ceremony which was broadcast nationwide on VH1 Classic. On August 30, 2010, Cotton was the special guest on Larry Monroe's farewell broadcast of Blue Monday which he hosted on KUT in Austin, Texas for nearly 30 years.[12]
Cotton's studio album, Giant, was released on Alligator Records in late September 2010 and nominated for a Grammy Award.[13] His latest album, also on Alligator Records, Cotton Mouth Man was released on May 7, 2013. It was also a Grammy nominee.[14] It includes guest appearances by Gregg Allman, Joe Bonamassa, Ruthie Foster, Delbert McClinton, Warren Haynes, Keb Mo, Chuck Leavell and Colin Linden.[15] Cotton appeared on the debut album by The Dr. Izzy Band, Blind & Blues Bound. Released in June, 2013, he played harp on the opening song "Matches Don't Burn Memories".[16] In 2014, Cotton won a Blues Music Award as Traditional Male Blues Artist and was also nominated in the 'Best Instrumentalist – Harmonica' category.[17]
Cotton's touring band includes guitarist/vocalist Tom Holland, vocalist Darrell Nulisch, bassist Noel Neal (brother of blues guitarist/harmonica player Kenny Neal) and drummer Jerry Porter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBeuco0PgJs
James Cotton (born July 1, 1935)[1] is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band. Although he played drums early in his career, Cotton is famous for his work on the harmonica. Cotton began his professional career playing the blues harp in Howlin' Wolf's band in the early 1950s.[3] He made his first recordings in Memphis for Sun Records under the direction of Sam Phillips. In 1955, he was recruited by Muddy Waters to come to Chicago and join Waters' band. Cotton became Muddy's band leader and stayed with Waters' group until 1965.[4] In 1965 he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, with Otis Spann on piano to record between gigs with Muddy Waters' band and eventually left Waters to form his own full-time touring group. His first full album, on the Verve label, was produced by guitarist Mike Bloomfield and vocalist/songwriter Nick Gravenites, both of whom were later members of the band Electric Flag.[5] In the 1970s, Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Waters' Grammy Award winning 1977 album Hard Again, produced by Johnny Winter.Career
Born in Tunica, Mississippi, United States, Cotton became interested in music when he first heard Sonny Boy Williamson II on the radio. He left home with his uncle and moved to West Helena, Arkansas, finding Williamson there. For many years Cotton claimed that he told Williamson that he was an orphan, and that Williamson took him in and raised him; a story he admitted in recent years is not true. Williamson did however mentor Cotton during his early years.[3] When Williamson left the south to live with his estranged wife in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he left his band in Cotton's hands. Cotton was quoted as saying, "He just gave it to me. But I couldn't hold it together 'cause I was too young and crazy in those days an' everybody in the band was grown men, so much older than me."
Although he played drums early in his career, Cotton is famous for his work on the harmonica. Cotton began his professional career playing the blues harp in Howlin' Wolf's band in the early 1950s.[3] He made his first recordings as a solo artist for the Sun Records label in Memphis, Tennessee in 1953.[3] In 1954, he recorded an electric blues single "Cotton Crop Blues" which featured a heavily distorted power chord-driven electric guitar solo by Pat Hare.[6] Cotton began to work with the Muddy Waters Band around 1955.[3] He performed songs such as "Got My Mojo Working" and "She's Nineteen Years Old", although he did not appear on the original recordings; long-time Muddy Waters harmonica player Little Walter was utilized on most of Muddy's recording sessions in the 1950s. Cotton's first recording session with Waters took place in June 1957, and he would alternate with Little Walter on Muddy's recording sessions until the end of the decade.
In 1965 he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, utilizing Otis Spann on piano to record between gigs with Muddy Waters' band. Their performances were captured by producer Samuel Charters on volume two of the Vanguard recording Chicago/The Blues/Today!. After leaving Muddy's band in 1966, Cotton toured with Janis Joplin while pursuing a solo career.[3] He formed the James Cotton Blues Band in 1967. They mainly performed their own arrangements of popular blues and R&B material from the 1950s and 1960s. Cotton formed a blues band, which included a horn section, in the tradition of Bobby Bland. After Bland's death, his son told news media that Bland had recently discovered that James Cotton was his half-brother.[7]
In the 1970s, Cotton recorded several albums with Buddah Records. Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Waters' Grammy Award winning 1977 album Hard Again, produced by Johnny Winter. In the 1980s he recorded for Chicago's Alligator Records, and rejoined the Alligator roster in 2010.[8] The James Cotton Blues Band received a Grammy nomination in 1984 for Live From Chicago: Mr. Superharp Himself! on Alligator and a second for his 1987 release, Take Me Back on the Blind Pig label. He finally was awarded a Grammy for Deep in the Blues in 1996 for Best Traditional Blues Album.[9] Cotton appeared on the cover of Living Blues magazine in 1987 in the July/August issue (#76).[10] He was featured in the same publication's 40th anniversary issue, released in 2010 in August/September.
In 2006, Cotton was inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame at a ceremony conducted by the Blues Foundation in Memphis. In addition, he has won or shared ten Blues Music Awards.[11]
Cotton battled throat cancer in the mid-1990s, but he continued to tour, utilizing singers or his backing band members as vocalists. On March 10, 2008, Cotton and Ben Harper inducted Little Walter into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They performed "Juke" and "My Babe" together at the induction ceremony which was broadcast nationwide on VH1 Classic. On August 30, 2010, Cotton was the special guest on Larry Monroe's farewell broadcast of Blue Monday which he hosted on KUT in Austin, Texas for nearly 30 years.[12]
Cotton's studio album, Giant, was released on Alligator Records in late September 2010 and nominated for a Grammy Award.[13] His latest album, also on Alligator Records, Cotton Mouth Man was released on May 7, 2013. It was also a Grammy nominee.[14] It includes guest appearances by Gregg Allman, Joe Bonamassa, Ruthie Foster, Delbert McClinton, Warren Haynes, Keb Mo, Chuck Leavell and Colin Linden.[15] Cotton appeared on the debut album by The Dr. Izzy Band, Blind & Blues Bound. Released in June, 2013, he played harp on the opening song "Matches Don't Burn Memories".[16] In 2014, Cotton won a Blues Music Award as Traditional Male Blues Artist and was also nominated in the 'Best Instrumentalist – Harmonica' category.[17]
Cotton's touring band includes guitarist/vocalist Tom Holland, vocalist Darrell Nulisch, bassist Noel Neal (brother of blues guitarist/harmonica player Kenny Neal) and drummer Jerry Porter.
Paul 'Wine' Jones *01.07.1946
Paul "Wine" Jones (July 1, 1946 – October 9, 2005) was an American contemporary blues guitarist and singer.[1]
One commentator noted that Jones, R. L. Burnside, Big Jack Johnson, Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes and James "Super Chikan" Johnson were "present-day exponents of an edgier, electrified version of the raw, uncut Delta blues sound.
Jones was born in Flora, Mississippi, and learned to play guitar by the age of four.[1] In his teens he played at house parties, and later worked with James "Son" Thomas and harmonica player Willie Foster.[3] However, Jones played music mainly as a pastime, while working on farms up to 1971, when he became a welder in Belzoni, Mississippi.[1]
In 1995 and 1996, Jones performed outside of Mississippi, when he was a member of Fat Possum's "Mississippi Juke Joint Caravan".[1][3] His 1995 debut album, Mule, was produced by the music critic Robert Palmer.[1] On the album he was accompanied by drummer Sam Carr, and guitarist Big Jack Johnson.[1] Fat Possum (an independent record label in Oxford, Mississippi), as well as managing the latter careers of Junior Kimbrough and R. L. Burnside, gave opportunity to a number of amateurs, mostly from rural Mississippi, who had seldom or never recorded before. Some, such as T-Model Ford and Asie Payton, moved on to higher billing, but others such as Jones, were left on the sidelines.[3]
Jones died of cancer, at the age of 59, in Jackson, Mississippi, in October 2005.
Thomas A. Dorsey *01.07.1899
Thomas Andrew Dorsey, auch Georgia Tom, (* 1. Juli 1899 in Villa Rica, Georgia; † 23. Januar 1993 in Chicago) war Blues- und Gospel-Sänger und -Pianist.Dorsey war Sohn eines Baptistenpredigers und einer Klavierlehrerin und Neffe des Kirchenorganisten. Aber aus der Nachbarschaft war er auch anderen musikalischen Eindrücken ausgesetzt: Zirkusmusik, Blues, Vaudeville, Hillbilly Balladen, und die Revival-Hymnen von Billy Sunday's Kantor Homer Rodeheaver.
In seiner späteren Jugend zog er nach Atlanta, wo er als Klavierbegleiter und Gesangslehrer arbeitete, etwa für Bluessängerinnen wie Bessie Smith und Ma Rainey. In Chicago, wo er ab 1916 Komposition und Arrangement studierte, spielte er bei Rent-Partys unter den Namen Barrelhouse Tom and Texas Tommy. Bekannt wurde er aber als Georgia Tom zusammen mit seinem musikalischen Partner Tampa Red. Mit ihm hatte er 1928 mit „It's Tight Like That“ einen großen Hit im Stil des sogenannten „Hokum Blues“.
1925 gründete er für Ma Rainey die „Wild Cats Jazz Band“.
Der schlüpfrige Text von Liedern wie „It's Tight like That“ brachte ihm manchen Ärger ein, denn bald schon war er als Gospelmusiker bekannter noch als im Blues, und beim Gospel hatte er ein teils doch moralisch anspruchsvolleres Publikum. Er begann, seine eigenen Gospel-Kompositionen zu vermarkten. Darunter Hits wie „It's A Highway To Heaven“, die große Hymne unter den Gospelsongs „Take My Hand, Precious Lord“ geprägt durch den unverwechselbaren Sound der HB310, und besinnliche Lieder wie „What Then“. Er war der musikalische Mentor der berühmten Gospelsängerin Mahalia Jackson und schrieb für sie den Song „Peace In The Valley“. Er gründete den ersten Verlag für Black Gospel Musik.
Dorsey wurde 1994 in die Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame aufgenommen.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_A._Dorsey
Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 – January 23, 1993) was known as "the father of black gospel music" and was at one time so closely associated with the field that songs written in the new style were sometimes known as "dorseys."[2] Earlier in his life he was a leading blues pianist known as Georgia Tom. As formulated by Dorsey, gospel music combines Christian praise with the rhythms of jazz and the blues. His conception also deviates from what had been, to that time, standard hymnal practice by referring explicitly to the self, and the self's relation to faith and God, rather than the individual subsumed into the group via belief. Dorsey, who was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, was the music director at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago from 1932 until the late 1970s. His best-known composition, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", was performed by Mahalia Jackson and was a favorite of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.. Another composition, "Peace in the Valley", was a hit for Red Foley in 1951 and has been performed by dozens of other artists, including Queen of Gospel Albertina Walker, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Dorsey died in Chicago, aged 93. In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his album Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey (1973), by adding it to the United States National Recording Registry.
Life and career
Dorsey's father was a minister and his mother a piano teacher. He learned to play blues piano as a young man. After studying music formally in Chicago, he became an agent for Paramount Records. He put together a band for Ma Rainey called the "Wild Cats Jazz Band" in 1924. He started out playing at rent parties with the names Barrelhouse Tom and Texas Tommy, but he was most famous as Georgia Tom. As Georgia Tom, he teamed up with Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker) with whom he recorded the raunchy 1928 hit record "Tight Like That", a sensation, eventually selling seven million copies.[3] In all, he is credited with more than 400 blues and jazz songs. Dorsey began recording gospel music alongside blues in the mid-1920s. This led to his performing at the National Baptist Convention in 1930, and becoming the bandleader of two churches in the early 1930s.[4]
His first wife, Nettie, who had been Rainey's wardrobe mistress, died in childbirth in 1932. Two days later the child, a son, also died. In his grief, he wrote his most famous song, one of the most famous of all gospel songs, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand".[5] Unhappy with the treatment received at the hands of established publishers, Dorsey opened the first black gospel music publishing company, Dorsey House of Music. He also founded his own gospel choir and was a founder and first president of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses.
His influence was not limited to African American music, as white musicians also followed his lead. "Precious Lord" has been recorded by Albertina Walker, Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Clara Ward, Dorothy Norwood, Jim Reeves, Roy Rogers, and Tennessee Ernie Ford, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash among hundreds of others. It was a favorite gospel song of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was sung at the rally held at the Imani Temple the night before his assassination, and, per his request, at his funeral by Mahalia Jackson. It was also a favorite of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who requested it to be sung at his funeral. Dorsey was also a great influence on other Chicago-based gospel artists such as Albertina Walker and The Caravans and Little Joey McClork.
Dorsey wrote "Peace in the Valley" for Mahalia Jackson in 1937, which also became a gospel standard. He was the first African American elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and also the first in the Gospel Music Association's Living Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was inducted as a charter member of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana. His papers are preserved at Fisk University, along with those of W.C. Handy, George Gershwin, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Dorsey's works have proliferated beyond performance, into the hymnals of virtually all American churches and of English-speaking churches worldwide. Thomas was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He died in Chicago, Illinois, and was interred there in the Oak Woods Cemetery.
Life and career
Dorsey's father was a minister and his mother a piano teacher. He learned to play blues piano as a young man. After studying music formally in Chicago, he became an agent for Paramount Records. He put together a band for Ma Rainey called the "Wild Cats Jazz Band" in 1924. He started out playing at rent parties with the names Barrelhouse Tom and Texas Tommy, but he was most famous as Georgia Tom. As Georgia Tom, he teamed up with Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker) with whom he recorded the raunchy 1928 hit record "Tight Like That", a sensation, eventually selling seven million copies.[3] In all, he is credited with more than 400 blues and jazz songs. Dorsey began recording gospel music alongside blues in the mid-1920s. This led to his performing at the National Baptist Convention in 1930, and becoming the bandleader of two churches in the early 1930s.[4]
His first wife, Nettie, who had been Rainey's wardrobe mistress, died in childbirth in 1932. Two days later the child, a son, also died. In his grief, he wrote his most famous song, one of the most famous of all gospel songs, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand".[5] Unhappy with the treatment received at the hands of established publishers, Dorsey opened the first black gospel music publishing company, Dorsey House of Music. He also founded his own gospel choir and was a founder and first president of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses.
His influence was not limited to African American music, as white musicians also followed his lead. "Precious Lord" has been recorded by Albertina Walker, Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Clara Ward, Dorothy Norwood, Jim Reeves, Roy Rogers, and Tennessee Ernie Ford, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash among hundreds of others. It was a favorite gospel song of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was sung at the rally held at the Imani Temple the night before his assassination, and, per his request, at his funeral by Mahalia Jackson. It was also a favorite of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who requested it to be sung at his funeral. Dorsey was also a great influence on other Chicago-based gospel artists such as Albertina Walker and The Caravans and Little Joey McClork.
Dorsey wrote "Peace in the Valley" for Mahalia Jackson in 1937, which also became a gospel standard. He was the first African American elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and also the first in the Gospel Music Association's Living Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was inducted as a charter member of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in Richmond, Indiana. His papers are preserved at Fisk University, along with those of W.C. Handy, George Gershwin, and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Dorsey's works have proliferated beyond performance, into the hymnals of virtually all American churches and of English-speaking churches worldwide. Thomas was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He died in Chicago, Illinois, and was interred there in the Oak Woods Cemetery.
Willie Dixon *01.07.1915
Willie Dixon (* 1. Juli 1915 als William James Dixon in Vicksburg, Mississippi; † 29. Januar 1992 in Burbank, Kalifornien) war einer der bedeutendsten US-amerikanischen Bluesmusiker (Gesang, Bass, Songwriter und Produzent). Dixon hat die Entwicklung des Chicago-Blues in den 1950er und 1960er Jahren entscheidend geprägt. Als Studiomusiker und Hausbassist bei Chess Records ist er auf zahlreichen Plattenaufnahmen zu hören. Als Bassist von Chuck Berry trug er auch zum Siegeszug des Rock'n'Rolls bei. Zudem war Dixon als Songwriter und Produzent für die Chicagoer Blues-Label Chess Records und Checker Records eine regelrechte Songfabrik. Er schrieb viele der bedeutendsten Blues-Songs, wie Hoochie Coochie Man, Evil oder Back Door Man, die vor allem in den Interpretation von Muddy Waters und Howlin' Wolf bekannt wurden. Aber auch viele andere Blues-Legenden griffen seine Songs auf.
Einem breiten Publikum wurden seine Kompositionen bekannt, als in den 1960er Jahren britische Rockbands etliche Titel von Willie Dixon aufnahmen, beispielsweise die Rolling Stones (Little Red Rooster), Cream und Ten Years After (Spoonful), Led Zeppelin (I can't quit you, baby). Auch Elvis Presley, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors und viele spätere Bands wie die Black Crowes interpretierten seine Songs. Die Liste der Bands, die Dixons Songs interpretierten, ist lang und bedeutend. Willie Dixon konnte mit einem gewissem Recht von sich sagen: „I Am The Blues“; er gilt gleichzeitig als einer der wichtigsten Ecksteine der Rockgeschichte.
Ende der 1960er-Jahre besann er sich wieder auf seine eigene Karriere und stellte verschiedene Begleitgruppen (Chicago Blues Allstars) auf, mit denen er auf Tournee ging.
1989 veröffentlichte Dixon eine Autobiographie unter dem Titel I am the Blues. Ein eindrucksvoller Höhepunkt seiner musikalischen Laufbahn kam 1988 heraus: Hidden Charms (mit den Stücken: Blues you can't loose, I don't trust myself, Jungle swing, Don't mess with the messer, Study war no more, I love the life I live, I cry for you, Good advice, I do the job). 1980 wurde er in die Blues Hall of Fame der Blues Foundation aufgenommen. 1992 starb Dixon an Herzversagen. 2010 wurde sein Song "Spoonful" in der Interpretation von Howlin' Wolf in die Blues Hall of Fame (Classic of Blues Recording ) aufgenommen.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon (July 1, 1915 – January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer.[1] A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the upright bass and the guitar and as a vocalist, Dixon is perhaps best known as one of the most prolific songwriters of his time. Next to Muddy Waters, Dixon is recognized as the most influential person in shaping the post-World War II sound of the Chicago blues.[2]
Dixon's songs have been recorded by countless musicians in many genres as well as by various ensembles in which he participated. A short list of his most famous compositions includes "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You", "Little Red Rooster", "My Babe", "Spoonful", and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover". These tunes were written during the peak of Chess Records, 1950–1965, and performed by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and Bo Diddley; they influenced a worldwide generation of musicians.[3]
Dixon also was an important link between the blues and rock and roll, working with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley in the late 1950s. His songs were covered by some of the biggest artists of more recent times, such as Bob Dylan, Cream, Jeff Beck, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones.
Biography
Early life
Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 1, 1915.[1] His mother Daisy often rhymed the things she said, a habit her son imitated. At the age of seven, young Dixon became an admirer of a band that featured pianist Little Brother Montgomery. Dixon was first introduced to blues when he served time on prison farms in Mississippi as an early teenager. He later learned how to sing harmony from local carpenter Leo Phelps. Dixon sang bass in Phelps' group The Jubilee Singers, a local gospel quartet that regularly appeared on the Vicksburg radio station WQBC. Dixon began adapting poems he was writing as songs, and even sold some tunes to local music groups.
Adulthood
Dixon left Mississippi for Chicago in 1936. A man of considerable stature, at 6 and a half feet and weighing over 250 pounds, he took up boxing; he was so successful that he won the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship (Novice Division) in 1937.[4] Dixon turned professional as a boxer and worked briefly as Joe Louis' sparring partner. After four fights, Dixon left boxing after getting into a fight with his manager over being cheated out of money.
Dixon met Leonard Caston at the boxing gym where they would harmonize at times. Dixon performed in several vocal groups in Chicago but it was Caston that got him to pursue music seriously.[5] Caston built him his first bass, made of a tin can and one string. Dixon's experience singing bass made the instrument familiar. He also learned the guitar.
In 1939, Dixon was a founding member of the Five Breezes, with Caston, Joe Bell, Gene Gilmore and Willie Hawthorne. The group blended blues, jazz, and vocal harmonies, in the mode of the Ink Spots. Dixon's progress on the Upright bass came to an abrupt halt during the advent of World War II when he resisted the draft as a conscientious objector and was imprisoned for ten months.[1] After the war, he formed a group named the Four Jumps of Jive and then reunited with Caston, forming the Big Three Trio, who went on to record for Columbia Records.
Pinnacle of career
Dixon signed with Chess Records as a recording artist, but began performing less, being more involved with administrative tasks for the label. By 1951, he was a full-time employee at Chess, where he acted as producer, talent scout, session musician and staff songwriter. He was also a producer for Chess subsidiary Checker Records. His relationship with Chess was sometimes strained, although he stayed with the label from 1948 to the early 1960s. During this time Dixon's output and influence were prodigious. From late 1956 to early 1959, he worked in a similar capacity for Cobra Records, where he produced early singles for Otis Rush, Magic Sam, and Buddy Guy.[6] He later recorded on Bluesville Records.[7] From the late 1960s until the middle 1970s, Dixon ran his own record label, Yambo Records, along with two subsidiary labels, Supreme and Spoonful. He released his 1971 album Peace? on Yambo, as well as singles by McKinley Mitchell, Lucky Peterson and others.[8]
Dixon is considered one of the key figures in the creation of Chicago blues. He worked with Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, Bo Diddley, Joe Louis Walker, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, Eddie Boyd, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lowell Fulson, Willie Mabon, Memphis Slim, Washboard Sam, Jimmy Rogers, Sam Lay and others.
In December 1964, The Rolling Stones reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart with their cover version of Dixon's "Little Red Rooster".[9]
Copyright battles
In his later years, Willie Dixon became a tireless ambassador for the blues and a vocal advocate for its practitioners, founding the Blues Heaven Foundation. The organization works to preserve the blues' legacy and to secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past. Speaking with the simple eloquence that was a hallmark of his songs, Dixon claimed, "The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It's better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues." In 1977, unhappy with the royalties rate from ARC Music, he and Muddy Waters sued the Chess-owned publishing company, and with the proceeds from the lawsuit set up Hoochie Coochie Music.[10]
In 1987, Dixon received an out-of-court settlement from Led Zeppelin after suing them for plagiarism, in relation to their use of his music for "Bring It On Home" and his lyrics from his composition "You Need Love" (1962) for their track "Whole Lotta Love".[11]
Dixon's health deteriorated increasingly during the seventies and the eighties, primarily due to long-term diabetes. Eventually one of his legs had to be amputated.[1] Dixon was inducted at the inaugural session of the Blues Foundation's ceremony, and into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.[12] In 1989 he was also the recipient of a Grammy Award for his album, Hidden Charms.[13]
Death and legacy
Dixon died of heart failure[14] in Burbank, California on January 29, 1992,[1] and was buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. Dixon was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the "early influences" (pre-rock) category in 1994.[15] On April 28, 2013, Dixon's grandson, Alex Dixon, was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame along with his grandfather.[16]
Actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer portrayed Dixon in Cadillac Records, a 2008 film based on the early history of Chess Records.[17][18]
Tributes
French singer-songwriter Francis Cabrel refers to Dixon in the song "Cent Ans de Plus" on his 1999 album Hors-Saison. Cabrel cites the artist as one of a number of blues influences, including Charley Patton, Son House, Blind Lemon, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Blind Blake and Ma Rainey.
Canadian rock musician Tom Cochrane wrote a song entitled "Willie Dixon Said" that appeared on his 1999 album X-Ray Sierra.
Bob Dylan credited Willie Dixon for the music of the song "My Wife's Hometown" on his album Together Through Life and gave special thanks to Dixon's estate.
Bernie Taupin English lyricist, poet, singer and painter, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John is actively campaigning for Willie Dixon's posthumous induction in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon (July 1, 1915 – January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer.[1] A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the upright bass and the guitar and as a vocalist, Dixon is perhaps best known as one of the most prolific songwriters of his time. Next to Muddy Waters, Dixon is recognized as the most influential person in shaping the post-World War II sound of the Chicago blues.[2]Dixon's songs have been recorded by countless musicians in many genres as well as by various ensembles in which he participated. A short list of his most famous compositions includes "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You", "Little Red Rooster", "My Babe", "Spoonful", and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover". These tunes were written during the peak of Chess Records, 1950–1965, and performed by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and Bo Diddley; they influenced a worldwide generation of musicians.[3]
Dixon also was an important link between the blues and rock and roll, working with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley in the late 1950s. His songs were covered by some of the biggest artists of more recent times, such as Bob Dylan, Cream, Jeff Beck, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones.
Biography
Early life
Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 1, 1915.[1] His mother Daisy often rhymed the things she said, a habit her son imitated. At the age of seven, young Dixon became an admirer of a band that featured pianist Little Brother Montgomery. Dixon was first introduced to blues when he served time on prison farms in Mississippi as an early teenager. He later learned how to sing harmony from local carpenter Leo Phelps. Dixon sang bass in Phelps' group The Jubilee Singers, a local gospel quartet that regularly appeared on the Vicksburg radio station WQBC. Dixon began adapting poems he was writing as songs, and even sold some tunes to local music groups.
Adulthood
Dixon left Mississippi for Chicago in 1936. A man of considerable stature, at 6 and a half feet and weighing over 250 pounds, he took up boxing; he was so successful that he won the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship (Novice Division) in 1937.[4] Dixon turned professional as a boxer and worked briefly as Joe Louis' sparring partner. After four fights, Dixon left boxing after getting into a fight with his manager over being cheated out of money.
Dixon met Leonard Caston at the boxing gym where they would harmonize at times. Dixon performed in several vocal groups in Chicago but it was Caston that got him to pursue music seriously.[5] Caston built him his first bass, made of a tin can and one string. Dixon's experience singing bass made the instrument familiar. He also learned the guitar.
In 1939, Dixon was a founding member of the Five Breezes, with Caston, Joe Bell, Gene Gilmore and Willie Hawthorne. The group blended blues, jazz, and vocal harmonies, in the mode of the Ink Spots. Dixon's progress on the Upright bass came to an abrupt halt during the advent of World War II when he resisted the draft as a conscientious objector and was imprisoned for ten months.[1] After the war, he formed a group named the Four Jumps of Jive and then reunited with Caston, forming the Big Three Trio, who went on to record for Columbia Records.
Pinnacle of career
Dixon signed with Chess Records as a recording artist, but began performing less, being more involved with administrative tasks for the label. By 1951, he was a full-time employee at Chess, where he acted as producer, talent scout, session musician and staff songwriter. He was also a producer for Chess subsidiary Checker Records. His relationship with Chess was sometimes strained, although he stayed with the label from 1948 to the early 1960s. During this time Dixon's output and influence were prodigious. From late 1956 to early 1959, he worked in a similar capacity for Cobra Records, where he produced early singles for Otis Rush, Magic Sam, and Buddy Guy.[6] He later recorded on Bluesville Records.[7] From the late 1960s until the middle 1970s, Dixon ran his own record label, Yambo Records, along with two subsidiary labels, Supreme and Spoonful. He released his 1971 album Peace? on Yambo, as well as singles by McKinley Mitchell, Lucky Peterson and others.[8]
Dixon is considered one of the key figures in the creation of Chicago blues. He worked with Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, Bo Diddley, Joe Louis Walker, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, Eddie Boyd, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lowell Fulson, Willie Mabon, Memphis Slim, Washboard Sam, Jimmy Rogers, Sam Lay and others.
In December 1964, The Rolling Stones reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart with their cover version of Dixon's "Little Red Rooster".[9]
Copyright battles
In his later years, Willie Dixon became a tireless ambassador for the blues and a vocal advocate for its practitioners, founding the Blues Heaven Foundation. The organization works to preserve the blues' legacy and to secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past. Speaking with the simple eloquence that was a hallmark of his songs, Dixon claimed, "The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It's better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues." In 1977, unhappy with the royalties rate from ARC Music, he and Muddy Waters sued the Chess-owned publishing company, and with the proceeds from the lawsuit set up Hoochie Coochie Music.[10]
In 1987, Dixon received an out-of-court settlement from Led Zeppelin after suing them for plagiarism, in relation to their use of his music for "Bring It On Home" and his lyrics from his composition "You Need Love" (1962) for their track "Whole Lotta Love".[11]
Dixon's health deteriorated increasingly during the seventies and the eighties, primarily due to long-term diabetes. Eventually one of his legs had to be amputated.[1] Dixon was inducted at the inaugural session of the Blues Foundation's ceremony, and into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.[12] In 1989 he was also the recipient of a Grammy Award for his album, Hidden Charms.[13]
Death and legacy
Dixon died of heart failure[14] in Burbank, California on January 29, 1992,[1] and was buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. Dixon was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the "early influences" (pre-rock) category in 1994.[15] On April 28, 2013, Dixon's grandson, Alex Dixon, was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame along with his grandfather.[16]
Actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer portrayed Dixon in Cadillac Records, a 2008 film based on the early history of Chess Records.[17][18]
Tributes
French singer-songwriter Francis Cabrel refers to Dixon in the song "Cent Ans de Plus" on his 1999 album Hors-Saison. Cabrel cites the artist as one of a number of blues influences, including Charley Patton, Son House, Blind Lemon, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Blind Blake and Ma Rainey.
Canadian rock musician Tom Cochrane wrote a song entitled "Willie Dixon Said" that appeared on his 1999 album X-Ray Sierra.
Bob Dylan credited Willie Dixon for the music of the song "My Wife's Hometown" on his album Together Through Life and gave special thanks to Dixon's estate.
Bernie Taupin English lyricist, poet, singer and painter, best known for his long-term collaboration with Elton John is actively campaigning for Willie Dixon's posthumous induction in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Syl Johnson *01.07.1936
Syl Johnson (born July 1, 1936) is an American blues and soul singer and record producer.
Biography
Born Sylvester Thompson in Holly Springs, Mississippi, United States, he migrated with his family to Chicago in 1950; blues guitarist Magic Sam was his next-door neighbor.[1] Johnson sang and played with blues artists Magic Sam, Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf in the 1950s, before recording with Jimmy Reed for Vee-Jay in 1959. He made his solo debut that same year with Federal, a subsidiary of King Records of Cincinnati, backed by Freddie King on guitar.
He then began recording for Twinight Records of Chicago in the mid-1960s. Beginning with his first hit, "Come On Sock It to Me" in 1967, Johnson dominated the label as both a hitmaker and producer. His song "Different Strokes", also from 1967, featured on the Ultimate Breaks and Beats breakbeat compilation.
Like other black songwriters of the period, several of his records at this time explored themes of African-American identity and social problems as in songs including "Is It Because I'm Black", which reached Number 11 in the US Billboard R&B chart in 1969.
In 1971, Willie Mitchell brought Johnson to Hi Records, the two recording three albums which spawned a number of singles. Produced in Memphis with the Hi house band, these yielded the hits "We Did It", "Back for a Taste of Your Love" and "Take Me to the River", his biggest success, reaching Number 7 on the R&B chart in 1975. However, at Hi Records, Johnson was always to some extent in Al Green's shadow commercially, if not artistically. Mitchell also chose to use mainly in-house material rather than Johnson originals.
After the Hi years ended, Johnson produced two LPs for his own Shama label, the latter of which (Ms. Fine Brown Frame, 1982) was picked up for distribution by Boardwalk Records and produced Johnson's last hit record, the title cut.
Around the mid-1980s, Johnson started a fast-food fish restaurant business, and became semi-retired from performing, only making occasional appearances at blues club gigs.[2]
In 1992, Johnson found out that his song "Different Strokes" had been sampled by number of rappers including Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Kool G Rap, Hammer, and the Geto Boys. Stimulated by this fact, he decided to make a comeback in the music industry.[2] In 1994, he released the album Back in the Game on Delmark Records. The album featured the Hi rhythm section and his youngest daughter Syleena Johnson.
Johnson has become one of the most sampled artists, largely from "Different Strokes" and "Is It Because I'm Black"; he feels passionately that taking music from an original artist without proper compensation constitutes theft[3] and has sued for copyright infringement.[4][5] Adding to Syl's famous family are his brothers, Blues guitarist and singer Jimmy Johnson and bassist Mack Thompson.
Syl Johnson recently appeared on an episode of TV ONE's "R&B Divas," which starred his daughter Syleena Johnson. In the episode Syl is giving Syleena advice and words of encouragement before one of her live performances.
Syl Johnson Is It Because I'm Black Single
Dan Aykroyd *01.07.1952
Daniel Edward Aykroyd, CM (* 1. Juli 1952 in Ottawa) ist ein kanadischer Filmschauspieler, Drehbuchautor und Sänger.Leben und Karriere
Aykroyd studierte an der Carleton University von Ottawa Kriminologie und Soziologie. Hier trat er in einem Studententheater erstmals auf. 1972 trat er in einer Serie von 15-minütigen Comedyshows bei einem Kabelsender auf. Bereits hier war er Autor und Produzent seiner Sketche. Dan Aykroyd ist seit 1983 mit Donna Dixon verheiratet und hat drei Töchter: Danielle (* 1989), Belle (* 1993) und Stella (* 1998).
Aykroyd wurde einem größeren Publikum bekannt, als er mit anderen Schauspielern die Fernseh-Reihe Saturday Night Live bei NBC begründete. Viele Darsteller sollten hier ihre Karriere beginnen. Dan Aykroyd arbeitete auch mit John Belushi zusammen, mit dem er die Blues Brothers Band gründete. Es folgten drei gemeinsame LPs und eine erfolgreiche Tournee. Der folgende Film Blues Brothers unter der Regie von John Landis wurde sein größter Erfolg. Auch mit anderen Kollegen von Saturday Night Live drehte er Kinofilme, so z. B. mit Bill Murray, Chevy Chase und Eddie Murphy. Mit Bill Murray war er in Ghostbusters – Die Geisterjäger (1984) und Ghostbusters II (1989) zu sehen. Das 2009 erschienene Videospiel Ghostbusters: The Video Game ist laut Aykroyd „im Wesentlichen der dritte Film“[1].
Dan Aykroyd trat aber nicht nur in Filmkomödien auf. Sein Rollenspektrum umfasste auch Melodramen wie Miss Daisy und ihr Chauffeur, Historienfilme (Haus Bellomont), Jugendfilme (My Girl – Meine erste Liebe) und Spannungsfilme wie Undercover Cops. 1990 erhielt er eine Nominierung für den Oscar als bester Nebendarsteller in Miss Daisy und ihr Chauffeur, der als bester Film ausgezeichnet wurde.
Seine einzige Regiearbeit war Valkenvania – Die wunderbare Welt des Wahnsinns aus dem Jahr 1991. Aykroyd trat in den letzten Jahren in Fernsehserien (unter anderem PSI Factor) auf und arbeitete auch als Filmproduzent. In Kinofilmen übernimmt er nur noch Nebenrollen, unter anderem spielte er den Vater von Britney Spears in Crossroads. Außerdem tauchte er in vier Episoden als Nebenrolle in James Belushis Sitcom Immer wieder Jim auf. Aykroyd ist auch Initiator und Inhaber von Crystal Head Vodka.[2]
Seine deutsche Synchronstimme ist meistens die von Thomas Danneberg.
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM (/ˈækrɔɪd/; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter and singer. He was an original cast member, or one of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players", on Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers (with John Belushi) and Ghostbusters, and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.
In 1990, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Driving Miss Daisy.
Early life
Aykroyd was born on July 1, 1952, at the Ottawa General Hospital[1] in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He grew up in the Canadian capital, where his father, Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh Aykroyd, a civil engineer, worked as a policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. His mother, Lorraine Hélène (née Gougeon), was a secretary.[2][3] His mother was of French Canadian descent and his father of English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, and French ancestry.[4][5][6] His brother, Peter, also became a comedy actor. Aykroyd was born with syndactyly, or webbed toes, which was revealed in the movie Mr. Mike's Mondo Video and in a short film on Saturday Night Live titled "Don't Look Back In Anger."[7] He was also born with heterochromia – his right eye is green and his left eye is brown.
Aykroyd was raised in the Catholic Church, and intended to become a priest until the age of seventeen.[8] He attended St. Pius X and St. Patrick's High Schools and studied criminology and sociology at Carleton University, but dropped out before completing his degree. He worked as a comedian in various Canadian nightclubs and ran an after-hours speakeasy, Club 505, in Toronto for several years.
Aykroyd developed his musical career in Ottawa, particularly through his regular attendances at Le Hibou, a club that featured many blues artists. He describes these influences as follows:
...there was a little club there called Le Hibou, which in French means 'the owl.' And it was run by a gentleman named Harvey Glatt, and he brought every, and I mean every, blues star that you or I would ever have wanted to have seen through Ottawa in the late '50s, well I guess more late '60s sort of, in around the Newport jazz rediscovery. I was going to Le Hibou and hearing James Cotton, Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins, and Muddy Waters. I actually jammed behind Muddy Waters. S.P. Leary left the drum kit one night, and Muddy said 'anybody out there play drums? I don't have a drummer.' And I walked on stage and we started, I don't know, Little Red Rooster, something. He said 'keep that beat going, you make Muddy feel good.' And I heard Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett). Many, many times I saw Howlin' Wolf. As well as The Doors. And of course Buddy Guy, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. So I was exposed to all of these players, playing there as part of this scene to service the academic community in Ottawa, a very well-educated community. Had I lived in a different town I don't think that this would have happened, because it was just the confluence of educated government workers, and then also all the colleges in the area, Ottawa University, Carleton, and all the schools—these people were interested in blues culture.[9][10]
Aykroyd's first professional experience, which he compiled at the age of 17, was as a member of the cast of the short-lived Canadian sketch comedy series The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour with Lorne Michaels, among others.[11] He was a member of the Second City comedy troupe in 1973 in both Toronto and Chicago.[12]
Saturday Night Live
Aykroyd gained fame on the American late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he was a writer and the youngest member of its cast, a repertory company called "The Not Ready For Prime Time Players," for its first four seasons, from 1975 to 1979. Aykroyd brought a unique sensibility to the show, combining youth, unusual interests, talent as an impersonator and an almost lunatic intensity. Guest host Eric Idle, of Monty Python, said that Aykroyd's ability to write and act out characters flawlessly made him the only member of the SNL cast capable of being a Python.[13]
He was known for his impersonations of celebrities like Jimmy Carter, Vincent Price, Richard Nixon, Rod Serling, Tom Snyder, Julia Child, and others. He was also known for his recurring roles, such as Beldar, father of the Coneheads family; with Steve Martin, Yortuk Festrunk, one of the "Two Wild and Crazy Guys" Czech brothers; sleazy late-night cable TV host E. Buzz Miller and his cousin, corrupt maker of children's toys and costumes Irwin Mainway (who extolled the virtues and defended the safety of the "Bag-o-Glass" toy, perhaps the retail leader of the "Bag-o" series of toys); Fred Garvin – male prostitute; and high-bred but low-brow critic Leonard Pinth-Garnell. He also co-hosted the Weekend Update segment for one season with Jane Curtin, coining the famous catchphrase "Jane, you ignorant slut" during point-counterpoint segments.
Aykroyd's eccentric talent was recognized by others in the highly competitive SNL environment: when he first presented his famous "Super Bass-O-Matic '76" sketch, a fake T.V. commercial in which a garish, hyper-pitchman (modelled after Ron Popeil) touts a food blender that turns an entire bass into liquid pulp, "to [other writers and cast members] the 'Bass-O-Matic' was so exhilaratingly strange that many remember sitting and listening, open-mouthed ... Nobody felt jealous of it because they couldn't imagine writing anything remotely like it."[14]
While Aykroyd was a close friend and partner with fellow cast member John Belushi and shared some of the same sensibilities, Aykroyd was more reserved and less self-destructive. In 1977, he received an Emmy Award for writing on SNL; he later received two more nominations for writing and one for acting. In Rolling Stone Magazine's February, 2015 appraisal of all 141 SNL cast members to date, Aykroyd was ranked fifth (behind Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, and Mike Myers). "Of all the original [SNL] greats, Aykroyd is the least imitated," they wrote, "because nobody else can do what he did."[15]
In later decades, Aykroyd made occasional guest appearances and unannounced cameos on SNL, often impersonating the American politician Bob Dole. He would also bring back past characters including Irwin Mainway and Leonard Pinth-Garnell. During some guest appearances he resurrected The Blues Brothers musical act with frequent host John Goodman in place of Belushi. He became the second member of the original cast to host SNL in May 2003 when he appeared in the season finale. During his monologue, he performed a musical number with James Belushi similar to the Blues Brothers, but neither Aykroyd nor Belushi donned the famous black suit and sunglasses. On March 24, 2007, Aykroyd appeared as a crying fan of American Idol finalist Sanjaya Malakar (played by Andy Samberg) during Weekend Update. On February 14, 2009, he appeared as U.S. House Minority leader John Boehner. Aykroyd also made a surprise guest appearance, along with many other SNL alumni, on the March 9, 2013 show.
The Blues Brothers
Aykroyd was a close friend of John Belushi. According to Aykroyd, it was their first meeting that helped spark the popular Blues Brothers act. When they met in a club Aykroyd frequented, he played a blues record in the background, and it stimulated a fascination with blues in Belushi, who was primarily a fan of heavy rock bands at the time. Aykroyd educated Belushi on the finer points of blues music and, with a little encouragement from then-SNL music director Paul Shaffer, it led to the creation of their Blues Brothers characters.
Backed by such experienced professional R&B sidemen as lead guitarist Steve Cropper, sax man Lou Marini, trumpeter Alan Rubin and bass guitarist Donald "Duck" Dunn, the Blues Brothers proved more than an SNL novelty. Taking off with the public as a legitimate musical act, they performed live gigs and in 1978 released the hit album Briefcase Full of Blues (drawn from the fact that Aykroyd, as "Elwood Blues," carried his blues harmonicas in a briefcase that he kept handcuffed to his wrist, in the manner of a CIA courier; Belushi originally carried the key to those handcuffs). Briefcase Full of Blues eventually sold 3.5 million copies, and is one of the highest-selling blues albums of all time.[9] The band was much further popularized in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, which Aykroyd co-wrote.
Early in the incarnation of the Blues Brothers, Belushi joined the Grateful Dead on stage on April 2, 1980, for a rendition of "Good Morning Little School Girl" at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey that coincided with the Dead's appearance on SNL that weekend. Belushi sang the part usually carried by the late Dead band member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles was a regular haunt for the original Blues Brothers in the early days of the band. Belushi and Aykroyd became fixtures at the recording studio, while fellow Blues Brother Steve Cropper called Cherokee his producing home. Whenever they needed a bass player, they were joined by another Blues Brother, Donald "Duck" Dunn. During this time, Cropper, along with producing partner and Cherokee owner Bruce Robb, worked on a number of music projects with the two comedians/musicians, including Belushi's favorite band, Fear, and later Aykroyd's movie Dragnet.
The Blues Brothers Band continues to tour today, both with and without Aykroyd. The band features original members Cropper and Marini, along with vocalist Eddie Floyd. Aykroyd sometimes performs as Elwood, along with Belushi's younger brother Jim Belushi, who plays "Brother Zee" on stage. They are most frequently backed by The Sacred Hearts Band.[16]
Other film and television work
Concurrent with his work in Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd played the role of Purvis Bickle, lift operator at the fictitious office block 99 Sumach Street in the CBC Television series Coming Up Rosie.
After leaving Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd starred in a number of films, mostly comedies, with uneven results both commercially and artistically. His first three American feature films all co-starred Belushi. The first, 1941 (1979), directed by Steven Spielberg, was a notable flop. The second, The Blues Brothers (1980), which he co-wrote with director John Landis, was a massive hit. The third, Neighbors (1981) had mixed critical reaction but was another box-office hit.
One of his best-received performances was as a blueblood-turned-wretch in the 1983 comic drama Trading Places, in which he co-starred with fellow SNL alumnus Eddie Murphy as well as Jamie Lee Curtis.
In the early 1980s, Aykroyd began work on a script for the film that eventually became Ghostbusters, inspired by his fascination with parapsychology. The film initially included a much greater fantasy element, including time travel, although this was toned down substantially through work on the script with Harold Ramis (who became a co-writer) and director Ivan Reitman. Aykroyd also originally wrote the role of Dr. Peter Venkman with Belushi in mind, but rewrote it for Bill Murray after Belushi's death. Aykroyd joked that the green ghost, later known as "Slimer," was "the ghost of John Belushi" and based on the similar party animal personality. Ghostbusters was released in 1984 and became a huge success for Aykroyd, who also appeared as one of the lead actors; the film earned nearly $300 million on a $30 million budget.
Aykroyd's next major film role was in the 1985 spy comedy film Spies Like Us, which like The Blues Brothers was co-conceived and co-written by Aykroyd, and directed by Landis. Aykroyd had originally intended Belushi as the other lead in the film; the part was given to SNL alumnus Chevy Chase. The film was intended as an homage to the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road to …" movies of the 1940s to 1960s.
1987 saw the release of Dragnet, which Aykroyd co-starred in (with Tom Hanks) and co-wrote. The film was a modern-day update of the previous Dragnet series, with Aykroyd playing Sgt. Joe Friday as a police officer whose law-and-order attitude is at odds with modern sensibilities.
A sequel to Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, was released in 1989; Aykroyd and the other co-creators were reluctant to make another Ghostbusters film but succumbed to pressure from the film's studio, Columbia Pictures.[17] The film, though it received worse reviews than the original, was another big hit, earning $215 million.
Aykroyd was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for 1989's Driving Miss Daisy. He was the second SNL cast member to be nominated for an Oscar, the first being Joan Cusack.
Aykroyd in Santa Monica, California for a documentary about Ghostbusters
Aykroyd's directorial debut was 1991's Nothing but Trouble starring Demi Moore, Chevy Chase, John Candy and Aykroyd, sporting a bulbous prosthetic nose. The film was a critical and box office flop. Aykroyd's other films in the 1990s included Coneheads (also based on a Saturday Night Live skit), Exit to Eden, Blues Brothers 2000, and Getting Away with Murder, all of which were poorly received. One rare exception was a well-received role as a rival hit man in 1997's Grosse Pointe Blank. In 1995, Aykroyd played the role of Ray Zalinsky in Tommy Boy, which starred SNL alumni David Spade and Chris Farley.
In 1994, Aykroyd made a guest appearance in an episode of the sitcom The Nanny as a refrigerator repairman. In 1997, Aykroyd starred as an Episcopal priest in the ABC sitcom Soul Man which lasted two seasons.
In 2001, he starred in the Woody Allen film The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. Most of his film roles since then have tended to be small character parts in big-budget productions, such as a signals analyst in Pearl Harbor and a neurologist in 50 First Dates.
In 2009, Aykroyd and Ramis wrote and appeared in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which also featured Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, William Atherton, and Brian Doyle-Murray.
In the same year, Aykroyd and Chevy Chase guest starred in the Family Guy episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us," an homage to Spies Like Us.
Aykroyd appeared in two February 2011 episodes of CBS's The Defenders, which starred Jim Belushi.[18] He also appeared on Top Chef Canada as a guest judge.[19]
Aykroyd is one of the producers of a long-discussed upcoming sequel to the Ghostbusters franchise. The sequel will be directed by the Russo brothers and is based on a screenplay by Drew Pearce.[20][21]
Other musical endeavors
Aykroyd participated in the recording of "We Are the World" in 1985.
Aykroyd wrote the liner notes for fellow Ottawa born blues musician JW-Jones' album Bluelisted in 2008.
He also hosts the nationally syndicated radio show "Elwood's BluesMobile", formerly known as House of Blues Radio Hour, under his Blues Brothers moniker Elwood Blues.[22]
Business ventures
In 1992, Aykroyd, along with many other notable music and Hollywood personalities, founded the House of Blues with the mission to promote African-American cultural contributions of blues music and folk art. From 2004 until its sale to Live Nation in 2007, it was the second-largest live music promoter in the world, with seven venues and 22 amphitheaters in the United States and Canada.
Aykroyd is the co-founder and part owner of Crystal Head Vodka, the official vodka of The Rolling Stones. He is also part owner of several wineries in the Niagara region and the company that distributes Patron tequila in Canada.[23][24]
Charitable works
In 2009, Aykroyd contributed a series of reminiscences on his upbringing in Canada for a charity album titled Dan Aykroyd's Canada.
Aykroyd helped start the Blue Line Foundation, which is redeveloping flood-damaged lots in New Orleans and helping first responders buy them at reduced prices. Coastal Blue Line LLC, hopes to eventually rebuild 400 properties in New Orleans.[25]
Personal life
Aykroyd is a permanent resident of the United States although he maintains his Canadian citizenship. Aykroyd was briefly engaged to Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher. He proposed to her on the set of The Blues Brothers (1980), in which she acted out a spurned girlfriend of John Belushi's Jake Blues who was trying to kill both, but the engagement ended when she got back together with former boyfriend, musician Paul Simon.
In 1983, he married actress Donna Dixon, with whom he starred in the movies Doctor Detroit (1983), on whose set they first met, Spies Like Us (1985) and The Couch Trip (1988). They have three daughters, Danielle, Stella and Belle. He maintains his Canadian roots as a longtime resident of Sydenham, Ontario, with his estate on Loughborough Lake.[citation needed]
Aykroyd described himself (in a radio interview with Terry Gross) as having Tourette syndrome that was successfully treated with therapy when he was a preteen, as well as mild Asperger's.[26][27] (At the time, Asperger's did not exist as a term.)
He is a former reserve commander for the police department in Harahan, Louisiana, working for Chief of Police Peter Dale. Aykroyd would carry his badge with him at all times.[28]
He is also an Honorary Member of the Hinds County Sheriff's Department's Reserves in Jackson, Mississippi under current Sheriff Tyrone Lewis. He also supports the Reserves with a fundraiser concert along with other Blues and Gospel singers in the State of Mississippi.
Friendship with John Belushi
In an appearance on the Today show, Aykroyd referred to himself and John Belushi as "kindred spirits." In the biography "Belushi," Aykroyd claims that Belushi was the only man he could ever dance with.
Aykroyd and Belushi were scheduled to present the Academy Award for Visual Effects in 1982, but Belushi died only a few weeks prior to the ceremony. Though devastated by his friend's death, Aykroyd presented the award alone, remarking from the stage: "My partner would have loved to have been here to present this, given that he was something of a visual effect himself."
Aykroyd was openly hostile to the 1989 film Wired, a biopic of Belushi (which featured Aykroyd as a character), and has since refused to work with anyone involved in the film. He had actor J.T. Walsh fired from the film Loose Cannons after Walsh had already done two days of filming, after finding out that Walsh had been in the cast of Wired.[29]
Beliefs
Aykroyd considers himself a Spiritualist, stating that:
I am a Spiritualist, a proud wearer of the Spiritualist badge. Mediums and psychic research have gone on for many, many years.... Loads of people have seen spirits, heard a voice or felt the cold temperature. I believe that they are between here and there, that they exist between the fourth and fifth dimension, and that they visit us frequently.[30]
His great-grandfather, a dentist, was a mystic who corresponded with author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the subject of Spiritualism, and who was a member of the Lily Dale Society.[30]
Other than Spiritualism, Aykroyd is also interested in various other aspects of the paranormal, particularly UFOlogy. He is a lifetime member of and official Hollywood consultant for the Mutual UFO Network. Along these lines, he served, from 1996 to 2000, as "host" of Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, which claimed to describe cases drawn from the archives of "The Office Of Scientific Investigation And Research." In 2005, Aykroyd produced the DVD Dan Aykroyd: Unplugged on UFOs.[31] Aykroyd is interviewed for 80 minutes by UFOlogist David Sereda discussing in depth many aspects of the UFO phenomenon, and reveals specifically that they are blue, not green, but appear that way because of a filter.[32]
On September 29, 2009, Peter Aykroyd Sr., Dan's father, published a book entitled A History of Ghosts. This book chronicled the family's historical involvement in the Spiritualist Movement, to which Aykroyd readily refers. Aykroyd wrote the introduction and accompanied his father on a series of promotional activities, including launches in New York and Toronto, an appearance on Larry King Live and various other public relations initiatives. Aykroyd also read the introduction for the audio version of the book.
Honors
He has been inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.[33] In 1994, Aykroyd received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Carleton University. In 1998, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
In 1990, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Driving Miss Daisy.
Early life
Aykroyd was born on July 1, 1952, at the Ottawa General Hospital[1] in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He grew up in the Canadian capital, where his father, Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh Aykroyd, a civil engineer, worked as a policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. His mother, Lorraine Hélène (née Gougeon), was a secretary.[2][3] His mother was of French Canadian descent and his father of English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, and French ancestry.[4][5][6] His brother, Peter, also became a comedy actor. Aykroyd was born with syndactyly, or webbed toes, which was revealed in the movie Mr. Mike's Mondo Video and in a short film on Saturday Night Live titled "Don't Look Back In Anger."[7] He was also born with heterochromia – his right eye is green and his left eye is brown.
Aykroyd was raised in the Catholic Church, and intended to become a priest until the age of seventeen.[8] He attended St. Pius X and St. Patrick's High Schools and studied criminology and sociology at Carleton University, but dropped out before completing his degree. He worked as a comedian in various Canadian nightclubs and ran an after-hours speakeasy, Club 505, in Toronto for several years.
Aykroyd developed his musical career in Ottawa, particularly through his regular attendances at Le Hibou, a club that featured many blues artists. He describes these influences as follows:
...there was a little club there called Le Hibou, which in French means 'the owl.' And it was run by a gentleman named Harvey Glatt, and he brought every, and I mean every, blues star that you or I would ever have wanted to have seen through Ottawa in the late '50s, well I guess more late '60s sort of, in around the Newport jazz rediscovery. I was going to Le Hibou and hearing James Cotton, Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins, and Muddy Waters. I actually jammed behind Muddy Waters. S.P. Leary left the drum kit one night, and Muddy said 'anybody out there play drums? I don't have a drummer.' And I walked on stage and we started, I don't know, Little Red Rooster, something. He said 'keep that beat going, you make Muddy feel good.' And I heard Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett). Many, many times I saw Howlin' Wolf. As well as The Doors. And of course Buddy Guy, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. So I was exposed to all of these players, playing there as part of this scene to service the academic community in Ottawa, a very well-educated community. Had I lived in a different town I don't think that this would have happened, because it was just the confluence of educated government workers, and then also all the colleges in the area, Ottawa University, Carleton, and all the schools—these people were interested in blues culture.[9][10]
Aykroyd's first professional experience, which he compiled at the age of 17, was as a member of the cast of the short-lived Canadian sketch comedy series The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour with Lorne Michaels, among others.[11] He was a member of the Second City comedy troupe in 1973 in both Toronto and Chicago.[12]
Saturday Night Live
Aykroyd gained fame on the American late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live, where he was a writer and the youngest member of its cast, a repertory company called "The Not Ready For Prime Time Players," for its first four seasons, from 1975 to 1979. Aykroyd brought a unique sensibility to the show, combining youth, unusual interests, talent as an impersonator and an almost lunatic intensity. Guest host Eric Idle, of Monty Python, said that Aykroyd's ability to write and act out characters flawlessly made him the only member of the SNL cast capable of being a Python.[13]
He was known for his impersonations of celebrities like Jimmy Carter, Vincent Price, Richard Nixon, Rod Serling, Tom Snyder, Julia Child, and others. He was also known for his recurring roles, such as Beldar, father of the Coneheads family; with Steve Martin, Yortuk Festrunk, one of the "Two Wild and Crazy Guys" Czech brothers; sleazy late-night cable TV host E. Buzz Miller and his cousin, corrupt maker of children's toys and costumes Irwin Mainway (who extolled the virtues and defended the safety of the "Bag-o-Glass" toy, perhaps the retail leader of the "Bag-o" series of toys); Fred Garvin – male prostitute; and high-bred but low-brow critic Leonard Pinth-Garnell. He also co-hosted the Weekend Update segment for one season with Jane Curtin, coining the famous catchphrase "Jane, you ignorant slut" during point-counterpoint segments.
Aykroyd's eccentric talent was recognized by others in the highly competitive SNL environment: when he first presented his famous "Super Bass-O-Matic '76" sketch, a fake T.V. commercial in which a garish, hyper-pitchman (modelled after Ron Popeil) touts a food blender that turns an entire bass into liquid pulp, "to [other writers and cast members] the 'Bass-O-Matic' was so exhilaratingly strange that many remember sitting and listening, open-mouthed ... Nobody felt jealous of it because they couldn't imagine writing anything remotely like it."[14]
While Aykroyd was a close friend and partner with fellow cast member John Belushi and shared some of the same sensibilities, Aykroyd was more reserved and less self-destructive. In 1977, he received an Emmy Award for writing on SNL; he later received two more nominations for writing and one for acting. In Rolling Stone Magazine's February, 2015 appraisal of all 141 SNL cast members to date, Aykroyd was ranked fifth (behind Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, and Mike Myers). "Of all the original [SNL] greats, Aykroyd is the least imitated," they wrote, "because nobody else can do what he did."[15]
In later decades, Aykroyd made occasional guest appearances and unannounced cameos on SNL, often impersonating the American politician Bob Dole. He would also bring back past characters including Irwin Mainway and Leonard Pinth-Garnell. During some guest appearances he resurrected The Blues Brothers musical act with frequent host John Goodman in place of Belushi. He became the second member of the original cast to host SNL in May 2003 when he appeared in the season finale. During his monologue, he performed a musical number with James Belushi similar to the Blues Brothers, but neither Aykroyd nor Belushi donned the famous black suit and sunglasses. On March 24, 2007, Aykroyd appeared as a crying fan of American Idol finalist Sanjaya Malakar (played by Andy Samberg) during Weekend Update. On February 14, 2009, he appeared as U.S. House Minority leader John Boehner. Aykroyd also made a surprise guest appearance, along with many other SNL alumni, on the March 9, 2013 show.
The Blues Brothers
Aykroyd was a close friend of John Belushi. According to Aykroyd, it was their first meeting that helped spark the popular Blues Brothers act. When they met in a club Aykroyd frequented, he played a blues record in the background, and it stimulated a fascination with blues in Belushi, who was primarily a fan of heavy rock bands at the time. Aykroyd educated Belushi on the finer points of blues music and, with a little encouragement from then-SNL music director Paul Shaffer, it led to the creation of their Blues Brothers characters.
Backed by such experienced professional R&B sidemen as lead guitarist Steve Cropper, sax man Lou Marini, trumpeter Alan Rubin and bass guitarist Donald "Duck" Dunn, the Blues Brothers proved more than an SNL novelty. Taking off with the public as a legitimate musical act, they performed live gigs and in 1978 released the hit album Briefcase Full of Blues (drawn from the fact that Aykroyd, as "Elwood Blues," carried his blues harmonicas in a briefcase that he kept handcuffed to his wrist, in the manner of a CIA courier; Belushi originally carried the key to those handcuffs). Briefcase Full of Blues eventually sold 3.5 million copies, and is one of the highest-selling blues albums of all time.[9] The band was much further popularized in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, which Aykroyd co-wrote.
Early in the incarnation of the Blues Brothers, Belushi joined the Grateful Dead on stage on April 2, 1980, for a rendition of "Good Morning Little School Girl" at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey that coincided with the Dead's appearance on SNL that weekend. Belushi sang the part usually carried by the late Dead band member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles was a regular haunt for the original Blues Brothers in the early days of the band. Belushi and Aykroyd became fixtures at the recording studio, while fellow Blues Brother Steve Cropper called Cherokee his producing home. Whenever they needed a bass player, they were joined by another Blues Brother, Donald "Duck" Dunn. During this time, Cropper, along with producing partner and Cherokee owner Bruce Robb, worked on a number of music projects with the two comedians/musicians, including Belushi's favorite band, Fear, and later Aykroyd's movie Dragnet.
The Blues Brothers Band continues to tour today, both with and without Aykroyd. The band features original members Cropper and Marini, along with vocalist Eddie Floyd. Aykroyd sometimes performs as Elwood, along with Belushi's younger brother Jim Belushi, who plays "Brother Zee" on stage. They are most frequently backed by The Sacred Hearts Band.[16]
Other film and television work
Concurrent with his work in Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd played the role of Purvis Bickle, lift operator at the fictitious office block 99 Sumach Street in the CBC Television series Coming Up Rosie.
After leaving Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd starred in a number of films, mostly comedies, with uneven results both commercially and artistically. His first three American feature films all co-starred Belushi. The first, 1941 (1979), directed by Steven Spielberg, was a notable flop. The second, The Blues Brothers (1980), which he co-wrote with director John Landis, was a massive hit. The third, Neighbors (1981) had mixed critical reaction but was another box-office hit.
One of his best-received performances was as a blueblood-turned-wretch in the 1983 comic drama Trading Places, in which he co-starred with fellow SNL alumnus Eddie Murphy as well as Jamie Lee Curtis.
In the early 1980s, Aykroyd began work on a script for the film that eventually became Ghostbusters, inspired by his fascination with parapsychology. The film initially included a much greater fantasy element, including time travel, although this was toned down substantially through work on the script with Harold Ramis (who became a co-writer) and director Ivan Reitman. Aykroyd also originally wrote the role of Dr. Peter Venkman with Belushi in mind, but rewrote it for Bill Murray after Belushi's death. Aykroyd joked that the green ghost, later known as "Slimer," was "the ghost of John Belushi" and based on the similar party animal personality. Ghostbusters was released in 1984 and became a huge success for Aykroyd, who also appeared as one of the lead actors; the film earned nearly $300 million on a $30 million budget.
Aykroyd's next major film role was in the 1985 spy comedy film Spies Like Us, which like The Blues Brothers was co-conceived and co-written by Aykroyd, and directed by Landis. Aykroyd had originally intended Belushi as the other lead in the film; the part was given to SNL alumnus Chevy Chase. The film was intended as an homage to the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road to …" movies of the 1940s to 1960s.
1987 saw the release of Dragnet, which Aykroyd co-starred in (with Tom Hanks) and co-wrote. The film was a modern-day update of the previous Dragnet series, with Aykroyd playing Sgt. Joe Friday as a police officer whose law-and-order attitude is at odds with modern sensibilities.
A sequel to Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, was released in 1989; Aykroyd and the other co-creators were reluctant to make another Ghostbusters film but succumbed to pressure from the film's studio, Columbia Pictures.[17] The film, though it received worse reviews than the original, was another big hit, earning $215 million.
Aykroyd was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for 1989's Driving Miss Daisy. He was the second SNL cast member to be nominated for an Oscar, the first being Joan Cusack.
Aykroyd in Santa Monica, California for a documentary about Ghostbusters
Aykroyd's directorial debut was 1991's Nothing but Trouble starring Demi Moore, Chevy Chase, John Candy and Aykroyd, sporting a bulbous prosthetic nose. The film was a critical and box office flop. Aykroyd's other films in the 1990s included Coneheads (also based on a Saturday Night Live skit), Exit to Eden, Blues Brothers 2000, and Getting Away with Murder, all of which were poorly received. One rare exception was a well-received role as a rival hit man in 1997's Grosse Pointe Blank. In 1995, Aykroyd played the role of Ray Zalinsky in Tommy Boy, which starred SNL alumni David Spade and Chris Farley.
In 1994, Aykroyd made a guest appearance in an episode of the sitcom The Nanny as a refrigerator repairman. In 1997, Aykroyd starred as an Episcopal priest in the ABC sitcom Soul Man which lasted two seasons.
In 2001, he starred in the Woody Allen film The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. Most of his film roles since then have tended to be small character parts in big-budget productions, such as a signals analyst in Pearl Harbor and a neurologist in 50 First Dates.
In 2009, Aykroyd and Ramis wrote and appeared in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which also featured Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, William Atherton, and Brian Doyle-Murray.
In the same year, Aykroyd and Chevy Chase guest starred in the Family Guy episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us," an homage to Spies Like Us.
Aykroyd appeared in two February 2011 episodes of CBS's The Defenders, which starred Jim Belushi.[18] He also appeared on Top Chef Canada as a guest judge.[19]
Aykroyd is one of the producers of a long-discussed upcoming sequel to the Ghostbusters franchise. The sequel will be directed by the Russo brothers and is based on a screenplay by Drew Pearce.[20][21]
Other musical endeavors
Aykroyd participated in the recording of "We Are the World" in 1985.
Aykroyd wrote the liner notes for fellow Ottawa born blues musician JW-Jones' album Bluelisted in 2008.
He also hosts the nationally syndicated radio show "Elwood's BluesMobile", formerly known as House of Blues Radio Hour, under his Blues Brothers moniker Elwood Blues.[22]
Business ventures
In 1992, Aykroyd, along with many other notable music and Hollywood personalities, founded the House of Blues with the mission to promote African-American cultural contributions of blues music and folk art. From 2004 until its sale to Live Nation in 2007, it was the second-largest live music promoter in the world, with seven venues and 22 amphitheaters in the United States and Canada.
Aykroyd is the co-founder and part owner of Crystal Head Vodka, the official vodka of The Rolling Stones. He is also part owner of several wineries in the Niagara region and the company that distributes Patron tequila in Canada.[23][24]
Charitable works
In 2009, Aykroyd contributed a series of reminiscences on his upbringing in Canada for a charity album titled Dan Aykroyd's Canada.
Aykroyd helped start the Blue Line Foundation, which is redeveloping flood-damaged lots in New Orleans and helping first responders buy them at reduced prices. Coastal Blue Line LLC, hopes to eventually rebuild 400 properties in New Orleans.[25]
Personal life
Aykroyd is a permanent resident of the United States although he maintains his Canadian citizenship. Aykroyd was briefly engaged to Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher. He proposed to her on the set of The Blues Brothers (1980), in which she acted out a spurned girlfriend of John Belushi's Jake Blues who was trying to kill both, but the engagement ended when she got back together with former boyfriend, musician Paul Simon.
In 1983, he married actress Donna Dixon, with whom he starred in the movies Doctor Detroit (1983), on whose set they first met, Spies Like Us (1985) and The Couch Trip (1988). They have three daughters, Danielle, Stella and Belle. He maintains his Canadian roots as a longtime resident of Sydenham, Ontario, with his estate on Loughborough Lake.[citation needed]
Aykroyd described himself (in a radio interview with Terry Gross) as having Tourette syndrome that was successfully treated with therapy when he was a preteen, as well as mild Asperger's.[26][27] (At the time, Asperger's did not exist as a term.)
He is a former reserve commander for the police department in Harahan, Louisiana, working for Chief of Police Peter Dale. Aykroyd would carry his badge with him at all times.[28]
He is also an Honorary Member of the Hinds County Sheriff's Department's Reserves in Jackson, Mississippi under current Sheriff Tyrone Lewis. He also supports the Reserves with a fundraiser concert along with other Blues and Gospel singers in the State of Mississippi.
Friendship with John Belushi
In an appearance on the Today show, Aykroyd referred to himself and John Belushi as "kindred spirits." In the biography "Belushi," Aykroyd claims that Belushi was the only man he could ever dance with.
Aykroyd and Belushi were scheduled to present the Academy Award for Visual Effects in 1982, but Belushi died only a few weeks prior to the ceremony. Though devastated by his friend's death, Aykroyd presented the award alone, remarking from the stage: "My partner would have loved to have been here to present this, given that he was something of a visual effect himself."
Aykroyd was openly hostile to the 1989 film Wired, a biopic of Belushi (which featured Aykroyd as a character), and has since refused to work with anyone involved in the film. He had actor J.T. Walsh fired from the film Loose Cannons after Walsh had already done two days of filming, after finding out that Walsh had been in the cast of Wired.[29]
Beliefs
Aykroyd considers himself a Spiritualist, stating that:
I am a Spiritualist, a proud wearer of the Spiritualist badge. Mediums and psychic research have gone on for many, many years.... Loads of people have seen spirits, heard a voice or felt the cold temperature. I believe that they are between here and there, that they exist between the fourth and fifth dimension, and that they visit us frequently.[30]
His great-grandfather, a dentist, was a mystic who corresponded with author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the subject of Spiritualism, and who was a member of the Lily Dale Society.[30]
Other than Spiritualism, Aykroyd is also interested in various other aspects of the paranormal, particularly UFOlogy. He is a lifetime member of and official Hollywood consultant for the Mutual UFO Network. Along these lines, he served, from 1996 to 2000, as "host" of Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, which claimed to describe cases drawn from the archives of "The Office Of Scientific Investigation And Research." In 2005, Aykroyd produced the DVD Dan Aykroyd: Unplugged on UFOs.[31] Aykroyd is interviewed for 80 minutes by UFOlogist David Sereda discussing in depth many aspects of the UFO phenomenon, and reveals specifically that they are blue, not green, but appear that way because of a filter.[32]
On September 29, 2009, Peter Aykroyd Sr., Dan's father, published a book entitled A History of Ghosts. This book chronicled the family's historical involvement in the Spiritualist Movement, to which Aykroyd readily refers. Aykroyd wrote the introduction and accompanied his father on a series of promotional activities, including launches in New York and Toronto, an appearance on Larry King Live and various other public relations initiatives. Aykroyd also read the introduction for the audio version of the book.
Honors
He has been inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.[33] In 1994, Aykroyd received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Carleton University. In 1998, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
Dan Aykroyd and The Dustaphonics Rhythm And Blues Revue@The Hospital Club London
Ludwig Seuss *01.07.1964
Ludwig Seuss (* 1. Juli 1964 in München) ist ein deutscher Pianist, Organist und Akkordeonist.
Die Ludwig-Seuss-Band besteht seit 1990, sie ist neben New Orleans R&B vor allem auf Cajun und Zydeco spezialisiert. Seit 1987 ist er festes Mitglied der Spider Murphy Gang. Er ist auch als Studiomusiker tätig.
Die Ludwig-Seuss-Band besteht seit 1990, sie ist neben New Orleans R&B vor allem auf Cajun und Zydeco spezialisiert. Seit 1987 ist er festes Mitglied der Spider Murphy Gang. Er ist auch als Studiomusiker tätig.
Seit über 20 Jahren gibt es die Band um LUDWIG SEUSS, und vor ca. 20 Jahren ist auch Ludwigs Debütalbum "Marylin Sessions" erschienen, das unter Fans Kultstatus genießt. Mit "Downhill Sessions" schloss LUDWIG SEUSS 2011 den Kreis und ließ die letzten zwei Jahrzehnte musikalisch Revue passieren. Ein echter Schmaus für Bluesfreunde ist auf dieser CD die Aufnahme "Where Are My Friends", das vom tiefgründigen Gesang und Gitarrespiel der Bluesegende LOUISIANA RED getragen wird. Die wohl letzte Aufnahme von LOUISIANA RED der am 25.02.2012 kurz vor seinem 80. Geburtstag verstarb.
Der Geigenvirtuose "Cedric Watson" aus Louisiana unterstützt die Band beim Cajun-Walzer "Waitin´" aus der Feder von Ludwig Seuss und Mitproduzent Dr. Will. Letzterer greift bei der entspannten Latin-Version von "Love Potion #9" auch zum Mikrofon. Ein weiteres, absolutes Highlight ist das getragene "Christo Redentor", bei dem die "Holmes Brothers" und Saxofonist "Pee Wee Ellis" (u.a. Van Morrison) für Gänsehaut sorgen. Das Rückgrad dieses bunten Albums ist Ludwigs aktuelle Liveband, die mit unbändiger Spielfreude den Zuhörer mitreißt.
Aber Ludwig Seuss wäre nicht Ludwig Seuss wenn er nicht noch einmal eins drauf legen könnte. Mit der neuesten CD "Virginia Blues Connection" die erst im Sommer 2012 erschien begibt er sich gemeinsam mit dem Topsaxofonisten EDDIE TAYLOR und POPSY DIXON (dem dritten Mann der Holmes Brothers) - beide aus Virginia - erneut in den musikalischen Süden der USA. Ein mitreißend harmonierendes, alle Sinne berührendes Dreigestirn aus Tastenwirbel, Saxophonschmelz und Stimmgewalt fand sich hier zusammen. Es ist kaum zu glauben wie intensiv es einer in Deutschland lebenden Musikgruppe gelingt das Gefühl und die Ausdruckskraft des Blues dem Publikum nahezubringen.
Der Geigenvirtuose "Cedric Watson" aus Louisiana unterstützt die Band beim Cajun-Walzer "Waitin´" aus der Feder von Ludwig Seuss und Mitproduzent Dr. Will. Letzterer greift bei der entspannten Latin-Version von "Love Potion #9" auch zum Mikrofon. Ein weiteres, absolutes Highlight ist das getragene "Christo Redentor", bei dem die "Holmes Brothers" und Saxofonist "Pee Wee Ellis" (u.a. Van Morrison) für Gänsehaut sorgen. Das Rückgrad dieses bunten Albums ist Ludwigs aktuelle Liveband, die mit unbändiger Spielfreude den Zuhörer mitreißt.
Aber Ludwig Seuss wäre nicht Ludwig Seuss wenn er nicht noch einmal eins drauf legen könnte. Mit der neuesten CD "Virginia Blues Connection" die erst im Sommer 2012 erschien begibt er sich gemeinsam mit dem Topsaxofonisten EDDIE TAYLOR und POPSY DIXON (dem dritten Mann der Holmes Brothers) - beide aus Virginia - erneut in den musikalischen Süden der USA. Ein mitreißend harmonierendes, alle Sinne berührendes Dreigestirn aus Tastenwirbel, Saxophonschmelz und Stimmgewalt fand sich hier zusammen. Es ist kaum zu glauben wie intensiv es einer in Deutschland lebenden Musikgruppe gelingt das Gefühl und die Ausdruckskraft des Blues dem Publikum nahezubringen.
Ludwig Seuss Trouble in Mind
Ludwig Seuss & Band - Lustspielhaus München am 11. Januar 2015
I Just Want To Make Love To You - Abi Wallenstein + Ludwig Seuss Trio
Chubby Carrier *01.07.1967
Roy "Chubby" Carrier is an American zydeco musician. He is the leader of Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band.
Carrier's father and grandfather both played zydeco music, and his cousins recorded under the name The Carrier Brothers. He was taught to play accordion by his father, Roy Carrier Sr., and played with his father's band at age 12, first on accordion and then on drums. By age 17, he played drums with Terrance Simien from 1986 until 1989, then formed a group of his own with his brothers Troy and Kevin.
Carrier's third album, 1993's Dance All Night, was his biggest success.[1]
Carrier has made guest appearances on albums by Tab Benoit - Live: Swampland Jam, Doug Kershaw - Cajun Sweet Home Louisiana, Calvin Owens - Stop Lying in My Face and Jimmy Thackery - Switching Gears.
Carrier's 2010 release Zydeco Junkie won the Grammy in the category Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album.[2]
Carrier's father and grandfather both played zydeco music, and his cousins recorded under the name The Carrier Brothers. He was taught to play accordion by his father, Roy Carrier Sr., and played with his father's band at age 12, first on accordion and then on drums. By age 17, he played drums with Terrance Simien from 1986 until 1989, then formed a group of his own with his brothers Troy and Kevin.
Carrier's third album, 1993's Dance All Night, was his biggest success.[1]
Carrier has made guest appearances on albums by Tab Benoit - Live: Swampland Jam, Doug Kershaw - Cajun Sweet Home Louisiana, Calvin Owens - Stop Lying in My Face and Jimmy Thackery - Switching Gears.
Carrier's 2010 release Zydeco Junkie won the Grammy in the category Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album.[2]
Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band @ Louisiana Music Factory 2013
R.I.P.
Baby Boy Warren +01.07.1977
+Baby Boy Warren (* 13. August 1919 in Lake Providence, Louisiana als Robert Henry Warren; † 1. Juli 1977 in Detroit) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Sänger und Gitarrist des Detroit Blues.
Baby Boy Warren, der auch unter dem Pseudonym Johnny Williams vermarktet wurde, wuchs in Memphis (Tennessee) auf. Den Spitznamen „Baby Boy“ bekam er bereits als Kind von seinen älteren Brüdern. [1] Schon früh an Musik interessiert, trat er ab 1931 gelegentlich auf, nachdem er von der Schule geflogen war[1] und Gitarrenunterricht bei zwei seiner älteren Brüder hatte.[2] In den 1930er Jahren arbeitete er im W. C. Handy Park in Memphis mit Howling Wolf, Robert Lockwood junior, Little Buddy Doyle und anderen Musikern; er trat auch in der von Helena, Arkansas aus übertragenen Radioshow King Biscuit Time um 1941 zusammen mit Sonny Boy Williamson auf.[1] 1942 zog er nach Detroit, wo er bei General Motors und daneben auch als Musiker arbeitete.[3]
In Detroit hatte Warren 1949/50 erste Aufnahmesessions; fünf Singles wurden dann auf verschiedenen Labels veröffentlicht.[4] Weitere Stücke entstanden 1954 bei einer Session, bei der er von Sonny Boy Williamson begleitet wurde; sie erschienen bei Joe Von Battles JVB-Label und bei Excello Records.[3] Warren nahm in diesem Jahr auch eine Single für das Label Blue Lake auf, an der Pianist Boogie Woogie Red und Gitarrist Calvin Frazier mitwirkten; weitere Einspielungen fanden für die Label Drummond[4] und Gotham Records statt. Er arbeitete in dieser Zeit u.a. auch mit Big John Wrencher zusammen.
In den 1960er Jahren war Warren musikalisch nur wenig aktiv, nahm aber seine Karriere wieder auf, als er 1971 für das Detroit Blues Festival verpflichtet wurde. 1972 tourte er mit Boogie Woogie Red durch Europa und trat als einer der ersten der großen Bluesmusiker im damals frisch gegründeten Wiener Jazzland auf,[1] 1973 gastierte er auf dem Ann Arbor Blues Festival.
Warren starb im Juli 1977 an einem Herzinfarkt und ist auf dem Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery in Macomb County, Michigan begraben.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Boy_Warren
Baby Boy Warren (August 13, 1919 – July 1, 1977) was an American blues singer and guitarist, who was a leading figure on the Detroit blues scene in the 1950s.
Early life
He was born Robert Henry Warren in Lake Providence, Louisiana in 1919, but moved with his parents to Memphis, Tennessee at the age of three months.[1] He was interested in music from an early age, and was working occasionally as a musician from around 1931, when he dropped out of school,[1] having learned to play guitar from two of his older brothers.[2] During the 1930s he worked in W. C. Handy Park, Memphis, with Howling Wolf, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Little Buddy Doyle and others, and he appeared on the Helena, Arkansas based King Biscuit Time radio show with Sonny Boy Williamson around 1941.[1] In 1942 he moved to Detroit, where he worked for General Motors while also performing as a musician.[3]
Recordings
Warren's first recording sessions were in 1949 and 1950 in Detroit, with the five resulting singles being released on a number of labels.[4] Tracks recorded at a 1954 session accompanied by Sonny Boy Williamson were released on Joe Von Battle's JVB label, and on Excello Records.[3] Further sessions the same year resulted in a single on the Blue Lake label featuring Boogie Woogie Red on piano and Calvin Frazier on guitar, and a reworking of the Robert Johnson song "Stop Breakin' Down" for the Drummond Label.[4]
Later career and death
Warren was mostly inactive in music during the 1960s, but revived his career to play the Detroit Blues Festival in 1971 and the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1973, and to tour Europe with Boogie Woogie Red in 1972.[1] From 1974 to 1976 he was also a featured performer, along with Willie D. Warren, with the Progressive Blues Band, a popular blues band that played in many of Detroit's best blues venues.[5]
He suffered a fatal heart attack at his home on July 1, 1977, and was buried at Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery, Macomb County, Michigan.[1][6]
Personal information
Warren was given the nickname "Baby Boy" by his older brothers as a child. One of 12 children himself, he married twice, in 1935 and the early 1960s, and had seven children. On the Staff, Federal and Swing Time labels he was marketed as Johnny Williams.[1]
Influences
His chief influences were Little Buddy Doyle and Willie "61" Blackwell, especially in his approach to lyrics,[2] and he stated that another musician he particularly admired was Memphis Minnie, who he knew in Memphis in the 1930s.[7] The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings described him as having brought "a hip, literate humour to the blues lyric".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Boy_WarrenEarly life
He was born Robert Henry Warren in Lake Providence, Louisiana in 1919, but moved with his parents to Memphis, Tennessee at the age of three months.[1] He was interested in music from an early age, and was working occasionally as a musician from around 1931, when he dropped out of school,[1] having learned to play guitar from two of his older brothers.[2] During the 1930s he worked in W. C. Handy Park, Memphis, with Howling Wolf, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Little Buddy Doyle and others, and he appeared on the Helena, Arkansas based King Biscuit Time radio show with Sonny Boy Williamson around 1941.[1] In 1942 he moved to Detroit, where he worked for General Motors while also performing as a musician.[3]
Recordings
Warren's first recording sessions were in 1949 and 1950 in Detroit, with the five resulting singles being released on a number of labels.[4] Tracks recorded at a 1954 session accompanied by Sonny Boy Williamson were released on Joe Von Battle's JVB label, and on Excello Records.[3] Further sessions the same year resulted in a single on the Blue Lake label featuring Boogie Woogie Red on piano and Calvin Frazier on guitar, and a reworking of the Robert Johnson song "Stop Breakin' Down" for the Drummond Label.[4]
Later career and death
Warren was mostly inactive in music during the 1960s, but revived his career to play the Detroit Blues Festival in 1971 and the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1973, and to tour Europe with Boogie Woogie Red in 1972.[1] From 1974 to 1976 he was also a featured performer, along with Willie D. Warren, with the Progressive Blues Band, a popular blues band that played in many of Detroit's best blues venues.[5]
He suffered a fatal heart attack at his home on July 1, 1977, and was buried at Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery, Macomb County, Michigan.[1][6]
Personal information
Warren was given the nickname "Baby Boy" by his older brothers as a child. One of 12 children himself, he married twice, in 1935 and the early 1960s, and had seven children. On the Staff, Federal and Swing Time labels he was marketed as Johnny Williams.[1]
Influences
His chief influences were Little Buddy Doyle and Willie "61" Blackwell, especially in his approach to lyrics,[2] and he stated that another musician he particularly admired was Memphis Minnie, who he knew in Memphis in the 1930s.[7] The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings described him as having brought "a hip, literate humour to the blues lyric".
Texas Johnny Brown
Texas Johnny Brown - Handy Man
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