“QUEEN
OF THE BLUES” KOKO TAYLOR 1928 - 2009
From Alligator Records
Grammy Award-winning
blues legend Koko Taylor, 80, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago,
IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a
gastrointestinal bleed. On May 7, 2009, the critically acclaimed Taylor, known
worldwide as the “Queen of the Blues,” won her 29th Blues Music Award (for
Traditional Female Blues Artist Of The Year), making her the recipient of more
Blues Music Awards than any other artist. In 2004 she received the
NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award, which is among the highest honors given
to an American artist. Her
most recent CD, 2007’s Old School, was nominated for a Grammy (eight of
her nine Alligator albums were Grammy-nominated). She won a Grammy in 1984 for
her guest appearance on the compilation album Blues Explosion on
Atlantic.
Born
Cora Walton on a sharecropper’s farm just outside Memphis, TN, on September 28,
1928, Koko, nicknamed for her love of chocolate, fell in love with music at an
early age. Inspired by gospel music and WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B. King and
Rufus Thomas, Taylor began belting the blues with her five brothers and sisters,
accompanying themselves on their homemade instruments. In 1952, Taylor and her
soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert “Pops” Taylor, traveled to Chicago with
nothing but, in Koko’s words, “thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz
Crackers.”
In
Chicago, “Pops” worked for a packing company, and Koko cleaned houses. Together
they frequented the city’s blues clubs nightly. Encouraged by her husband, Koko
began to sit in with the city’s top blues bands, and soon she was in demand as a
guest artist. One evening in 1962 Koko was approached by arranger/composer
Willie Dixon. Overwhelmed by Koko’s performance, Dixon landed Koko a Chess
Records recording contract, where he produced her several singles, two albums
and penned her million-selling 1965 hit “Wang Dang Doodle,” which would become
Taylor’s signature song.
After
Chess Records was sold, Taylor found a home with the Chicago’s Alligator Records
in 1975 and released the Grammy-nominated I Got What It Takes. She
recorded eight more albums for Alligator between 1978 and 2007, received seven
more Grammy nominations and made numerous guest appearances on various albums
and tribute recordings. Koko appeared in the films Wild At Heart,
Mercury Rising and Blues Brothers 2000. She performed on Late
Night With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, CBS-TV’s
This Morning, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered,
CBS-TV’s Early Edition, and numerous regional television programs.
Over the
course of her 40-plus-year career, Taylor received every award the blues world
has to offer. On March 3, 1993, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor
with a “Legend Of The Year” Award and declared “Koko Taylor Day” throughout
Chicago. In 1997, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame. A
year later, Chicago Magazine named her “Chicagoan Of The Year” and, in
1999, Taylor received the Blues Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009
Taylor performed in Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center Honors honoring
Morgan Freeman.
Koko
Taylor was one of very few women who found success in the male-dominated blues
world. She took her music from the tiny clubs of Chicago’s South Side to concert
halls and major festivals all over the world. She shared stages with every major
blues star, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Wells and
Buddy Guy as well as rock icons Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
Taylor’s
final performance was on May 7, 2009 in Memphis at the Blues Music Awards, where
she sang “Wang Dang Doodle” after receiving her award for Traditional Blues
Female Artist Of The Year.
Survivors
include Taylor’s husband Hays Harris, daughter Joyce Threatt, son-in-law Lee
Threatt, grandchildren Lee, Jr. and Wendy, and three
great-grandchildren.
Funeral
arrangements will be announced.
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