Koko Taylor

Koko Taylor
Background information
Birth name Cora Anna Walton
Also known as KoKo
Born (1928-09-28)September 28, 1928
Shelby County, Tennessee, U.S.
Died June 3, 2009(2009-06-03) (aged 80)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues, soul, soul blues, traditional blues[1]
Occupation(s) Singer
Years active 1958–2008
Labels Alligator Records, MCA, Checker, Chess, Yambo Records, Charly Records
Website Koko Taylor.com

Koko Taylor (born Cora Anna Walton, September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009)[2][3][4] was an American singer whose style encompassed Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul blues. Sometimes called "The Queen of the Blues",[1] she was known for her rough, powerful vocals.

Life and career

Born on a farm near Memphis, Tennessee, Taylor was the daughter of a sharecropper. She left Tennessee for Chicago in 1952 with her husband, Robert "Pops" Taylor, a truck driver.[3] In the late 1950s, she began singing in blues clubs in Chicago. She was spotted by Willie Dixon in 1962, and this led to more opportunities for performing and her first recording contract, in 1965, with Checker Records, a label owned by Chess Records, for which she recorded "Wang Dang Doodle", a song written by Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf five years earlier. The record became a hit, reaching number four on the R&B chart and number 58 on the pop chart in 1966,[5] and selling a million copies.[3] She recorded several versions of the song over the years, including a live rendition at the 1967 American Folk Blues Festival, with the harmonica player Little Walter and the guitarist Hound Dog Taylor. Her subsequent recordings, both original songs and covers, did not achieve as much success on the charts.

Taylor became better known by touring in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and she became accessible to a wider record-buying public when she signed a recording contract with Alligator Records in 1975. She recorded nine albums for Alligator, eight of which were nominated for Grammy awards, and came to dominate ranks of female blues singers, winning twenty-nine W. C. Handy/Blues Music Awards.[6]

She survived a near-fatal car crash in 1989. In the 1990s, she appeared in the films Blues Brothers 2000 and Wild at Heart. She opened a blues club on Division Street in Chicago in 1994, which relocated to Wabash Avenue, in Chicago's South Loop, in 2000 (the club is now closed).

In 2003, she appeared as a guest with Taj Mahal in an episode of the television series Arthur. In 2009, she performed with Umphrey's McGee at the band's New Year's Eve concert at the Auditorium Theater, in Chicago.

Taylor influenced Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Janis Joplin, Shannon Curfman, and Susan Tedeschi.

In her later years, 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 unpaid taxes, penalties and interest, for the years 1998, 2000 and 2001. In those years combined, her adjusted gross income was $949,000.[7]

Taylor's final performance was at the Blues Music Awards, on May 7, 2009. She suffered complications from surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding on May 19 and died on June 3.[8]

Awards

Discography

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music. Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 181. ISBN 1-904041-96-5.
  2. ↑ Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. p. 246. ISBN 978-0313344237.
  3. 1 2 3 "Chicago Tribune: Chicago breaking news, sports, business, entertainme…". Archive.today. 28 December 2012. Archived from the original on 28 December 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  4. ↑ Keepnews, Peter (June 4, 2009) "Koko Taylor, Queen of Chicago Blues, Is Dead at 80". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2000). Top Pop Singles 1955–1999. Record Research. p. 641. ISBN 0-89820-139-X.
  6. 1 2 "Awards Winners and Nominees". blues.org. The Blues Foundation. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  7. ↑ Novack, Janet; Barrett, William P. (June 2, 2008). "Singing Tax Blues". Forbes.
  8. ↑ Doc Rock. "The Dead Rock Stars Club 2009 January to June". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  9. ↑ "The Musicians Atlas - 2008 Independent Music Awards Winners". Web.archive.org. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
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