1886 Ma Rainey*
1908 Shirley Griffith*
1915 Johnny Shines*
1926 J. B. Hutto*
1943 Gary Wright*
1945 Mike Finnigan*
1948 Luboš Andršt*
1950 Lloyd Jones*
1988 Arbee Stidham+
Happy Birthday
J. B. Hutto *26.04.1926
Joseph Benjamin „J. B.“ Hutto (* 26. April 1926 in Blackville, South Carolina, USA; † 12. Juni 1983 in Harvey, Illinois) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Gitarrist. Beeinflusst von Elmore James entwickelte Hutto einen ausdrucksstarken Stil auf der Slide-Gitarre. Zudem war Hutto bekannt für seine dynamischen Auftritte.
Hutto machte in Augusta, Georgia, bei den Golden Crowns Gospel Singers seine ersten musikalischen Erfahrungen. Die Gruppe bestand aus ihm selbst und seinen drei Brüdern und drei Schwestern.[1] In den 1940ern gingen er und seine Familie nach dem Tod des Vaters, eines Predigers, nach Chicago. Dort brachte er sich das Gitarrenspielen selbst bei und begann seine Profikarriere bei Johnny Ferguson and His Twisters. Auch auf dem berühmten Maxwell Street Market war er oft zu hören.[1] Im Koreakrieg diente er in der amerikanischen Armee als Lastwagenfahrer.[2]1954 nahm Hutto mit seiner Band, den Hawks, sein erstes Album auf. Nach einigen Erfolgen zog er sich weitestgehend aus dem Musikgeschäft zurück. Im Zuge des Blues-Revivals in den 1960ern wurde auch J. B. Hutto mit seinen Hawks wiederentdeckt. Die Besonderheit der neuen Hawks war, dass sie ohne Bass aber mit zwei Gitarren und Schlagzeug auftraten.[3] Mit dieser Band trat er in Turner’s Blue Lounge auf und nahm nach langer Zeit wieder Platten auf. In den nächsten 12 Jahren trat er immer wieder mit verschiedenen Musikern auf, die Band hieß aber immer „The Hawks“. Nach dem Tod von Hound Dog Taylor „übernahm“ er dessen Band „The Housrockers“ mit Brewer Phillips und Ted Harvey, sie nahmen zwar nie eine offizielle Platte auf, waren aber eine dynamische Liveband. Aufnahmen eines Auftritts wurden 1991 veröffentlicht. Nach einem Jahr trennten sie sich und Hutto formte die „New Hawks“, mit denen er bis zu seinem Tod zusammenarbeitete. 1977 zog Hutto nach Boston, wo er die letzten Jahre seines Lebens verbrachte. Er starb 1983 und wurde auf dem Restvale Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois begraben.[4] 1985 wurde er in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen. Sein Neffe, Lil’ Ed Williams lernte von ihm das Gitarrenspiel, das er jetzt mit seiner Band The Blues Imperials betreibt.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._Hutto
J. B. Hutto (April 26, 1926 – June 12, 1983)[1] was an American blues musician. Hutto was influenced by Elmore James, and became known for his slide guitar work and declamatory style of singing. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame two years after his death.
Life and career
Joseph Benjamin Hutto was born in Blackville, South Carolina, the fifth of seven children. His family moved to Augusta, Georgia when Hutto was three years old. His father, Calvin, was a preacher and Hutto, along with his three brothers and three sisters, formed a gospel group called The Golden Crowns, singing in local churches. Hutto's father died in 1949, and the family relocated to Chicago.[2] Hutto served as a draftee in the Korean War in the early 1950s, driving trucks in combat zones.[3]
In Chicago, Hutto took up the drums and played with Johnny Ferguson and his Twisters. He also tried the piano before settling on the guitar and playing on the streets with the percussionist Eddie 'Porkchop' Hines. After adding Joe Custom on second guitar, they started playing club gigs, and harmonica player George Mayweather joined after sitting in with the band. Hutto named his band The Hawks, after the wind that blows in Chicago.[4] A recording session in 1954 resulted in the release of two singles on the Chance label and a second session later the same year, with the band supplemented by pianist Johnny Jones, produced a third.[5]
Later in the 1950s Hutto became disenchanted with music, and gave it up after a woman broke his guitar over her husband's head one night in a club where he was performing; during the next eleven years Hutto worked as a janitor in a funeral home to supplement his income.[6] He returned to the music industry in the mid-1960s, with a new version of the Hawks featuring Herman Hassell on bass and Frank Kirkland on drums.[7] His recording career resumed with, first, a session for Vanguard Records released on the compilation album Chicago/the Blues/Today! Vol. 1, and then albums for Testament and Delmark.[8] The 1968 Delmark album, Hawk Squat!, which featured Sunnyland Slim on organ and piano, and Maurice McIntyre on tenor saxophone, is regarded as his best work on album up to this point.[9]
After Hound Dog Taylor died in 1975, Hutto took over his band the Houserockers for a time, and in the late 1970s he moved to Boston and recruited a new band which he called the New Hawks, with whom he recorded further studio albums for the Varrick label.[7] His 1983 Varrick album Slippin' & Slidin', the last of his career and later reissued on CD as Rock With Me Tonight, has been described as "near-perfect".[9]
Death and legacy
In the early 1980s Hutto returned to Illinois, where he was diagnosed with cancer. He died in 1983, at the age of 57, in Harvey. He was interred at Restvale Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois.[10]
In 1985, the Blues Foundation inducted Hutto into its Hall of Fame.[11] His nephew, Lil' Ed Williams (of Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials) has carried on his legacy, playing and singing in a style close to his uncle's.[12]
A "J.B. Hutto" model guitar is often used to refer to a mid-1960s, red, Montgomery Ward Res-O-Glas Airline guitar. Although he was not a paid endorser, Hutto made the guitar famous by appearing with it on the cover of his Slidewinder album.
Life and career
Joseph Benjamin Hutto was born in Blackville, South Carolina, the fifth of seven children. His family moved to Augusta, Georgia when Hutto was three years old. His father, Calvin, was a preacher and Hutto, along with his three brothers and three sisters, formed a gospel group called The Golden Crowns, singing in local churches. Hutto's father died in 1949, and the family relocated to Chicago.[2] Hutto served as a draftee in the Korean War in the early 1950s, driving trucks in combat zones.[3]
In Chicago, Hutto took up the drums and played with Johnny Ferguson and his Twisters. He also tried the piano before settling on the guitar and playing on the streets with the percussionist Eddie 'Porkchop' Hines. After adding Joe Custom on second guitar, they started playing club gigs, and harmonica player George Mayweather joined after sitting in with the band. Hutto named his band The Hawks, after the wind that blows in Chicago.[4] A recording session in 1954 resulted in the release of two singles on the Chance label and a second session later the same year, with the band supplemented by pianist Johnny Jones, produced a third.[5]
Later in the 1950s Hutto became disenchanted with music, and gave it up after a woman broke his guitar over her husband's head one night in a club where he was performing; during the next eleven years Hutto worked as a janitor in a funeral home to supplement his income.[6] He returned to the music industry in the mid-1960s, with a new version of the Hawks featuring Herman Hassell on bass and Frank Kirkland on drums.[7] His recording career resumed with, first, a session for Vanguard Records released on the compilation album Chicago/the Blues/Today! Vol. 1, and then albums for Testament and Delmark.[8] The 1968 Delmark album, Hawk Squat!, which featured Sunnyland Slim on organ and piano, and Maurice McIntyre on tenor saxophone, is regarded as his best work on album up to this point.[9]
After Hound Dog Taylor died in 1975, Hutto took over his band the Houserockers for a time, and in the late 1970s he moved to Boston and recruited a new band which he called the New Hawks, with whom he recorded further studio albums for the Varrick label.[7] His 1983 Varrick album Slippin' & Slidin', the last of his career and later reissued on CD as Rock With Me Tonight, has been described as "near-perfect".[9]
Death and legacy
In the early 1980s Hutto returned to Illinois, where he was diagnosed with cancer. He died in 1983, at the age of 57, in Harvey. He was interred at Restvale Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois.[10]
In 1985, the Blues Foundation inducted Hutto into its Hall of Fame.[11] His nephew, Lil' Ed Williams (of Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials) has carried on his legacy, playing and singing in a style close to his uncle's.[12]
A "J.B. Hutto" model guitar is often used to refer to a mid-1960s, red, Montgomery Ward Res-O-Glas Airline guitar. Although he was not a paid endorser, Hutto made the guitar famous by appearing with it on the cover of his Slidewinder album.
J. B. Hutto & The New Hawks - Summertime
Johnny Shines *26.04.1915
Johnny Shines (eigentlich John Ned Shines; * 26. April 1915 in Frayser, Memphis, Tennessee; † 20. April 1992 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Sänger und -Gitarrist.
Seine Jugend verbrachte Johnny Shines größtenteils in Memphis, wo er bereits sehr früh als Straßenmusiker mit seiner Slide-Gitarre Geld verdiente. Seine ersten musikalischen Vorbilder waren Blind Lemon Jefferson und Howlin’ Wolf, das Gitarrespielen hatte er jedoch von seiner Mutter gelernt.
1932 ging Shines nach Hughes in Arkansas, um sich als Farmarbeiter zu verdingen. Hier traf er Robert Johnson, sein größtes Vorbild, der Shines zur Musik zurückbrachte. Ab 1935 traten die beiden zusammen auf. Auf ihren Reisen kamen sie bis hinauf nach Ontario. 1937, ein Jahr vor Johnsons Tod, gingen sie wieder verschiedene Wege.Shines spielte zunächst im Süden der Staaten. 1941 brach er nach Kanada auf, blieb aber in Chicago hängen. 1946 machte er seine ersten Aufnahmen, die jedoch nicht veröffentlicht wurden. Anfang der 50er Jahre entstanden Aufnahmen für das Chicagoer Label J.O.B.. Nach weiteren Misserfolgen gab Shines Anfang der 1950er die Musik gänzlich auf.
1966 wurde Johnny Shines wiederentdeckt. Er ging mit den Chicago All Stars auf Tour, zusammen mit Lee Jackson, Big Walter Horton und Willie Dixon. Er trat auch mit Robert Lockwood Jr. auf, einem weiteren Schüler Robert Johnsons.
1980 erlitt Shines einen Schlaganfall. Er starb 1992 in Alabama und wurde im gleichen Jahr in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Shines
John Ned "Johnny" Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992)[1] was an American blues singer and guitarist.
Biography
Shines was born in Frayser, Memphis, United States.[1] He spent most of his childhood in Memphis, Tennessee playing slide guitar at an early age in local “jukes” and on the street.[1] He was taught to play the guitar by his mother.[1] Shines moved to Hughes, Arkansas in 1932 and worked on farms for three years putting his musical career on hold.[2] It was a chance meeting with Robert Johnson, his greatest influence, that gave him the inspiration to return to music.[1] In 1935, Shines began traveling with Johnson, touring in the United States and Canada.[1] The two went their separate ways in 1937, one year before Johnson's death.[2]
Shines played throughout the southern United States until 1941 when he settled in Chicago.[3] There Shines found work in the construction industry but continued to play in local bars.[1]
He made his first recording in 1946 for Columbia Records, but the takes were never released.[3] He recorded for Chess in 1950, and was once again denied release.[3] He kept playing with local blues musicians in the Chicago area for several more years. In 1952, Shines recorded what is considered his best work for the J.O.B. Records label.[1] The recordings were a commercial failure and Shines, frustrated with the music industry, sold his equipment and returned to construction.[1]
In 1966, Vanguard Records found Shines taking photographs in a Chicago blues club and had him record tracks for the third installment of Chicago/The Blues/Today![1] The album has since become a blues classic and it brought Shines into the mainstream music scene.[1]
Shines toured with the Chicago All Stars alongside Lee Jackson, Big Walter Horton and Willie Dixon.[1]
Shines moved to Holt, Alabama, in Tuscaloosa County, in 1969. When a University of Alabama student, Natalie Mattson, learned that he was living in the area, she invited him to play at a coffee house, known as the "Down Under," that she ran on campus. Shines played on several occasions, and also brought his friend, blues artist Mississippi Fred McDowell to appear with him at Down Under. These were some of his earliest appearances in Alabama after his move there. He continued to play the international blues circuit while living in Holt, Alabama.[4]
In the late 1960s and 1970s, Shines toured with Robert Johnson's stepson, Robert Lockwood, Jr. as the last remaining original delta blues musicians.[3] In 1980, Shines' music was brought to a standstill when he suffered a stroke.[3] He would later appear, and play, in the 1991 documentary The Search for Robert Johnson. His final album, Back To The Country, won a W.C. Handy Award.[1] It featured playing from Snooky Prior and Johnny Nicholas.[3]
In 1989, Shines met Kent DuChaine, and the two of them toured for the next several years until Shines' death.[5]
Shines died on April 20, 1992, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[1][6] He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame later the same year.
According to the music journalist Tony Russell,
"Shines was that rare being, a blues artist who overcame age and rustiness to make music that stood up beside the work of his youth. When Shines came back to the blues in 1965 he was 50, yet his voice had the leonine power of a dozen years before, when he made records his reputation was based on".
Biography
Shines was born in Frayser, Memphis, United States.[1] He spent most of his childhood in Memphis, Tennessee playing slide guitar at an early age in local “jukes” and on the street.[1] He was taught to play the guitar by his mother.[1] Shines moved to Hughes, Arkansas in 1932 and worked on farms for three years putting his musical career on hold.[2] It was a chance meeting with Robert Johnson, his greatest influence, that gave him the inspiration to return to music.[1] In 1935, Shines began traveling with Johnson, touring in the United States and Canada.[1] The two went their separate ways in 1937, one year before Johnson's death.[2]
Shines played throughout the southern United States until 1941 when he settled in Chicago.[3] There Shines found work in the construction industry but continued to play in local bars.[1]
He made his first recording in 1946 for Columbia Records, but the takes were never released.[3] He recorded for Chess in 1950, and was once again denied release.[3] He kept playing with local blues musicians in the Chicago area for several more years. In 1952, Shines recorded what is considered his best work for the J.O.B. Records label.[1] The recordings were a commercial failure and Shines, frustrated with the music industry, sold his equipment and returned to construction.[1]
In 1966, Vanguard Records found Shines taking photographs in a Chicago blues club and had him record tracks for the third installment of Chicago/The Blues/Today![1] The album has since become a blues classic and it brought Shines into the mainstream music scene.[1]
Shines toured with the Chicago All Stars alongside Lee Jackson, Big Walter Horton and Willie Dixon.[1]
Shines moved to Holt, Alabama, in Tuscaloosa County, in 1969. When a University of Alabama student, Natalie Mattson, learned that he was living in the area, she invited him to play at a coffee house, known as the "Down Under," that she ran on campus. Shines played on several occasions, and also brought his friend, blues artist Mississippi Fred McDowell to appear with him at Down Under. These were some of his earliest appearances in Alabama after his move there. He continued to play the international blues circuit while living in Holt, Alabama.[4]
In the late 1960s and 1970s, Shines toured with Robert Johnson's stepson, Robert Lockwood, Jr. as the last remaining original delta blues musicians.[3] In 1980, Shines' music was brought to a standstill when he suffered a stroke.[3] He would later appear, and play, in the 1991 documentary The Search for Robert Johnson. His final album, Back To The Country, won a W.C. Handy Award.[1] It featured playing from Snooky Prior and Johnny Nicholas.[3]
In 1989, Shines met Kent DuChaine, and the two of them toured for the next several years until Shines' death.[5]
Shines died on April 20, 1992, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[1][6] He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame later the same year.
According to the music journalist Tony Russell,
"Shines was that rare being, a blues artist who overcame age and rustiness to make music that stood up beside the work of his youth. When Shines came back to the blues in 1965 he was 50, yet his voice had the leonine power of a dozen years before, when he made records his reputation was based on".
Johnny Shines - Sweet Home Chicago; Kindhearted Woman; Crossroads (Live 1973 France)
Luboš Andršt *26.04.1948
Lubos Andrst (* 26. Juli 1948 in Prag ) ist eine tschechische Blues , Jazz , Jazz-Rock und artrockový Gitarrist , Komponist und Pädagoge . Sein Vater war ein berühmter tschechischer Eishockeyspieler und Sportoffizier JUDr. Zdeněk Andrst . Sein Cousin ist der Sänger und Gitarrist Petr Janda .
60 Jahre
Die Gitarre begann als spielen Autodidakt in 14 Jahren. Felsen begann Amateur spielen in 1966 die Band Roosters, dann folgte die Band P-67, Farbe Images, Double Time, und in 1969 seine eigene Berufsgruppe, Trio gegründet Blues Company Ltd , wo Andrst spielt immer noch mit Michal Blaha (Bass) und Tolja Kohout (Schlagzeug), kurz spielte in der legendären Gruppe George & Beatovens . In 1970 wurde er Mitglied des Framus Five , sondern dass auch im November des gleichen Jahres auseinander. Aufnahme des Albums hatte aber versprochen, die Gruppe, und so im Dezember 1970 und im Januar 1971 wurde eine signifikante erstellt LP ER-Stadt , die die ersten Andrštová Studiofilme ist. Auf dieser Karte Lubos Andrst zum ersten Mal selbst als Autor mit ihren Songs festgelegt: Die Nacht ist mein Tag und Perceptua. Mit einer Gruppe Framus Five auch Luboš Andrst im Jahr 1970 und der ersten im Fernsehen durchgeführt, in der Musik-Show "Sommer in der Supraphon".
70er Jahre
In den frühen 70er Jahren arbeitete er in der Jazz-Rock- Set Jazz Q Martin Kratochvil . An der Wende 1972 und 1973 , zusammen mit Vladimir Padrůňkem von Jazz Q links und hat ein Paar von Spielern aus der ersten Gruppe Flamengo , Ivana khunt und Jaroslav Sedivy zu schaffen Blues-Rock- Ensemble Energit . Ende 1973 jedoch khunt und grau Gruppe, die vielen Verbote Verhalten gelitten hat links. Andrst dann Energitech gebracht anderen Musikern mit Blueswurzeln, darunter Vladimir Mišíka , aber nach kommenden Viklicky in 1974 , die Gruppe schließlich zu schalt Jazz-Rock- Stil. Sie Jazz Q ist Andrst zurück in 1977 , aber am Ende des Jahres wieder verließ ihn, um weiter mit Energit, im Januar 1978 verzeichnete die LP "Picknick". Am Ende der 70er Jahre in einem akustischen Duo spielte er, zusammen mit dem Jazzpianisten Emil Viklický und frühen 80er Jahre Luboš Andrst auch in einem Gitarren-Duo mit Zdenek Erbsen vorgestellt. Jahr 1980 ist ein bedeutender Meilenstein in Andrštová Musiktitel. Er nahm sein erstes Soloalbum, Capricornus , aufgelöst Energit eigenen und gründete eine neue Band Blues Band Lubos Andrst . In hatte es auch eine wichtige Rolle slowakische Sänger Peter Lipa .
80er Jahre
Im Mai 1981 erschien Andrst in Bratislava mit Marián Varga und kurz darauf mit Vargova Gruppe aufgezeichnet Collegium Musicum Doppelalbum Divergencie . Die Blues Band tourte regelmäßig bis zum Abflug von Peter Lipa im Juni 1987 . Dann unterteilt seine Aktivitäten in viele Richtungen. Wieder trat er in die Framus Five Michal Prokop , mit dem er das Album vielleicht unsere Kinder ... wir . parallel Prokop und durchgeführt Jan Hruby in akustische Nu-Trio , im Duo mit dem deutschen Gitarristen Der Blanc oder der Tschechischen Bassist Alex Charvat . Mit einer Gruppe von Kurzlink seine zweite Solo-Album Plus-Minus-Blues .
90 Jahre und Gegenwart
Nach dem Fall des totalitären Regimes in der Tschechoslowakei im Jahr 1989 und die Änderungen das kulturelle Leben beeinflusst auch das Angebot annimmt, bis aus politischen Gründen verfolgt Sänger Marty Kubišová ihr Begleitband zu bauen. Das Ergebnis dieser Zusammenarbeit war die CD Manchmal singe ich. Im Jahr 1992 Lubos Andrst vollständig erholt sein Blues Band. Seit 2000 arbeitet Lubos Andrst auch mal wieder mit Sänger Michal Prokop März 2000 aufgezeichnet ein Live-Album von irgendwo, irgendwo (Blues-Standards) und nach und nach mehr CD-und Konzert-DVD, die Gruppe Framus Five wiederherzustellen. Im gleichen Jahr restauriert er das akustische Trio Prokop, Andrst, rau.
Derzeit Auftritten mit ihren Bands Luboš Andrst Group, Lubos Andrst Blues Band, ein Trio Framus Five Prokop, Andrst, rau.
Im Laufe seines Lebens mit vielen Top-Musiker im Bereich spielte er von Jazz , Rock und Blues , unter anderem mit Paul Jones , Dana Gillespie , Katie Webster , als auch mit dem amerikanischen Sänger und Gitarrist Dani Robinson und vor 4.28 1998 Lubos Andrst kletterte zusammen in der Prager Kongresszentrum (ehemaliger Palast der Kultur) BB King . Eine zweite Luboš Andrst spielte mit BB King 9.7. 2000 in Zlín, Club Golem. Lubos Andrst ist auch der Autor eines Bildungsprogramms im Tschechischen Fernsehen Gitarren-Klinik (1999). Lubos Andrst auch oft in fremden Ländern, wie Polen, Frankreich, Finnland, Türkei, Luxemburg, Russland, Kuba, Algerien, Japan, USA, Hong Kong und anderen Ländern durchgeführt. 9. Juni 2013 trat Lubos Andrst in einem akustischen Trio mit M. Prokop und J. Hruby in den USA Chicago Blues Festival im Grant Park in Pepsi Front Porch Bühne, wo er mit dem amerikanischen Gitarristen John Primer, der im Jahr 1983 spielte mit spielte auch zusammen legendären Bluesman Muddy Watters.
Ma Rainey *26.04.1886
Gertrude „Ma“ Rainey, geb. Pridgett (* 26. April 1886, Alabama USA; † 22. Dezember 1939 in Rome, Georgia, USA) war eine der ersten professionellen US-amerikanischen Bluessängerinnen und gilt als Mutter des Blues.
Ihre Eltern waren Künstler in Minstrel Shows. Ab 1900 trat sie selbst in Minstrel- und Vaudeville-Shows auf. 1902 hörte sie in einer kleinen Stadt in Missouri ein Mädchen ein Lied über das Verlassenwerden singen, das sie später als „fremdartig und ergreifend“ („strange and poignant“) beschrieb. Niemand in ihrer Truppe konnte ihr sagen, was das für eine Musik war, sie nahm das Stück jedoch in ihr Repertoire auf und suchte bei ihren folgenden Reisen weitere Stücke dieser Art. Allgemein wird davon ausgegangen, dass sie hier der frühesten Form des Blues begegnete, dieser bildete von nun an einen Schwerpunkt ihres Repertoires. Ebenfalls 1902 heiratete sie William "Pa" Rainey, mit dem sie als Tanzpaar und als Gesangsduo auftrat, sie sangen Blues und Popsongs. Sie wurde populär durch die Show "Tolliver's Circus, The Musical Extravaganza and The Rabbit Foot Minstrels" und war befreundet mit der jüngeren Bessie Smith. 1920 war sie der Solo-Star der T.O.B.A.-Vaudeville-Tournee.
Als "Mutter des Blues" nahm sie von 1923 bis 1928 Schallplatten für Paramount Records auf; ihr einziger Top-30-Hit gelang ihr im Januar 1925 mit dem „See See Rider Blues“, bei dem sie von Louis Armstrong, Buster Bailey und Charlie Dixon begleitet wurde. Sie wurde sowohl auf ihren Tourneen als auch bei den Aufnahmen von den damals neuen Talenten des Jazz begleitet, etwa von Coleman Hawkins und Fletcher Henderson. Sie konnte gut wirtschaften, so dass sie von ihren Einnahmen zwei Theater betrieb. Sie verstarb als reiche Frau 1939 nach einem Herzinfarkt.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Rainey
"Ma" Rainey (born Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett; c. April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939)[1] was one of the earliest known American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record.[2] She was billed as The Mother of the Blues.
She began performing as a young teenager (between the ages of 12 and 14), and performed under the name Ma Rainey after she and Will Rainey were married in 1904. They toured with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and later formed their own group called Rainey and Rainey, Assassinators of the Blues. From the time of her first recording in 1923 to five years later, Ma Rainey made over 100 recordings, including "Bo-weevil Blues" (1923), "Moonshine Blues" (1923), "See See Rider" (1924), "Black Bottom" (1927), and "Soon This Morning" (1927).[3]
Ma Rainey was known for her very powerful vocal abilities, energetic disposition, majestic phrasing, and a ‘moaning’ style of singing. Her powerful voice was never adequately captured on her records, due to her recording exclusively for Paramount, which was at the time known for its below-average recording techniques and poor shellac quality. However, Rainey's other qualities are present and most evident in her early recordings, Bo-weevil Blues and Moonshine Blues.
Rainey recorded with Louis Armstrong in addition to touring and recording with the Georgia Jazz Band. She continued to tour until 1935 when she retired to her hometown.[1]
Biography
Gertrude Pridgett claimed to have been born on April 26, 1886 in Columbus, Georgia.[4] (This can be questioned, however, as the 1900 census listing indicates she may have been born in September 1882 in Alabama.[5]) She was the second of five children of Thomas and Ella (née Allen) Pridgett, from Alabama. She had at least two brothers and a sister named Malissa, with whom Gertrude was later confused in some sources.[4]
She came onto the performance scene at a talent show in Columbus, Georgia when she was 12–14 years old.[1][6] A member of the First African Baptist Church, she began performing in in Black minstrel show tents. She later claimed that she was first exposed to blues music around 1902. She formed the Alabama Fun Makers Company with her husband Will Rainey, but in 1906 they both joined Pat Chappelle's much larger and more popular Rabbit's Foot Company, where they were billed together as "Black Face Song and Dance Comedians, Jubilee Singers [and] Cake Walkers".[7] In 1910, she was described as "Mrs. Gertrude Rainey, our coon shouter",[7] and she continued with the Rabbit's Foot Company after it was taken over by new owner F. S. Wolcott in 1912.[1]
From 1914, the Raineys were billed as Rainey and Rainey, Assassinators of the Blues. Wintering in New Orleans, she met musicians including Joe "King" Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Pops Foster. Blues music increased in popularity and Ma Rainey became well known.[8] Around this time, Rainey met Bessie Smith, a young blues singer who was also making a name for herself.[A] A story later developed that Rainey kidnapped Smith, making her join the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, and teaching her to sing the blues. This was disputed by Smith's sister-in-law Maud Smith.[9]
From the late 1910s, there was an increasing demand for recordings by black musicians.[10] In 1920, Mamie Smith was the first black woman to record a record.[11] In 1923, Rainey was discovered by Paramount Records producer J. Mayo Williams. She signed a recording contract with Paramount, and in December she made her first eight recordings in Chicago.[12] These included the songs "Bad Luck Blues", "Bo-Weevil Blues" and "Moonshine Blues". She made more than 100 more over the next five years, which brought her fame beyond the South.[1][13] Paramount marketed her extensively, calling her "the Mother of the Blues", "the Songbird of the South", "the Gold-Neck Woman of the Blues" and "the Paramount Wildcat".[14]
In 1924 she made some recordings with Louis Armstrong, including "Jelly Bean Blues", "Countin' the Blues" and "See, See Rider".[15] In the same year she embarked on a tour of the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA) throughout the South and Midwestern United States, singing both for black and white audiences.[16] She was accompanied by bandleader and pianist Thomas Dorsey, and the band he assembled called the Wildcats Jazz Band.[17] They began their tour with an appearance in Chicago in April 1924 and continued, on and off, until 1928.[18] Dorsey left the group in 1926 due to ill health and was replaced as pianist by Lillian Hardaway Henderson, the wife of Rainey's cornetist Fletcher Henderson, who became the band's leader.[19]
Some of Rainey's lyrics contain open references to lesbianism or bisexuality. For example, a 1928 song, "Prove It on Me", states:
They said I do it, ain't nobody caught me. Sure got to prove it on me. Went out last night with a crowd of my friends. They must've been women, cause I don't like no men.[20]
According to the website queerculturalcenter.org, the lyrics refer to an incident in 1925 in which Rainey was "arrested for taking part in an orgy at [her] home involving women in her chorus."[21] "Prove It on Me" further alludes to presumed lesbian behavior, "It's true I wear a collar and a tie... Talk to the gals just like any old man."[22]
Political activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis notes: "'Prove It on Me' is a cultural precursor to the lesbian cultural movement of the 1970s, which began to crystallize around the performance and recording of lesbian-affirming songs."[23] Towards the end of the 1920s, live vaudeville went into decline, being replaced by radio and recordings.[19] Her career was not immediately affected and continued recording with Paramount and earned enough money touring to buy a bus with her name on it.[24] In 1928, she worked with Dorsey again and recording 20 songs, before Paramount finished her contract.[25] Her style of blues was no longer considered fashionable by the label.[26]
Death
In 1935 Rainey returned to her hometown, Columbus, Georgia, where she ran two theaters, "The Lyric" and "The Airdrome",[27] until her death from a heart attack in 1939 at age 53[28] in Rome, Georgia.[29]
Legacy
In 1983, Rainey was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.[30]
Bob Dylan refers to Rainey in the song "Tombstone Blues" on his 1965 album, Highway 61 Revisited in which she is intimate with Beethoven ("Ma Rainey and Beethoven once unwrapped their bedroll").
In 1981 Sandra Lieb wrote the first full-length book about Rainey, Mother of the Blues: a Study of Ma Rainey.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, a 1982 play by August Wilson, is a fictionalized account of the recording of her song of the same name in December 1927.
Poet Sterling A. Brown wrote a poem entitled "Ma Rainey" in 1932 about how "When Ma Rainey/Comes to town" people everywhere would hear her sing.
In 1994, the U.S. Post Office issued a Rainey 29-cent commemorative postage stamp.
In 2004, "See See Rider Blues" (written in 1925) was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame, and was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2004.
She began performing as a young teenager (between the ages of 12 and 14), and performed under the name Ma Rainey after she and Will Rainey were married in 1904. They toured with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and later formed their own group called Rainey and Rainey, Assassinators of the Blues. From the time of her first recording in 1923 to five years later, Ma Rainey made over 100 recordings, including "Bo-weevil Blues" (1923), "Moonshine Blues" (1923), "See See Rider" (1924), "Black Bottom" (1927), and "Soon This Morning" (1927).[3]
Ma Rainey was known for her very powerful vocal abilities, energetic disposition, majestic phrasing, and a ‘moaning’ style of singing. Her powerful voice was never adequately captured on her records, due to her recording exclusively for Paramount, which was at the time known for its below-average recording techniques and poor shellac quality. However, Rainey's other qualities are present and most evident in her early recordings, Bo-weevil Blues and Moonshine Blues.
Rainey recorded with Louis Armstrong in addition to touring and recording with the Georgia Jazz Band. She continued to tour until 1935 when she retired to her hometown.[1]
Biography
Gertrude Pridgett claimed to have been born on April 26, 1886 in Columbus, Georgia.[4] (This can be questioned, however, as the 1900 census listing indicates she may have been born in September 1882 in Alabama.[5]) She was the second of five children of Thomas and Ella (née Allen) Pridgett, from Alabama. She had at least two brothers and a sister named Malissa, with whom Gertrude was later confused in some sources.[4]
She came onto the performance scene at a talent show in Columbus, Georgia when she was 12–14 years old.[1][6] A member of the First African Baptist Church, she began performing in in Black minstrel show tents. She later claimed that she was first exposed to blues music around 1902. She formed the Alabama Fun Makers Company with her husband Will Rainey, but in 1906 they both joined Pat Chappelle's much larger and more popular Rabbit's Foot Company, where they were billed together as "Black Face Song and Dance Comedians, Jubilee Singers [and] Cake Walkers".[7] In 1910, she was described as "Mrs. Gertrude Rainey, our coon shouter",[7] and she continued with the Rabbit's Foot Company after it was taken over by new owner F. S. Wolcott in 1912.[1]
From 1914, the Raineys were billed as Rainey and Rainey, Assassinators of the Blues. Wintering in New Orleans, she met musicians including Joe "King" Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Pops Foster. Blues music increased in popularity and Ma Rainey became well known.[8] Around this time, Rainey met Bessie Smith, a young blues singer who was also making a name for herself.[A] A story later developed that Rainey kidnapped Smith, making her join the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, and teaching her to sing the blues. This was disputed by Smith's sister-in-law Maud Smith.[9]
From the late 1910s, there was an increasing demand for recordings by black musicians.[10] In 1920, Mamie Smith was the first black woman to record a record.[11] In 1923, Rainey was discovered by Paramount Records producer J. Mayo Williams. She signed a recording contract with Paramount, and in December she made her first eight recordings in Chicago.[12] These included the songs "Bad Luck Blues", "Bo-Weevil Blues" and "Moonshine Blues". She made more than 100 more over the next five years, which brought her fame beyond the South.[1][13] Paramount marketed her extensively, calling her "the Mother of the Blues", "the Songbird of the South", "the Gold-Neck Woman of the Blues" and "the Paramount Wildcat".[14]
In 1924 she made some recordings with Louis Armstrong, including "Jelly Bean Blues", "Countin' the Blues" and "See, See Rider".[15] In the same year she embarked on a tour of the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA) throughout the South and Midwestern United States, singing both for black and white audiences.[16] She was accompanied by bandleader and pianist Thomas Dorsey, and the band he assembled called the Wildcats Jazz Band.[17] They began their tour with an appearance in Chicago in April 1924 and continued, on and off, until 1928.[18] Dorsey left the group in 1926 due to ill health and was replaced as pianist by Lillian Hardaway Henderson, the wife of Rainey's cornetist Fletcher Henderson, who became the band's leader.[19]
Some of Rainey's lyrics contain open references to lesbianism or bisexuality. For example, a 1928 song, "Prove It on Me", states:
They said I do it, ain't nobody caught me. Sure got to prove it on me. Went out last night with a crowd of my friends. They must've been women, cause I don't like no men.[20]
According to the website queerculturalcenter.org, the lyrics refer to an incident in 1925 in which Rainey was "arrested for taking part in an orgy at [her] home involving women in her chorus."[21] "Prove It on Me" further alludes to presumed lesbian behavior, "It's true I wear a collar and a tie... Talk to the gals just like any old man."[22]
Political activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis notes: "'Prove It on Me' is a cultural precursor to the lesbian cultural movement of the 1970s, which began to crystallize around the performance and recording of lesbian-affirming songs."[23] Towards the end of the 1920s, live vaudeville went into decline, being replaced by radio and recordings.[19] Her career was not immediately affected and continued recording with Paramount and earned enough money touring to buy a bus with her name on it.[24] In 1928, she worked with Dorsey again and recording 20 songs, before Paramount finished her contract.[25] Her style of blues was no longer considered fashionable by the label.[26]
Death
In 1935 Rainey returned to her hometown, Columbus, Georgia, where she ran two theaters, "The Lyric" and "The Airdrome",[27] until her death from a heart attack in 1939 at age 53[28] in Rome, Georgia.[29]
Legacy
In 1983, Rainey was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.[30]
Bob Dylan refers to Rainey in the song "Tombstone Blues" on his 1965 album, Highway 61 Revisited in which she is intimate with Beethoven ("Ma Rainey and Beethoven once unwrapped their bedroll").
In 1981 Sandra Lieb wrote the first full-length book about Rainey, Mother of the Blues: a Study of Ma Rainey.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, a 1982 play by August Wilson, is a fictionalized account of the recording of her song of the same name in December 1927.
Poet Sterling A. Brown wrote a poem entitled "Ma Rainey" in 1932 about how "When Ma Rainey/Comes to town" people everywhere would hear her sing.
In 1994, the U.S. Post Office issued a Rainey 29-cent commemorative postage stamp.
In 2004, "See See Rider Blues" (written in 1925) was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame, and was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2004.
Gary Wright *26.04.1943
Spooky Tooth
Gary Wright (* 26. April 1943 in New Jersey) ist ein US-amerikanischer Musiker.
Leben
Gary Wright trat schon als Kind in einer TV-Show auf. In den 1960er Jahren kam er nach Europa (u. a. auch nach Berlin), um Psychologie zu studieren. 1967 wurde er Mitglied der Gruppe Spooky Tooth. Die Gruppe löste sich mehrmals auf und formierte sich wieder neu. In den Zwischenzeiten verfolgte er eine Solokarriere, die 1976 in den Hits Dream Weaver und Love is Alive gipfelte. Das Album The Dream Weaver erreichte Platz 7 der Albumcharts und sollte sein erfolgreichstes bleiben. Bis Anfang der 1980er Jahre veröffentlichte er weiterhin recht erfolgreich Alben und Singles, die sich in den Billboard 200-Albumcharts respektive den Billboard Hot 100 platzieren konnten, den Erfolg von Dream Weaver konnte er jedoch nicht wiederholen. Seine danach veröffentlichten Alben waren kommerziell weit weniger erfolgreich und platzierten sich nicht mehr in den Charts.
Wright ist auch als Komponist für zahlreiche Künstler und Bands tätig. Seine Titel wurden unter anderem von Judas Priest, Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton, Foreigner, Kenny Loggins und Manfred Mann’s Earth Band interpretiert. Zudem arbeitete Wright auch als Tonmixer an zahlreichen Produktionen von Eric Clapton.
Gary Malcolm Wright (born April 26, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known for his 1976 hit songs "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive", and for his role in helping establish the synthesizer as a leading instrument in rock and pop music. Wright's breakthrough album, The Dream Weaver (1975), came after he had spent seven years in London as, alternately, a member of the British heavy rock band Spooky Tooth and a solo artist on A&M Records. While in England, he played keyboards on former Beatle George Harrison's All Things Must Pass triple album (1970), so beginning a friendship that inspired the Indian religious themes and spirituality inherent in Wright's subsequent songwriting. His work since the late 1980s has embraced world music and the new age genre, although none of his post-1976 releases has matched the popularity of The Dream Weaver.
A former child actor, Wright performed on Broadway in the hit musical Fanny before studying medicine and then psychology in New York and Berlin. After meeting Chris Blackwell of Island Records in Europe, Wright moved to London, where he helped establish Spooky Tooth as a popular live act. He also served as the band's principal songwriter on their recordings – among them, the well-regarded albums Spooky Two (1969) and You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw (1973). His solo album Footprint (1971), recorded with contributions from Harrison, coincided with the formation of Wright's short-lived band Wonderwheel, which included guitarist Mick Jones. Also during the early 1970s, Wright played on notable recordings by B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson and Ronnie Spector, while his musical association with Harrison endured until shortly before the latter's death in 2001.
Wright turned to film soundtrack work in the early 1980s, which led to him re-recording his most popular song, "Dream Weaver", for the 1992 comedy Wayne's World. Following Spooky Tooth's reunion tour in 2004, Wright has performed live frequently, either as a member of Starr's All-Starr Band, with his own live band, or on subsequent Spooky Tooth reunions. Wright's most recent solo albums, including Waiting to Catch the Light (2008) and Connected (2010), have all been issued on his Larklio record label. In 2014, Penguin Random House published his autobiography, titled Dream Weaver: Music, Meditation, and My Friendship with George Harrison.
Early life
Gary Wright was born and raised in Cresskill, New Jersey.[1] A child actor, he made his TV debut at the age of seven, on the show Captain Video and His Video Rangers, filmed in New York.[2] Among other acting work, he appeared in TV and radio commercials, before being offered a part in the 1954 Broadway production of the musical Fanny.[2] Wright played the role of Cesario, the son of Fanny, who was played by future Brady Bunch matriarch Florence Henderson.[3] He spent two years with the production, during which he performed with Henderson on The Ed Sullivan Show.[4]
Having studied piano and organ,[2] Wright led various local rock bands while attending high school[1] at Tenafly, New Jersey.[5][6] In 1959, he made his first commercial recording, with Billy Markle at NBC Radio's New York studios.[7] Credited to "Gary & Billy", the single "Working After School" was released on 20th Century Fox Records in 1960.[7]
Seeing music as "too unstable" a career choice, as he later put it,[4] Wright studied to become a doctor at the College of William & Mary in Virginia and New York University before attending Downstate Medical College for a year,[6] all the while continuing to perform with local bands.[4][8] Having specialized in psychology in New York,[2] he then went to West Germany in 1966[9] to complete his studies at the Free University of Berlin.[1]
Career
1967–70: With Spooky Tooth
Wright has described his initial musical influences as "early R&B" – namely, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Bobby Bland – along with rock 'n' roll artists Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, and the Beatles.[4] While in Europe in 1967, Wright abandoned his plans to become a doctor[4] and instead toured locally with a band he had formed, the New York Times.[1] When the latter supported the English group Traffic – at Oslo in Norway, according to Wright[8] – he met Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.[1] Wright recalls that he and Blackwell had a mutual friend in Jimmy Miller,[8] the New York-born producer of Island acts such as the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic.[10]
Blackwell invited Wright to London, where he joined English singer and pianist Mike Harrison and drummer Mike Kellie in their band Art (formerly the VIPs).[11] The group soon changed its name to Spooky Tooth,[1] with Wright as joint lead vocalist[8] and Hammond organ player.[12] While noting the band's lack of significant commercial success over its career, The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll describes Spooky Tooth as "a bastion of Britain's hard-rock scene".[11]
Spooky Tooth's first album was It's All About, released on Island in June 1968.[2] Produced by Miller,[2] it contained the Wright-composed "Sunshine Help Me" and six songs he co-wrote with either Miller, Harrison or Luther Grosvenor,[13] the band's guitarist.[14] Spooky Two, often considered the band's best work, followed in March 1969, with Miller again producing.[15] Wright composed or co-composed seven of the album's eight songs, including "That Was Only Yesterday" and "Better By You, Better Than Me".[16] Spooky Two sold well in America but, like It's All About, it failed to place on the UK's top 40 albums chart.[17]
The third Spooky Tooth album was Ceremony, a Wright-instigated collaboration with French electronic music pioneer Pierre Henry,[14][18] released in December 1969.[11] Songwriting for all the tracks was credited to Henry and Wright,[19] after the latter had passed the band's recordings on to Henry for what The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia terms "processed musique concrète overdubs".[20]
Although Wright had traditionally provided an experimental influence within Spooky Tooth,[14] he regretted the change of musical direction, saying in a 1973 interview: "We should have really taken off after Spooky Two but we got into the absurd situation of letting Pierre Henry make the Ceremony album. Then he took it back to France and remixed it."[17] With bass player Greg Ridley having already left the band in 1969 to join Humble Pie,[21] Wright departed in January 1970 to pursue a solo career.[17]
1970–72: Solo career on A&M Records, Wonderwheel, and London session work
Extraction
After signing with A&M Records, Wright recorded Extraction (1970) in London[22] with musicians including Kellie, guitarist Hugh McCracken, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White.[23] Wright co-produced the album with Andy Johns,[23] who had been the recording engineer on Spooky Two[24] and Ceremony.[19] The album included "Get on the Right Road", which was issued as a single, and "The Wrong Time",[25] co-written by Wright and McCracken.[26]
George Harrison's All Things Must Pass
Through Voormann,[27] Wright was invited to play piano on former Beatle George Harrison's 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass.[3][28] Among what author Nicholas Schaffner later described as "a rock orchestra of almost symphonic proportions, whose credits read like a Who's Who of the music scene",[29] Wright was one of the album's principal keyboard players, together with former Delaney & Bonnie organist Bobby Whitlock.[30] During the sessions, Wright and Harrison established a long-lasting friendship,[1][31] based on music and their shared interest in Indian religion.[3][32] In a 2009 interview with vintagerock.com, Wright described Harrison as "my spiritual mentor";[8] author Robert Rodriguez writes of Wright's "unique" place among musicians with whom Harrison collaborated at this time, in that Wright was neither an established star nor a friend from the years before Harrison achieved fame as a Beatle, and nor was he a "studio pro".[33]
Wright played on all of Harrison's subsequent solo albums during the 1970s,[34][35] as well as on other releases that the ex-Beatle produced for Apple Records.[36] These included two hit singles by Harrison's former bandmate Ringo Starr over 1971–72, "It Don't Come Easy" and "Back Off Boogaloo", and a 1971 comeback single by ex-Ronette Ronnie Spector, "Try Some, Buy Some".[37][nb 1]
Footprint
To promote Extraction, Wright formed the band Wonderwheel in April 1971,[38] with a line-up comprising guitarist Jerry Donahue – soon replaced by Mick Jones – Archie Leggett (bass) and Bryson Graham (drums).[39][40] Donahue was among the many musicians on Wright's second album, Footprint (1971),[41] along with George Harrison and All Things Must Pass contributors such as Voormann, White, Jim Gordon, Bobby Keys and John Barham.[22][42] Produced by Wright, the album included "Stand for Our Rights", a call for social unity, partly inspired by the Vietnam War,[43] "Two Faced Man" and "Love to Survive".[44] In November 1971, Wright and Wonderwheel performed "Two Faced Man" on The Dick Cavett Show in New York, with Harrison accompanying on slide guitar.[45][nb 2] Wright has expressed gratitude for Harrison's support during this stage of his career, citing the ex-Beatle's uncredited production on Footprint[47] and his arranging the Dick Cavett Show appearance.[8] Despite this exposure,[45] like Extraction, the album failed to chart.[22][48]
Among other recordings over this period, Wright played piano on Harry Nilsson's 1972 hit "Without You"[33] and accompanied B.B. King, Starr, Gordon, Voormann and others on B.B. King in London (1971),[49] which included Wright's composition "Wet Hayshark".[50] He later participated in London sessions by Jerry Lee Lewis,[34] issued as the double album The Session (1973).[51] Wright also produced an eponymous album by folk rock band Howl the Good,[52] released on the Rare Earth label.[53]
Ring of Changes
In 1972, Wright moved to Devon with Wonderwheel to work on songs for a new album, titled Ring of Changes. With Tom Duffey having replaced Leggett on bass, the band recorded the songs at Olympic and Apple studios in London.[54] After issuing "I Know" as an advance single,[55] A&M chose to cancel the album.[56][nb 3] Wright also wrote the soundtrack for a film by former Olympic skier Willy Bogner, Benjamin (1972),[57] from which the German label Ariola Records released "Goodbye Sunday" as a single that year.[58] The full soundtrack album, recorded with Jones, Leggett and Graham,[59] was issued by Ariola in 1974.[60]
In September 1972, Wright decided to disband Wonderwheel and re-form Spooky Tooth.[61] Shortly before doing so, he participated in sessions for Harrison's Living in the Material World (1973),[62] an album that Wright describes as "a beautiful masterpiece" and his favorite Harrison album.[63] Talking to Chris Salewicz of Let It Rock in early 1973, Wright explained his decision to abandon his solo career: "I think my main talent is getting the music together and arranging it. I'm not a showman and so I couldn't be a Cat Stevens out front with just backing musicians, which I was expected to be with Wonderwheel."[17] In his autobiography, however, Wright says that it was his disappointment at A&M's rejection of Ring of Changes that led him to contact Blackwell about re-forming Spooky Tooth.[56]
1972–74: Re-forms Spooky Tooth
The only members from the original line-up, Wright and Mike Harrison relaunched Spooky Tooth with Jones and Graham from Wonderwheel, and Chris Stewart,[11][14] formerly the bassist with English singer Terry Reid.[17] Salewicz visited the band while they were recording at Island's Notting Hill studio and remarked of Wright's role in the group, "it is clear who is the leader of this brand of Spooky Tooth, and, I suspect, of the original, too"; Salewicz described Wright as "urbane, loquacious with the remnants of a New Jersey accent, and a touch of Dudley Moore about the face".[17]
On their new album, You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw (1973),[11] Wright composed six of the eight tracks, including "Cotton Growing Man", "Wildfire" and "Self Seeking Man", and co-wrote the remaining two.[64] With the group's standing having been elevated since 1970 – a situation that music journalist Steven Rosen likened at the time to the Yardbirds, the Move and other 1960s bands after their break-up[61] – Spooky Tooth toured extensively to promote the album.[38] Rolling Stone reviewer Jon Tiven praised Wright's songwriting on You Broke My Heart, adding: "there is tremendous consistency to these originals ... and 'Wildfire' is ample proof that Gary could have written for the Temptations if he really wanted to."[65]
[We] could have definitely been like one of those bands, like Jethro Tull and all those people who were our contemporaries. I think [Spooky Tooth] didn't have the steady momentum and upward drive. It stopped and started, broke up and then went back and broke up. It never really got enough behind it to really catapult it to success.[8]
– Wright in 2009, reflecting on Spooky Tooth's lack of a commercial breakthrough
The band released a follow-up, Witness, in November 1973,[38] by which point Graham had departed, with Mike Kellie returning on drums.[61] By February 1974, Stewart and Harrison had also left.[38] In January that year, Wright accompanied George Harrison to India,[66] where they journeyed to Varanasi (Benares), the Hindu spiritual capital of India, and home to Harrison's friend Ravi Shankar.[67] The visit would influence the spiritual quality of Wright's lyrics when he returned to his solo career.[1]
In England, he and Harrison worked together on The Place I Love (1974),[68] the debut album by English duo Splinter.[69][70] In addition to playing keyboards, Wright served as what author Simon Leng terms "a sounding board and musical amanuensis" on the project,[71] which was the first album released on Harrison's Dark Horse record label.[72] Wright regrouped with Spooky Tooth for a final album, The Mirror (1974), with Mike Patto as their new vocalist.[73] Following further personnel changes, The Mirror was issued by Goodear Records in the UK in October 1974, a month after Wright had disbanded the group.[38]
1975–81: Solo career on Warner Bros. Records
The Dream Weaver
After Spooky Tooth's break-up, Wright returned to New Jersey and began compiling songs for his third solo album.[74] Under the guidance of new manager Dee Anthony, he chose to sign with Warner Bros. Records, mainly because the company had no keyboard virtuosos among its other acts.[74] Wright says that it was while routining his songs with all his stage equipment set up – Hammond organ, clavinet, Fender Rhodes piano, Mini Moog and ARP String Ensemble – together with a drum machine, that he decided to record the album "all on keyboards", without guitars.[8] He acknowledges that artists such as Stevie Wonder had similarly released keyboard-dominated music, but "[Wonder] used brass and he used other things as well".[6] On Wright's debut album for Warner Bros., The Dream Weaver (1975),[2] he, David Foster and Bobby Lyle played a variety of keyboard instruments, supported only by drummers Jim Keltner and Andy Newmark,[75] apart from a guitar part on the track "Power of Love".[76] Jason Ankeny of AllMusic describes The Dream Weaver as "one of the first [rock albums] created solely via synthesizer technology".[1]
I mean ... I'm an overnight success in ten years, right? I've been through periods of self-doubt, wondering whether or not I wanted to stay an artist ... but I guess, like in all things, it's timing. The right timing, the right songs and strong management at last.[74]
– Wright commenting in 1976 on the unexpected success of The Dream Weaver
The album was issued in July 1975 and enjoyed minimal success in America until the release of its second single, "Dream Weaver", in November.[74] The song, which Wright had written on acoustic guitar[74] after his visit to India with Harrison,[77] went on to peak at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100[78] and number 1 on the Cash Box singles chart.[79] Wright's biggest hit, "Dream Weaver" sold over 1 million copies in the US and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in March 1976.[79] The album climbed to number 7 on the Billboard 200[80] and was certified platinum.[2] "Love Is Alive", originally the album's lead single,[74] then hit number 2 on the Hot 100, and "Made to Love You" climbed to number 79.[78] Although this commercial success was not repeated in the UK, The Dream Weaver was a big seller in West Germany,[74] where, Wright says, Spooky Tooth had been "the number one band" during 1969.[8]
Following the album's release, Wright toured extensively with a band comprising three keyboard players and a drummer.[74] Subsidized by synthesizer manufacturers Moog and Oberheim,[6] Wright became one of the first musicians to perform with a portable keyboard, in the style of Edgar Winter.[74] Shawn Perry of vintagerock.com credits Wright with being "as responsible for the emergence of the synthesizer as a mainstream instrument as Keith Emerson and ... Rick Wakeman",[8] while Robert Rodriguez describes Wright as a pioneer in both "the integration of synthesizers into analog recordings" and the use of the keyboard–guitar hybrid known as the keytar.[33]
Among his live performances in 1976, Wright shared the bill with Yes and Peter Frampton at the US Bicentennial concert held at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, playing to a crowd estimated at 120,000.[81] Wright then supported Frampton on a European tour, by which time a fourth keyboard player had been added to the band.[82] Amid this success, A&M issued That Was Only Yesterday (1976)[11] – a compilation containing tracks from Wright's albums for the label and selections by Spooky Tooth[83] – which charted at number 172 in America.[80]
The Light of Smiles
Wright started recording his follow-up to The Dream Weaver in summer 1976, before which Chris Charlesworth of Melody Maker reported that it would be "a logical development" of its predecessor and "again based entirely around what he can do with various types of keyboards".[74] Titled The Light of Smiles (1977), the album included "I Am the Sky", for which Wright gave a songwriting credit to the late Indian guru and Kriya Yoga teacher,[84] Paramahansa Yogananda.[85] The latter's poem "The Light of Smiles", taken from his book Metaphysical Meditations,[86] appeared on the inner sleeve to Wright's new album.[87] Wright had acknowledged the guru as his inspiration for the title of The Dream Weaver,[76] and he later said of Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi: "It's a fantastic book and you won't want to put it down when you start reading it. Even, not from a spiritual point of view, but as a piece of literature, it's a total classic ..."[8]
Produced again by Wright, The Light of Smiles featured Wright, Foster and others on a range of keyboard instruments, including Moog, Oberheim and ARP synthesizers, and drumming contributions from Keltner and Art Wood.[88] Issued by Warner Bros. in January 1977,[89] neither the album nor its lead single, "Phantom Writer", matched the popularity of Wright's earlier releases for the label.[1] On the US Billboard charts, The Light of Smiles climbed to number 23,[80] while "Phantom Writer" peaked at number 43.[78]
Touch and Gone, Headin' Home and The Right Place
Wright continued to record albums for Warner Bros. until 1981, with only limited commercial success.[1] Released in late 1977, Touch and Gone charted at number 117 in America,[80] with its title track reaching number 73.[78] Headin' Home, which AllMusic's Joe Viglione describes as "an album seemingly driven by a serious relationship in crisis",[90] peaked at number 147 in 1979.[80] In between these two albums, Wright played on "If You Believe", a song he co-wrote with Harrison in England on New Year's Day 1978,[91] which appeared on Harrison's eponymous 1979 album.[92]
Wright's last chart success in America was in 1981,[2] when his album The Right Place, co-produced with Dean Parks,[93] climbed to number 79.[80] The single "Really Wanna Know You", which Wright co-wrote with Scottish singer Ali Thomson,[94] peaked at number 16 that year.[78] A second single from the album, "Heartbreat", appeared on Billboard's Bubbling Under listings, at number 107.[95]
1982–2000: Film soundtracks and world music
Wright's subsequent releases focused on film soundtracks and forays into world music.[1] After writing the score for Alan Rudolph's 1982 thriller Endangered Species,[96] he supplied the soundtrack to another skiing-themed movie by Willy Bogner,[97] Fire and Ice (1986), which hit number 1 on the German albums chart.[1] Wright also contributed the song "Hold on to Your Vision" to the soundtrack of Cobra, a 1986 action movie starring Sylvester Stallone.[98]
Among notable cover versions of Wright's songs during this period, Chaka Khan recorded "Love Is Alive" (retitled "My Love Is Alive") for her 1984 album I Feel for You,[99] which became an RIAA-certified million-seller.[100] A cover of his Spooky Tooth composition "Better By You, Better Than Me", by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, was at the center of a 1990 court case regarding subliminal messages in song lyrics, after two Nevadan teenagers had enacted a suicide pact five years before.[101] From 1989 through to the late 1990s, samples of Wright's "Dream Weaver", "Love Is Alive" and "Can't Find the Judge" variously featured in songs by popular rap and hip-hop artists Tone Lōc, Dream Warriors, 3rd Bass and Mýa.[102]
Wright himself re-recorded "Dream Weaver" for the 1992 comedy Wayne's World,[1] the soundtrack album for which topped the US charts.[103] The song has since appeared in the films The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Toy Story 3 (2010).[98] He later provided "We Can Fly" for another Bogner film, Ski to the Max,[104] released in IMAX cinemas in October 2000.[105]
Who I Am, First Signs of Life and Human Love
In 1988, Wright released Who I Am on A&M-distributed[106] Cypress Records.[2] Among the album's contributors were Western musicians such as Harrison, White and Keltner,[107] a group of South Indian percussionists,[104] and Indian classical violinists L. Subramaniam and L. Shankar.[1] The previous year, Wright had contributed to Harrison's album Cloud Nine (1987), for which he co-wrote "That's What It Takes" with Harrison and Jeff Lynne,[108] and played keyboards on songs such as "When We Was Fab".[109] One of the tracks from Who I Am, "Blind Alley", was used in the 1988 horror film Spellbinder.[110]
Wright's next solo album was First Signs of Life (1995), recorded in Rio de Janeiro and at his own[9] High Wave Studios in Los Angeles,[111] and issued on the Triloka/Worldly record label.[15][112] The album combined Brazilian rhythms[15] with elements of African vocal tradition, creating what AllMusic's reviewer describes as "an infectious worldbeat hybrid", where "the musicians' performances radiate sincerity and joy".[113] First Signs of Life featured guest appearances from drummer Terry Bozzio, Brazilian guitarist Ricardo Silveira and Harrison.[113] The song "Don't Try to Own Me", co-written with Duane Hitchings, was later included on Rhino Records' Best of Gary Wright: The Dream Weaver – a 1998 compilation spanning his solo career from 1970 onwards, and featuring extensive liner notes by Wright.[114]
Human Love (1999) included new versions of "Wildfire" and "The Wrong Time",[115] as well as "If You Believe in Heaven", a song written with Graham Gouldman that had first appeared on Best of Gary Wright.[114] The album was co-produced by German world-music producer Marlon Klein[116] and released on the High Wave Music label.[112][115] Contributors to the sessions, held at High Wave and at Exil Musik in Bielefeld, included Hindustani classical vocalist Lakshmi Shankar, Lynne and German composer Roman Bunka.[116]
Later career
Having dedicated much of his time during the 1990s to his family, Wright subsequently resumed a more active musical career, starting with Spooky Tooth's 2004 reunion.[9] Their album and DVD Nomad Poets Live in Germany (2007) features Wright, Mike Harrison and Kellie from the band's original line-up.[117] Wright's past work has continued to inspire rap and dance tracks in the 21st century; samples of "Heartbeat" appear in songs by Jay-Z and Diam's, while Topmodelz covered the song in 2007.[102] Other artists who have used samples from Wright's 1975–81 recordings include Dilated Peoples, Atmosphere, Infamous Mobb, T.I. and Armand Van Helden,[102] the last of whom incorporated part of "Comin' Apart" (from The Right Place) in his 2004 club hit "My My My".[96] In addition, Eminem used "interpolations" from Spooky Tooth's "Self Seeking Man" in his song "Spend Some Time" (released on Encore in 2004).[118]
In the summer of 2008, Wright joined Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band for a North American tour, with Edgar Winter also in the line-up.[119] The All-Starr Band's album and DVD Live at the Greek Theatre 2008 (2010) includes Wright's performance of "Dream Weaver".[120] Wright later described the tour as "a lot of fun" and "a big boost" for his career.[8]
Waiting to Catch the Light and Connected
Two solo releases by Wright followed in late 2008, including the new-age album Waiting to Catch the Light.[9] A collection of instrumental pieces from "several years" before, he describes it as "an atmospheric, ambient music kind of an album", performed on "vintage analog synthesizers ... all [recorded] on analog tape".[8] Also issued on Larkio,[112] Wright's own record label,[9] the EP The Light of a Million Suns consisted of unreleased tracks from his previous album projects, together with a new version of "Love Is Alive", sung by his son Dorian.[8]
In May 2009, Wright rejoined Spooky Tooth to participate in a series of London concerts celebrating the 50th anniversary of Island Records' founding,[121] before performing further shows with the band in Germany.[8] In June the following year, he released the album Connected,[3] which marked a return to his more pop- and rock-oriented sound of the 1970s.[9][122] Starr, Joe Walsh and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter made guest appearances on the track "Satisfied",[122] which Wright co-wrote with songwriter Bobby Hart.[9] As a posthumous tribute to his friend George Harrison, the Deluxe Digital Edition of Connected included "Never Give Up",[123] which he and Harrison recorded in 1989, while the iTunes version added "To Discover Yourself", a song that the two musicians wrote together in 1971.[122] Wright recorded the latter song on the day of Harrison's death in November 2001.[3][122] He also contributed to Martin Scorsese's 2011 documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World[124] and supplied personal reminisces and family photographs for Olivia Harrison's book of the same title.[125]
In 2010 and 2011, Wright toured again with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.[119] Following a summer 2011 tour of Europe with Starr, Wright participated in the Hippiefest US tour with artists such as Felix Cavaliere, Mark Farner, Dave Mason and Rick Derringer,[6] before returning to Europe for shows with his own band late that year.[9]
Personal life
Wright resides in Palos Verdes Estates, California with wife Rose, whom he married in 1985.[9] He was previously married to Christina,[126] who, as Tina Wright, received co-writing credits on Wright's songs "I'm Alive" (from The Mirror),[127] "Feel for Me" (The Dream Weaver)[76] and "I'm the One Who'll Be by Your Side" (Headin' Home).[90] He has two adult sons, Dorian and Justin.[9] Justin is a member of the band Intangible.[128]
Wright has spoken out on the importance of creative opportunities for children in the public educational system,[4] and expressed his opposition to the prevalence of free music downloading and its disadvantage to artists.[34] In 2008, he voiced his support for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, during which "Dream Weaver" was a song adopted for the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.[129] That year, Wright discussed the message behind "Dream Weaver" with Huffington Post writer and political activist Howie Klein, saying: "With Wayne's World and all that, the perception of the song's meaning got a little bit changed for a lot of people. It's a very spiritual song. 'Dream Weaver' is really a song whose lyrical content is about the consciousness of the Universe: God moving us through the night – delusion and suffering – into the Higher Realms."[129]
In August 2014, Wright announced the imminent publication of his autobiography, Dream Weaver: Music, Meditation, and My Friendship with George Harrison.[130] Coinciding with the book's release, Wright's Warner Bros. albums were reissued for digital download.
A former child actor, Wright performed on Broadway in the hit musical Fanny before studying medicine and then psychology in New York and Berlin. After meeting Chris Blackwell of Island Records in Europe, Wright moved to London, where he helped establish Spooky Tooth as a popular live act. He also served as the band's principal songwriter on their recordings – among them, the well-regarded albums Spooky Two (1969) and You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw (1973). His solo album Footprint (1971), recorded with contributions from Harrison, coincided with the formation of Wright's short-lived band Wonderwheel, which included guitarist Mick Jones. Also during the early 1970s, Wright played on notable recordings by B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson and Ronnie Spector, while his musical association with Harrison endured until shortly before the latter's death in 2001.
Wright turned to film soundtrack work in the early 1980s, which led to him re-recording his most popular song, "Dream Weaver", for the 1992 comedy Wayne's World. Following Spooky Tooth's reunion tour in 2004, Wright has performed live frequently, either as a member of Starr's All-Starr Band, with his own live band, or on subsequent Spooky Tooth reunions. Wright's most recent solo albums, including Waiting to Catch the Light (2008) and Connected (2010), have all been issued on his Larklio record label. In 2014, Penguin Random House published his autobiography, titled Dream Weaver: Music, Meditation, and My Friendship with George Harrison.
Early life
Gary Wright was born and raised in Cresskill, New Jersey.[1] A child actor, he made his TV debut at the age of seven, on the show Captain Video and His Video Rangers, filmed in New York.[2] Among other acting work, he appeared in TV and radio commercials, before being offered a part in the 1954 Broadway production of the musical Fanny.[2] Wright played the role of Cesario, the son of Fanny, who was played by future Brady Bunch matriarch Florence Henderson.[3] He spent two years with the production, during which he performed with Henderson on The Ed Sullivan Show.[4]
Having studied piano and organ,[2] Wright led various local rock bands while attending high school[1] at Tenafly, New Jersey.[5][6] In 1959, he made his first commercial recording, with Billy Markle at NBC Radio's New York studios.[7] Credited to "Gary & Billy", the single "Working After School" was released on 20th Century Fox Records in 1960.[7]
Seeing music as "too unstable" a career choice, as he later put it,[4] Wright studied to become a doctor at the College of William & Mary in Virginia and New York University before attending Downstate Medical College for a year,[6] all the while continuing to perform with local bands.[4][8] Having specialized in psychology in New York,[2] he then went to West Germany in 1966[9] to complete his studies at the Free University of Berlin.[1]
Career
1967–70: With Spooky Tooth
Wright has described his initial musical influences as "early R&B" – namely, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Bobby Bland – along with rock 'n' roll artists Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, and the Beatles.[4] While in Europe in 1967, Wright abandoned his plans to become a doctor[4] and instead toured locally with a band he had formed, the New York Times.[1] When the latter supported the English group Traffic – at Oslo in Norway, according to Wright[8] – he met Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.[1] Wright recalls that he and Blackwell had a mutual friend in Jimmy Miller,[8] the New York-born producer of Island acts such as the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic.[10]
Blackwell invited Wright to London, where he joined English singer and pianist Mike Harrison and drummer Mike Kellie in their band Art (formerly the VIPs).[11] The group soon changed its name to Spooky Tooth,[1] with Wright as joint lead vocalist[8] and Hammond organ player.[12] While noting the band's lack of significant commercial success over its career, The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll describes Spooky Tooth as "a bastion of Britain's hard-rock scene".[11]
Spooky Tooth's first album was It's All About, released on Island in June 1968.[2] Produced by Miller,[2] it contained the Wright-composed "Sunshine Help Me" and six songs he co-wrote with either Miller, Harrison or Luther Grosvenor,[13] the band's guitarist.[14] Spooky Two, often considered the band's best work, followed in March 1969, with Miller again producing.[15] Wright composed or co-composed seven of the album's eight songs, including "That Was Only Yesterday" and "Better By You, Better Than Me".[16] Spooky Two sold well in America but, like It's All About, it failed to place on the UK's top 40 albums chart.[17]
The third Spooky Tooth album was Ceremony, a Wright-instigated collaboration with French electronic music pioneer Pierre Henry,[14][18] released in December 1969.[11] Songwriting for all the tracks was credited to Henry and Wright,[19] after the latter had passed the band's recordings on to Henry for what The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia terms "processed musique concrète overdubs".[20]
Although Wright had traditionally provided an experimental influence within Spooky Tooth,[14] he regretted the change of musical direction, saying in a 1973 interview: "We should have really taken off after Spooky Two but we got into the absurd situation of letting Pierre Henry make the Ceremony album. Then he took it back to France and remixed it."[17] With bass player Greg Ridley having already left the band in 1969 to join Humble Pie,[21] Wright departed in January 1970 to pursue a solo career.[17]
1970–72: Solo career on A&M Records, Wonderwheel, and London session work
Extraction
After signing with A&M Records, Wright recorded Extraction (1970) in London[22] with musicians including Kellie, guitarist Hugh McCracken, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White.[23] Wright co-produced the album with Andy Johns,[23] who had been the recording engineer on Spooky Two[24] and Ceremony.[19] The album included "Get on the Right Road", which was issued as a single, and "The Wrong Time",[25] co-written by Wright and McCracken.[26]
George Harrison's All Things Must Pass
Through Voormann,[27] Wright was invited to play piano on former Beatle George Harrison's 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass.[3][28] Among what author Nicholas Schaffner later described as "a rock orchestra of almost symphonic proportions, whose credits read like a Who's Who of the music scene",[29] Wright was one of the album's principal keyboard players, together with former Delaney & Bonnie organist Bobby Whitlock.[30] During the sessions, Wright and Harrison established a long-lasting friendship,[1][31] based on music and their shared interest in Indian religion.[3][32] In a 2009 interview with vintagerock.com, Wright described Harrison as "my spiritual mentor";[8] author Robert Rodriguez writes of Wright's "unique" place among musicians with whom Harrison collaborated at this time, in that Wright was neither an established star nor a friend from the years before Harrison achieved fame as a Beatle, and nor was he a "studio pro".[33]
Wright played on all of Harrison's subsequent solo albums during the 1970s,[34][35] as well as on other releases that the ex-Beatle produced for Apple Records.[36] These included two hit singles by Harrison's former bandmate Ringo Starr over 1971–72, "It Don't Come Easy" and "Back Off Boogaloo", and a 1971 comeback single by ex-Ronette Ronnie Spector, "Try Some, Buy Some".[37][nb 1]
Footprint
To promote Extraction, Wright formed the band Wonderwheel in April 1971,[38] with a line-up comprising guitarist Jerry Donahue – soon replaced by Mick Jones – Archie Leggett (bass) and Bryson Graham (drums).[39][40] Donahue was among the many musicians on Wright's second album, Footprint (1971),[41] along with George Harrison and All Things Must Pass contributors such as Voormann, White, Jim Gordon, Bobby Keys and John Barham.[22][42] Produced by Wright, the album included "Stand for Our Rights", a call for social unity, partly inspired by the Vietnam War,[43] "Two Faced Man" and "Love to Survive".[44] In November 1971, Wright and Wonderwheel performed "Two Faced Man" on The Dick Cavett Show in New York, with Harrison accompanying on slide guitar.[45][nb 2] Wright has expressed gratitude for Harrison's support during this stage of his career, citing the ex-Beatle's uncredited production on Footprint[47] and his arranging the Dick Cavett Show appearance.[8] Despite this exposure,[45] like Extraction, the album failed to chart.[22][48]
Among other recordings over this period, Wright played piano on Harry Nilsson's 1972 hit "Without You"[33] and accompanied B.B. King, Starr, Gordon, Voormann and others on B.B. King in London (1971),[49] which included Wright's composition "Wet Hayshark".[50] He later participated in London sessions by Jerry Lee Lewis,[34] issued as the double album The Session (1973).[51] Wright also produced an eponymous album by folk rock band Howl the Good,[52] released on the Rare Earth label.[53]
Ring of Changes
In 1972, Wright moved to Devon with Wonderwheel to work on songs for a new album, titled Ring of Changes. With Tom Duffey having replaced Leggett on bass, the band recorded the songs at Olympic and Apple studios in London.[54] After issuing "I Know" as an advance single,[55] A&M chose to cancel the album.[56][nb 3] Wright also wrote the soundtrack for a film by former Olympic skier Willy Bogner, Benjamin (1972),[57] from which the German label Ariola Records released "Goodbye Sunday" as a single that year.[58] The full soundtrack album, recorded with Jones, Leggett and Graham,[59] was issued by Ariola in 1974.[60]
In September 1972, Wright decided to disband Wonderwheel and re-form Spooky Tooth.[61] Shortly before doing so, he participated in sessions for Harrison's Living in the Material World (1973),[62] an album that Wright describes as "a beautiful masterpiece" and his favorite Harrison album.[63] Talking to Chris Salewicz of Let It Rock in early 1973, Wright explained his decision to abandon his solo career: "I think my main talent is getting the music together and arranging it. I'm not a showman and so I couldn't be a Cat Stevens out front with just backing musicians, which I was expected to be with Wonderwheel."[17] In his autobiography, however, Wright says that it was his disappointment at A&M's rejection of Ring of Changes that led him to contact Blackwell about re-forming Spooky Tooth.[56]
1972–74: Re-forms Spooky Tooth
The only members from the original line-up, Wright and Mike Harrison relaunched Spooky Tooth with Jones and Graham from Wonderwheel, and Chris Stewart,[11][14] formerly the bassist with English singer Terry Reid.[17] Salewicz visited the band while they were recording at Island's Notting Hill studio and remarked of Wright's role in the group, "it is clear who is the leader of this brand of Spooky Tooth, and, I suspect, of the original, too"; Salewicz described Wright as "urbane, loquacious with the remnants of a New Jersey accent, and a touch of Dudley Moore about the face".[17]
On their new album, You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw (1973),[11] Wright composed six of the eight tracks, including "Cotton Growing Man", "Wildfire" and "Self Seeking Man", and co-wrote the remaining two.[64] With the group's standing having been elevated since 1970 – a situation that music journalist Steven Rosen likened at the time to the Yardbirds, the Move and other 1960s bands after their break-up[61] – Spooky Tooth toured extensively to promote the album.[38] Rolling Stone reviewer Jon Tiven praised Wright's songwriting on You Broke My Heart, adding: "there is tremendous consistency to these originals ... and 'Wildfire' is ample proof that Gary could have written for the Temptations if he really wanted to."[65]
[We] could have definitely been like one of those bands, like Jethro Tull and all those people who were our contemporaries. I think [Spooky Tooth] didn't have the steady momentum and upward drive. It stopped and started, broke up and then went back and broke up. It never really got enough behind it to really catapult it to success.[8]
– Wright in 2009, reflecting on Spooky Tooth's lack of a commercial breakthrough
The band released a follow-up, Witness, in November 1973,[38] by which point Graham had departed, with Mike Kellie returning on drums.[61] By February 1974, Stewart and Harrison had also left.[38] In January that year, Wright accompanied George Harrison to India,[66] where they journeyed to Varanasi (Benares), the Hindu spiritual capital of India, and home to Harrison's friend Ravi Shankar.[67] The visit would influence the spiritual quality of Wright's lyrics when he returned to his solo career.[1]
In England, he and Harrison worked together on The Place I Love (1974),[68] the debut album by English duo Splinter.[69][70] In addition to playing keyboards, Wright served as what author Simon Leng terms "a sounding board and musical amanuensis" on the project,[71] which was the first album released on Harrison's Dark Horse record label.[72] Wright regrouped with Spooky Tooth for a final album, The Mirror (1974), with Mike Patto as their new vocalist.[73] Following further personnel changes, The Mirror was issued by Goodear Records in the UK in October 1974, a month after Wright had disbanded the group.[38]
1975–81: Solo career on Warner Bros. Records
The Dream Weaver
After Spooky Tooth's break-up, Wright returned to New Jersey and began compiling songs for his third solo album.[74] Under the guidance of new manager Dee Anthony, he chose to sign with Warner Bros. Records, mainly because the company had no keyboard virtuosos among its other acts.[74] Wright says that it was while routining his songs with all his stage equipment set up – Hammond organ, clavinet, Fender Rhodes piano, Mini Moog and ARP String Ensemble – together with a drum machine, that he decided to record the album "all on keyboards", without guitars.[8] He acknowledges that artists such as Stevie Wonder had similarly released keyboard-dominated music, but "[Wonder] used brass and he used other things as well".[6] On Wright's debut album for Warner Bros., The Dream Weaver (1975),[2] he, David Foster and Bobby Lyle played a variety of keyboard instruments, supported only by drummers Jim Keltner and Andy Newmark,[75] apart from a guitar part on the track "Power of Love".[76] Jason Ankeny of AllMusic describes The Dream Weaver as "one of the first [rock albums] created solely via synthesizer technology".[1]
I mean ... I'm an overnight success in ten years, right? I've been through periods of self-doubt, wondering whether or not I wanted to stay an artist ... but I guess, like in all things, it's timing. The right timing, the right songs and strong management at last.[74]
– Wright commenting in 1976 on the unexpected success of The Dream Weaver
The album was issued in July 1975 and enjoyed minimal success in America until the release of its second single, "Dream Weaver", in November.[74] The song, which Wright had written on acoustic guitar[74] after his visit to India with Harrison,[77] went on to peak at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100[78] and number 1 on the Cash Box singles chart.[79] Wright's biggest hit, "Dream Weaver" sold over 1 million copies in the US and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in March 1976.[79] The album climbed to number 7 on the Billboard 200[80] and was certified platinum.[2] "Love Is Alive", originally the album's lead single,[74] then hit number 2 on the Hot 100, and "Made to Love You" climbed to number 79.[78] Although this commercial success was not repeated in the UK, The Dream Weaver was a big seller in West Germany,[74] where, Wright says, Spooky Tooth had been "the number one band" during 1969.[8]
Following the album's release, Wright toured extensively with a band comprising three keyboard players and a drummer.[74] Subsidized by synthesizer manufacturers Moog and Oberheim,[6] Wright became one of the first musicians to perform with a portable keyboard, in the style of Edgar Winter.[74] Shawn Perry of vintagerock.com credits Wright with being "as responsible for the emergence of the synthesizer as a mainstream instrument as Keith Emerson and ... Rick Wakeman",[8] while Robert Rodriguez describes Wright as a pioneer in both "the integration of synthesizers into analog recordings" and the use of the keyboard–guitar hybrid known as the keytar.[33]
Among his live performances in 1976, Wright shared the bill with Yes and Peter Frampton at the US Bicentennial concert held at JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, playing to a crowd estimated at 120,000.[81] Wright then supported Frampton on a European tour, by which time a fourth keyboard player had been added to the band.[82] Amid this success, A&M issued That Was Only Yesterday (1976)[11] – a compilation containing tracks from Wright's albums for the label and selections by Spooky Tooth[83] – which charted at number 172 in America.[80]
The Light of Smiles
Wright started recording his follow-up to The Dream Weaver in summer 1976, before which Chris Charlesworth of Melody Maker reported that it would be "a logical development" of its predecessor and "again based entirely around what he can do with various types of keyboards".[74] Titled The Light of Smiles (1977), the album included "I Am the Sky", for which Wright gave a songwriting credit to the late Indian guru and Kriya Yoga teacher,[84] Paramahansa Yogananda.[85] The latter's poem "The Light of Smiles", taken from his book Metaphysical Meditations,[86] appeared on the inner sleeve to Wright's new album.[87] Wright had acknowledged the guru as his inspiration for the title of The Dream Weaver,[76] and he later said of Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi: "It's a fantastic book and you won't want to put it down when you start reading it. Even, not from a spiritual point of view, but as a piece of literature, it's a total classic ..."[8]
Produced again by Wright, The Light of Smiles featured Wright, Foster and others on a range of keyboard instruments, including Moog, Oberheim and ARP synthesizers, and drumming contributions from Keltner and Art Wood.[88] Issued by Warner Bros. in January 1977,[89] neither the album nor its lead single, "Phantom Writer", matched the popularity of Wright's earlier releases for the label.[1] On the US Billboard charts, The Light of Smiles climbed to number 23,[80] while "Phantom Writer" peaked at number 43.[78]
Touch and Gone, Headin' Home and The Right Place
Wright continued to record albums for Warner Bros. until 1981, with only limited commercial success.[1] Released in late 1977, Touch and Gone charted at number 117 in America,[80] with its title track reaching number 73.[78] Headin' Home, which AllMusic's Joe Viglione describes as "an album seemingly driven by a serious relationship in crisis",[90] peaked at number 147 in 1979.[80] In between these two albums, Wright played on "If You Believe", a song he co-wrote with Harrison in England on New Year's Day 1978,[91] which appeared on Harrison's eponymous 1979 album.[92]
Wright's last chart success in America was in 1981,[2] when his album The Right Place, co-produced with Dean Parks,[93] climbed to number 79.[80] The single "Really Wanna Know You", which Wright co-wrote with Scottish singer Ali Thomson,[94] peaked at number 16 that year.[78] A second single from the album, "Heartbreat", appeared on Billboard's Bubbling Under listings, at number 107.[95]
1982–2000: Film soundtracks and world music
Wright's subsequent releases focused on film soundtracks and forays into world music.[1] After writing the score for Alan Rudolph's 1982 thriller Endangered Species,[96] he supplied the soundtrack to another skiing-themed movie by Willy Bogner,[97] Fire and Ice (1986), which hit number 1 on the German albums chart.[1] Wright also contributed the song "Hold on to Your Vision" to the soundtrack of Cobra, a 1986 action movie starring Sylvester Stallone.[98]
Among notable cover versions of Wright's songs during this period, Chaka Khan recorded "Love Is Alive" (retitled "My Love Is Alive") for her 1984 album I Feel for You,[99] which became an RIAA-certified million-seller.[100] A cover of his Spooky Tooth composition "Better By You, Better Than Me", by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, was at the center of a 1990 court case regarding subliminal messages in song lyrics, after two Nevadan teenagers had enacted a suicide pact five years before.[101] From 1989 through to the late 1990s, samples of Wright's "Dream Weaver", "Love Is Alive" and "Can't Find the Judge" variously featured in songs by popular rap and hip-hop artists Tone Lōc, Dream Warriors, 3rd Bass and Mýa.[102]
Wright himself re-recorded "Dream Weaver" for the 1992 comedy Wayne's World,[1] the soundtrack album for which topped the US charts.[103] The song has since appeared in the films The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Toy Story 3 (2010).[98] He later provided "We Can Fly" for another Bogner film, Ski to the Max,[104] released in IMAX cinemas in October 2000.[105]
Who I Am, First Signs of Life and Human Love
In 1988, Wright released Who I Am on A&M-distributed[106] Cypress Records.[2] Among the album's contributors were Western musicians such as Harrison, White and Keltner,[107] a group of South Indian percussionists,[104] and Indian classical violinists L. Subramaniam and L. Shankar.[1] The previous year, Wright had contributed to Harrison's album Cloud Nine (1987), for which he co-wrote "That's What It Takes" with Harrison and Jeff Lynne,[108] and played keyboards on songs such as "When We Was Fab".[109] One of the tracks from Who I Am, "Blind Alley", was used in the 1988 horror film Spellbinder.[110]
Wright's next solo album was First Signs of Life (1995), recorded in Rio de Janeiro and at his own[9] High Wave Studios in Los Angeles,[111] and issued on the Triloka/Worldly record label.[15][112] The album combined Brazilian rhythms[15] with elements of African vocal tradition, creating what AllMusic's reviewer describes as "an infectious worldbeat hybrid", where "the musicians' performances radiate sincerity and joy".[113] First Signs of Life featured guest appearances from drummer Terry Bozzio, Brazilian guitarist Ricardo Silveira and Harrison.[113] The song "Don't Try to Own Me", co-written with Duane Hitchings, was later included on Rhino Records' Best of Gary Wright: The Dream Weaver – a 1998 compilation spanning his solo career from 1970 onwards, and featuring extensive liner notes by Wright.[114]
Human Love (1999) included new versions of "Wildfire" and "The Wrong Time",[115] as well as "If You Believe in Heaven", a song written with Graham Gouldman that had first appeared on Best of Gary Wright.[114] The album was co-produced by German world-music producer Marlon Klein[116] and released on the High Wave Music label.[112][115] Contributors to the sessions, held at High Wave and at Exil Musik in Bielefeld, included Hindustani classical vocalist Lakshmi Shankar, Lynne and German composer Roman Bunka.[116]
Later career
Having dedicated much of his time during the 1990s to his family, Wright subsequently resumed a more active musical career, starting with Spooky Tooth's 2004 reunion.[9] Their album and DVD Nomad Poets Live in Germany (2007) features Wright, Mike Harrison and Kellie from the band's original line-up.[117] Wright's past work has continued to inspire rap and dance tracks in the 21st century; samples of "Heartbeat" appear in songs by Jay-Z and Diam's, while Topmodelz covered the song in 2007.[102] Other artists who have used samples from Wright's 1975–81 recordings include Dilated Peoples, Atmosphere, Infamous Mobb, T.I. and Armand Van Helden,[102] the last of whom incorporated part of "Comin' Apart" (from The Right Place) in his 2004 club hit "My My My".[96] In addition, Eminem used "interpolations" from Spooky Tooth's "Self Seeking Man" in his song "Spend Some Time" (released on Encore in 2004).[118]
In the summer of 2008, Wright joined Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band for a North American tour, with Edgar Winter also in the line-up.[119] The All-Starr Band's album and DVD Live at the Greek Theatre 2008 (2010) includes Wright's performance of "Dream Weaver".[120] Wright later described the tour as "a lot of fun" and "a big boost" for his career.[8]
Waiting to Catch the Light and Connected
Two solo releases by Wright followed in late 2008, including the new-age album Waiting to Catch the Light.[9] A collection of instrumental pieces from "several years" before, he describes it as "an atmospheric, ambient music kind of an album", performed on "vintage analog synthesizers ... all [recorded] on analog tape".[8] Also issued on Larkio,[112] Wright's own record label,[9] the EP The Light of a Million Suns consisted of unreleased tracks from his previous album projects, together with a new version of "Love Is Alive", sung by his son Dorian.[8]
In May 2009, Wright rejoined Spooky Tooth to participate in a series of London concerts celebrating the 50th anniversary of Island Records' founding,[121] before performing further shows with the band in Germany.[8] In June the following year, he released the album Connected,[3] which marked a return to his more pop- and rock-oriented sound of the 1970s.[9][122] Starr, Joe Walsh and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter made guest appearances on the track "Satisfied",[122] which Wright co-wrote with songwriter Bobby Hart.[9] As a posthumous tribute to his friend George Harrison, the Deluxe Digital Edition of Connected included "Never Give Up",[123] which he and Harrison recorded in 1989, while the iTunes version added "To Discover Yourself", a song that the two musicians wrote together in 1971.[122] Wright recorded the latter song on the day of Harrison's death in November 2001.[3][122] He also contributed to Martin Scorsese's 2011 documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World[124] and supplied personal reminisces and family photographs for Olivia Harrison's book of the same title.[125]
In 2010 and 2011, Wright toured again with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.[119] Following a summer 2011 tour of Europe with Starr, Wright participated in the Hippiefest US tour with artists such as Felix Cavaliere, Mark Farner, Dave Mason and Rick Derringer,[6] before returning to Europe for shows with his own band late that year.[9]
Personal life
Wright resides in Palos Verdes Estates, California with wife Rose, whom he married in 1985.[9] He was previously married to Christina,[126] who, as Tina Wright, received co-writing credits on Wright's songs "I'm Alive" (from The Mirror),[127] "Feel for Me" (The Dream Weaver)[76] and "I'm the One Who'll Be by Your Side" (Headin' Home).[90] He has two adult sons, Dorian and Justin.[9] Justin is a member of the band Intangible.[128]
Wright has spoken out on the importance of creative opportunities for children in the public educational system,[4] and expressed his opposition to the prevalence of free music downloading and its disadvantage to artists.[34] In 2008, he voiced his support for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, during which "Dream Weaver" was a song adopted for the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.[129] That year, Wright discussed the message behind "Dream Weaver" with Huffington Post writer and political activist Howie Klein, saying: "With Wayne's World and all that, the perception of the song's meaning got a little bit changed for a lot of people. It's a very spiritual song. 'Dream Weaver' is really a song whose lyrical content is about the consciousness of the Universe: God moving us through the night – delusion and suffering – into the Higher Realms."[129]
In August 2014, Wright announced the imminent publication of his autobiography, Dream Weaver: Music, Meditation, and My Friendship with George Harrison.[130] Coinciding with the book's release, Wright's Warner Bros. albums were reissued for digital download.
Spooky Tooth POP2.avi
Spooky Tooth - I Am The Walrus (live version)
Lloyd Jones *26.04.1950
So, who exactly is Lloyd Jones?
Portland, Oregon roots artist Lloyd Jones has recorded six critically acclaimed albums, toured internationally, and racked up dozens of major awards and accolades. He’s a relentless road dog, hitting festival stages, Delbert’s annual Sandy Beaches Cruises (he’s been a regular on six winter cruises), and clubs all across the land to enthusiastic crowds who can’t get enough of his swampy blues, his backporch picking, his serious-as-anthrax funk, soul, roadhouse two-beats, and old-school rhythm and blues (back before the R&B tag was somehow appropriated for other musical purposes, apparently when we weren’t looking). Yet he may be the most invisible, best-kept roots/blues/Americana secret on the contemporary scene.
What’s he sound like?
Jones is a master of the soulful understatement, the raw growl, and the groove. From his roots in muddy Oregon soil, he’s forged a 30-plus-year career as an impassioned singer and fierce guitar slinger, a clever and soulful songwriter, a bandleader, record producer, and an almost strident torchbearer for all that’s true and good about America’s music. Jones is his own true artist who works diligently at pushing American roots music forward.
What he does, he says, is “combine New Orleans rhythms, the simplicity of Memphis music, and the rawness of the blues, all for the 21st century. This music is not about louder and faster. It’s about time, meter, groove. I thought Muddy and Walter and those guys were pushing the envelope in their era. They were using effects, they were inventing their own sound. They were modern. I want to look at it in a contemporary way.” The gist is all the same — Lloyd Jones is the total package.
Played with anybody we know?
Consider this: Robert Cray sings his praises the way Sister Rosetta Tharpe sang gospel. Delbert McClinton won’t cruise the high seas without him. Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Joe Louis Walker and Coco Montoya saw fit to record his songs (and some of those songs have turned up as soundbed music on national TV shows). He counts McClinton, Charlie Musselwhite, Marcia Ball, Bonnie Raitt, Tommy Castro, Jimmy Hall and other luminaries among his friends and musical cohorts, and can tell you stories that’ll curl your toes about touring with the likes of Earl King, Big Mama Thornton, Otis Clay, Etta James and scores of others.
He’s shared stages and spotlights with Albert Collins, Cray, Raitt, McClinton, Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Dr. John, John Hammond, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy, and a hundred more. And except for Albert and Junior, God rest their souls, all will pretty much still say nice things about him. For years he’s been living, learning and interpreting in his own way this music for which he has so much respect. He’s recorded award-winning albums for Blind Pig, AudioQuest, Burnside Records and Criminal Records that gained him international acclaim. He’s earned every fan he has the hard way — by laying it down stinkier than year-old cheese every night on every stage and in every recording session.
So how can you help?
Jones is a gifted singer, songwriter, American storyteller and energetic showman. He writes timeless music, steeped in a rich musical history that he’s learned, lived and loved over the years. “This is not a work of science,” he says. “It’s about attitude and joy that applies to all age groups. I’m addicted to this music.”
Lloyd Jones and his timeless, swampified American songwriting style is tailor-made for dancing like crazy people on a Saturday night. Jones is no poser, no youngster who copped a couple of quick blues licks and headed for the big time with a cocky swagger and a brand-new Strat. You see it in his face when he plays — the ear-to-ear grin, the soul-gripping grimace when he bites off another stinging note. You hear it in every heart-aching lyric, sung in a voice that genuinely shares with you life’s hard knocks and hard-won secrets. Many roots heavyweights, not to mention legions of CD-buying fans, sing his praises. Give him a listen, and you will too.
Lloyd Jones - Statesboro Blues (Live in the Bing Lounge)
Shirley Griffith *26.04.1908
Shirley
Griffith (April 26, 1908 – June 18, 1974)[1] was an American blues
singer and guitarist, mainly based in Indianapolis. He is best known for
his recordings, "Walkin' Blues" and "Bad Luck Blues".[2]
Griffith was born in Brandon, Mississippi, United States.[1] He died from heart disease in Indianapolis in June 1974, at the age of 66.[2] He had three children Elonza Griffith (deceased), Walter James Griffith and Mary T. Griffith. His first wife was Addie B. McNeil (deceased) and his second wife Elizabeth (deceased). He was the second child born to Willie and Maggie Griffith. He had five sisters and three brothers, one brother Robert Griffith and one sister Bealuah Griffith-Myers are living.
Griffith was born in Brandon, Mississippi, United States.[1] He died from heart disease in Indianapolis in June 1974, at the age of 66.[2] He had three children Elonza Griffith (deceased), Walter James Griffith and Mary T. Griffith. His first wife was Addie B. McNeil (deceased) and his second wife Elizabeth (deceased). He was the second child born to Willie and Maggie Griffith. He had five sisters and three brothers, one brother Robert Griffith and one sister Bealuah Griffith-Myers are living.
R.I.P.
Arbee Stidham +26.04.1988
Arbee Stidhams Vater Luddie Stidham war Musiker im Jimmie Lunceford-Orchestra. Mit seiner Formation Southern Syncopators trat Arbee in den 1930er Jahren in Clubs seines Heimatstaats Arkansas auf; er war auch im Radiosender KARK in Little Rock zu hören und begleitete 1930/31 mit seiner Band die Sängerin Bessie Smith bei einer Tournee durch die Südstaaten. Stidham trat häufig in Little Rock und Memphis (Tennessee), bevor er in den 1940er Jahren nach Chicago zog. Dort arbeitete er mit Memphis Slim; außerdem machte er Plattenaufnahmen mit dem Lucky Millinder-Orchestra für Victor. Er nahm auch unter eigenem Namen für Victor auf (Your Heart Belongs to Me)[1], ferner in den 1950er und 1960er Jahren für Bob Shads Label Sittin’ In With, Checker (I Don't Play/Don't Set Your Cap for Me), States (Look Me Straight in the Eye, 1957, mit Earl Hooker und Lefty Bates[2]), Abco (Meet me Half Way, mit Willie Dixon,[3] und Killer Blues), Prestige/Bluesville, Mainstream und Folkways. Als Reverenz an den verstorbenen US-Präsidenten Roosevelt spielte er einen Protestsong, Mr. Commissioner (Checker 751) 1952 ein.[4]
1973 hatte er einen Auftritt in dem Film The Bluesman. Stidham trat in diesen Jahren auf zahlreichen Festivals und in Clubs auf, auch außerhalb der Vereinigten Staaten. In den 1970er Jahren unterrichtete er an der Cleveland State University.
Stidham war ein Bluessänger und Gitarrist, der im weitesten Sinn im Mississippi-Country-Stil eines Big Bill Broonzy spielte.[5] Er nahm mit Jazz Gilum und Memphis Slim auch zwei Coverversionen von Broonzy-Songs auf, I Feel So Good und Rockin' Chair Blues.[6] Charles Keil sieht in seinem Buch Urban blues Arbee Stidham in der Tradition der Kansas City-Shouter wie Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Jimmy Witherspoon, Big Joe Turner oder Wynonie Harris.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbee_Stidham
Arbee Stidham (February 9, 1917[1] – April 26, 1988) was an American blues singer and multi-instrumentalist, most successful in the late 1940s and 1950s.
He was born in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas, United States, to a musical family - his father, Luddie Stidham played with Jimmie Lunceford and his uncle with the Memphis Jug Band. Arbie Stidham learned to play harmonica, clarinet and saxophone as a child.[1] Before his teens he had formed his own band, the Southern Syncopators, which backed Bessie Smith on tour in 1930-31, and played on radio and in clubs in Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee.
In the mid-1940s he moved to Chicago and met Lester Melrose, who signed him to RCA Victor in 1947.[1] His biggest hit, "My Heart Belongs to You", was recorded at his first session, and reached # 1 on the US Billboard R&B chart in June 1948.[2] He spent the rest of his career trying to emulate its success, recording for Checker, States, and other independent record labels as a jazz-influenced blues vocalist. After a car accident made it impossible to play the saxophone, he took up the guitar in the 1950s under the tutelage of Big Bill Broonzy, and played it on his early 1960s recordings for Folkways.
Stidham continued to record occasionally up to the early 1970s, and also made many music festival and club appearances nationwide and internationally. He lectured on the blues at Cleveland State University in the 1970s, and appeared in the film The Bluesman in 1973.[1]
He died April 26, 1988 in Cook County, Illinois, aged 71.
He was born in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas, United States, to a musical family - his father, Luddie Stidham played with Jimmie Lunceford and his uncle with the Memphis Jug Band. Arbie Stidham learned to play harmonica, clarinet and saxophone as a child.[1] Before his teens he had formed his own band, the Southern Syncopators, which backed Bessie Smith on tour in 1930-31, and played on radio and in clubs in Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee.
In the mid-1940s he moved to Chicago and met Lester Melrose, who signed him to RCA Victor in 1947.[1] His biggest hit, "My Heart Belongs to You", was recorded at his first session, and reached # 1 on the US Billboard R&B chart in June 1948.[2] He spent the rest of his career trying to emulate its success, recording for Checker, States, and other independent record labels as a jazz-influenced blues vocalist. After a car accident made it impossible to play the saxophone, he took up the guitar in the 1950s under the tutelage of Big Bill Broonzy, and played it on his early 1960s recordings for Folkways.
Stidham continued to record occasionally up to the early 1970s, and also made many music festival and club appearances nationwide and internationally. He lectured on the blues at Cleveland State University in the 1970s, and appeared in the film The Bluesman in 1973.[1]
He died April 26, 1988 in Cook County, Illinois, aged 71.
Arbee
Stidham - Misery Blues
