Koko Taylor
Encyclopedia
Koko Taylor sometimes spelled KoKo Taylor (September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009) was an American
Chicago blues
musician, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues." She was known primarily for her rough, powerful vocals
and traditional blues stylings.
, Tennessee
, Taylor was the daughter of a sharecropper. She left Memphis
for Chicago, Illinois
in 1952 with her husband, truck driver Robert "Pops" Taylor. In the late 1950s she began singing in Chicago blues
clubs. She was spotted by Willie Dixon
in 1962, and this led to wider performances and her first recording contract. In 1965, Taylor was signed by Chess Records
where she recorded "Wang Dang Doodle
," a song written by Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf
five years earlier. The song became a hit, reaching number four on the R&B charts in 1966, and selling a million copies. Taylor recorded several versions of "Wang Dang Doodle" over the years, including a live version at the 1967 American Folk Blues Festival
with harmonica player Little Walter
and guitarist Hound Dog Taylor
. Taylor subsequently recorded more material, both original and covers
, but never repeated that initial chart success.
National touring in the late 1960s and early 1970s improved her fan
base, and she became accessible to a wider record-buying public when she signed with Alligator Records
in 1975. She recorded nine albums for Alligator, 8 of which were Grammy-nominated, and came to dominate the female blues singer ranks, winning twenty five W. C. Handy Awards (more than any other artist). After her recovery from a near-fatal car crash in 1989, the 1990s found Taylor in film
s such as Blues Brothers 2000
and Wild at Heart
, and she opened a blues club
on Division Street
in Chicago in 1994, which relocated to Wabash Ave in Chicago's South Loop in 2000. (The club is now closed.)
Taylor influenced musicians such as Bonnie Raitt
, Shemekia Copeland
, Janis Joplin
, Shannon Curfman
, and Susan Tedeschi
. In the years prior to her death, she performed over 70 concerts a year and resided just south of Chicago in Country Club Hills, Illinois
.
In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service
said that Taylor owed $400,000 in back taxes, penalties and interest. Her tax problems concerned 1998, 2000 and 2001; for those years combined, her adjusted gross income was $949,000.
Taylor died on June 3, 2009, after complications from surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding on May 19, 2009. Her final performance was at the Blues Music Awards, on May 7, 2009.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Chicago blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
musician, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues." She was known primarily for her rough, powerful vocals
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
and traditional blues stylings.
Life and career
Born Cora Walton in Shelby CountyShelby County, Tennessee
Shelby County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the state's largest both in terms of population and geographic area, with a population of 927,644 at the 2010 census...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, Taylor was the daughter of a sharecropper. She left Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
for Chicago, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
in 1952 with her husband, truck driver Robert "Pops" Taylor. In the late 1950s she began singing in Chicago blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
clubs. She was spotted by Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
in 1962, and this led to wider performances and her first recording contract. In 1965, Taylor was signed by Chess Records
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
where she recorded "Wang Dang Doodle
Wang Dang Doodle
"Wang Dang Doodle" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon for Howlin' Wolf at Chess Records in Chicago. It has been covered by many artists, including Love Sculpture, Koko Taylor, Z. Z. Hill, Ted Nugent, the Pointer Sisters, PJ Harvey, Grateful Dead, Ratdog, Savoy Brown, Charlie Watts, Booker T....
," a song written by Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
five years earlier. The song became a hit, reaching number four on the R&B charts in 1966, and selling a million copies. Taylor recorded several versions of "Wang Dang Doodle" over the years, including a live version at the 1967 American Folk Blues Festival
American Folk Blues Festival
The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe beginning in 1962.German jazz publicist Joachim-Ernst Berendt first had the idea of bringing original African-American blues performers to Europe. Jazz had become very popular, and rock and roll was just gaining a foothold,...
with harmonica player Little Walter
Little Walter
Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs , was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations...
and guitarist Hound Dog Taylor
Hound Dog Taylor
Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 . He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20...
. Taylor subsequently recorded more material, both original and covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
, but never repeated that initial chart success.
National touring in the late 1960s and early 1970s improved her fan
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
base, and she became accessible to a wider record-buying public when she signed with Alligator Records
Alligator Records
Alligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record...
in 1975. She recorded nine albums for Alligator, 8 of which were Grammy-nominated, and came to dominate the female blues singer ranks, winning twenty five W. C. Handy Awards (more than any other artist). After her recovery from a near-fatal car crash in 1989, the 1990s found Taylor in film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s such as Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000
Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film that is a sequel to the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Directed by John Landis, the film featured Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman, with cameos by many musicians.-Plot:...
and Wild at Heart
Wild at Heart
Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula is a 1990 pulp, "neo-noir" novel by Barry Gifford which was adapted to film in 1990.The novel begins the adventures of two sex-driven, star crossed protagonists on the road, Sailor and Lula...
, and she opened a blues club
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
on Division Street
Division Street (Chicago)
Division Street is a major east-west street in Chicago, Illinois, located at 1200 North . Division Street begins in the Gold Coast neighborhood near Lake Shore Drive, passes through Polonia Triangle at Milwaukee Avenue into Wicker Park and continues to Chicago's city limits and into the city's...
in Chicago in 1994, which relocated to Wabash Ave in Chicago's South Loop in 2000. (The club is now closed.)
Taylor influenced musicians such as Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
, Shemekia Copeland
Shemekia Copeland
Shemekia Copeland is an American electric blues vocalist.-Career:Copeland was born in Harlem, New York City, United States. She is the daughter of Texas blues guitarist and singer Johnny Copeland...
, Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
, Shannon Curfman
Shannon Curfman
Shannon Marie Curfman is an American blues-rock guitarist and singer. She came to prominence in 1999, at the age of 14, with the release of her first album, Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions, which she recorded a year earlier.Curfman has toured with John Mellencamp, Buddy Guy, George Thorogood and The...
, and Susan Tedeschi
Susan Tedeschi
Susan Tedeschi is an American blues and soul musician, who has received multiple Grammy Award nominations, and is well-known for her singing voice, guitar playing, stage presence, and marriage to blues guitarist Derek Trucks...
. In the years prior to her death, she performed over 70 concerts a year and resided just south of Chicago in Country Club Hills, Illinois
Country Club Hills, Illinois
Country Club Hills is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 16,169 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Country Club Hills is located at ....
.
In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
said that Taylor owed $400,000 in back taxes, penalties and interest. Her tax problems concerned 1998, 2000 and 2001; for those years combined, her adjusted gross income was $949,000.
Taylor died on June 3, 2009, after complications from surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding on May 19, 2009. Her final performance was at the Blues Music Awards, on May 7, 2009.
Awards
- Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Traditional Blues AlbumGrammy Award for Best Traditional Blues AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011. From 2001 to 2003 the award recipients included the producers and engineers as well as the artists...
- 1985 - Howlin' Wolf Award - 1996
- Blues Hall of Fame - Inducted 1997
- Blues FoundationBlues FoundationThe Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 Blues organizations from various parts of the world....
Lifetime Achievement Award - 1999 - NEANational Endowment for the ArtsThe National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
National Heritage Fellowship - 2004 - Blues Music Award (formerly the W. C. Handy Award) - 24 times, including the following categories:
- Contemporary Blues Female Artist
- Entertainer of the Year
- Female Artist
- Traditional Blues Female Artist
- Vocalist of the Year
- At age 76 in 2004, she appeared as a special guest with Taj MahalTaj Mahal (musician)Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
on an episode of ArthurArthur (TV series)Arthur is an American/Canadian animated educational television series for children, created by Cookie Jar Group and WGBH for the Public Broadcasting Service...
. - At age 80 in 2008, she appeared as a special guest with Umphrey's McGeeUmphrey's McGeeUmphrey's McGee is an American progressive rock jam band based in Chicago whose music is often referred to as "progressive improvisation", or "improg" ....
at their New Year's Eve performance at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago. - Taylor won for Best Blues Album in The 7th Annual Independent Music AwardsThe Independent Music AwardsThe Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
Discography
- Love You Like a Woman (Charly RecordsCharly RecordsCharly Records is a British record label which specialises in reissued material.-History:Among the labels whose original releases are reissued by Charly are Vee-Jay, Sun, Immediate, BYG, Tomato, and Fania. Charly Records was founded in France in 1974 by Jean-Luc Young, who had been a promoter of...
) - November 30, 1968 - Koko Taylor (MCAMCA RecordsMCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
/ChessChess RecordsChess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
) - 1969 - Basic Soul (Chess RecordsChess RecordsChess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
) - 1972 - South Side Lady (Evidence Records) - 1973
- I Got What It Takes (AlligatorAlligator RecordsAlligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record...
) - Southside Baby (Black and Blue Records) - 1975
- The EarthshakerThe EarthshakerThe Earthshaker is a blues album by Koko Taylor, released in 1978 by Alligator Records.- Track listing :# "Let the Good Times Roll" – 3:00# "Spoonfull" – 3:00...
(Alligator) - 1978 - From The Heart Of A WomanFrom The Heart Of A WomanFrom the Heart of a Woman is a blues album by Koko Taylor, released in January 1981 by Alligator Records.-Track listing:# "Something Strange Is Going On" – 4:01# "I'd Rather Go Blind" – 4:57...
(Alligator) - 1981 - Queen of the Blues (Alligator) - 1985
- An Audience with Koko Taylor (Alligator) - 1987
- Live from Chicago (Alligator) - 1987
- "Wang Dang DoodleWang Dang Doodle"Wang Dang Doodle" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon for Howlin' Wolf at Chess Records in Chicago. It has been covered by many artists, including Love Sculpture, Koko Taylor, Z. Z. Hill, Ted Nugent, the Pointer Sisters, PJ Harvey, Grateful Dead, Ratdog, Savoy Brown, Charlie Watts, Booker T....
" (Huub Records) - 1991 - Jump for Joy (Alligator) - 1992
- Force of NatureForce of Nature (Koko Taylor Album)Force of Nature is a blues album by Koko Taylor, released in 1993 by Alligator Records.-Track listing:# "Mother Nature" – 4:41# "If I Can't Be First" – 3:40# "Hound Dog" – 5:33...
(Alligator) - 1993 - Royal Blue (Alligator) - 2000
- Deluxe Edition (Alligator) - 2002
- Old School (Alligator) - 2007
External links
- Official website
- Hoekstra, Dave. "Chicago legend and 'Queen of the Blues' Koko Taylor dead at 80," Chicago Sun-Times, Wednesday, June 3, 2009.
- Co-host of "Blues you can use", FM radio station WGVE 88.7, Gary, IndianaGary, IndianaGary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
- Interview with Koko Taylor on Centerstage Chicago (June 2007)
- "Queen of the Blues: Koko Taylor Talks About Her Subjects", interview by James Plath, 1994
- Wild Women Don't Have the Blues features interviews with Koko Taylor
- Koko Taylor - Daily Telegraph obituary