KOKO TAYLOR
Koko Taylor - the undisputed Queen Of The Blues - infuses every song she sings with an instantly identifiable raw, soulful power. From her humble beginnings on a sharecropper's farm near Memphis to her current status as one of the greatest voices that the blues has ever produced, Taylor's story is an amazing tale of talent, hard work, perseverance and dedication. Her soul-drenched voice and riveting stage presence have earned her fans across the globe as well as a host of accolades and awards from the blues world and beyond.
Born Cora Walton just outside of Memphis, Tennessee, Taylor was an orphan by age 11. An early love of chocolate earned her the lifelong nickname Koko. Along with her five brothers and sisters, Koko developed a love for music from a mixture of gospel songs she heard in church, and blues and R&B songs she heard on B.B. King's daily radio show beaming in from Memphis. Even though her father encouraged her to sing only gospel music, Koko and her siblings would sneak behind their one room house with their homemade instruments and play the blues. With one brother accompanying her on a guitar made out of bailing wire and nails and another on a fife made out of a corncob, Koko began her career as a blues woman.
When she was 18, Koko and her soon-to-be husband, the late Robert "Pops" Taylor, moved to Chicago. With nothing but, in Koko's words, "thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz crackers," the couple settled down on the city's South Side, the cradle of the rough-edged sound of Chicago blues. Taylor found work cleaning house for a wealthy family in the ritzy northern suburbs. At night and on weekends, Koko and Pops would visit the clubs, hearing Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. And thanks to prodding from Pops, it wasn't long before Koko was sitting in with those legendary blues artists on a regular basis.
Her big break came in 1962. After she gave a particularly fiery performance with Howlin' Wolf's band, famed blues producer/songwriter Willie Dixon approached her. Much to Koko's astonishment, he told her, "My God, I never heard a woman sing the blues like you. There are lots of men singing the blues today, but not enough women. That's what the world needs today, a woman with a voice like yours." Dixon got Koko a Chess recording contract and produced several singles (and two albums) for her, including the million-selling 1966 hit, Wang Dang Doodle. That song firmly established Koko as one of the hottest new female blues talents.
In the early 1970s, Taylor was among the first of the South Side Chicago blues artists to perform on the city's North Side. In 1972, she played at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in front of more people than ever before in her career. Atlantic Records recorded the festival and released a live album, which brought Koko to the attention of a large national audience. In 1975, Koko found a home with Bruce Iglauer's recently formed Alligator Records. Her first album for the label, I GOT WHAT IT TAKES, earned a Grammy(c) nomination. Since then, Koko's recorded seven more critically acclaimed albums for Alligator.
Over the course of her 40-year career, Taylor has received just about every award the blues world has to offer. She has earned 21 W.C. Handy Awards (more than any other artist), six Grammy(c) nominations for her last seven Alligator recordings and won a Grammy(c) in 1984 for the compilation album Blues Explosion on Atlantic. 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.
Taylor has succeeded in the male-dominated blues world. She's taken her music from the tiny clubs of Chicago's South Side to world-renowned festivals. She has shared stages with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy as well as with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton. And with no plans to slow down anytime soon (she continues to perform over 80 concerts a year worldwide) she will no doubt remain the undisputed Queen Of The Blues.
SON SEALS
When guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Frank "Son" Seals unleashed his debut Alligator recording in 1973, his feral guitar work, scorching vocals and innovative songwriting immediately marked him as one of the major blues voices of his generation. At the time, many young blues players were simply covering the popular blues standards of the day. But Son was an original, writing most of his own material and playing his guitar with a fierce, raw intensity matched only by his ferocious vocals. His stature as a leading blues voice continues to grow with each new album, and today Seals is regarded as one of Chicago's - and the blues' - greatest artists.
Born in Osceola, Arkansas in 1942, Seals grew up immersed in the blues. His childhood home was a few rooms in the back of his father Jim's juke joint, The Dipsy Doodle (famous for blues in the front and dice in the back). With musicians like Sonny Boy Williamson, Albert King and Robert Nighthawk playing within earshot of his bed nearly every night, Son knew the blues before he began walking. Even with all the master bluesmen around the house, Son's father Jim was his greatest inspiration. Jim Seals had played piano, trombone, guitar and drums, touring with the famed Rabbit Foot Minstrels, the training ground of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Because he was such a well-known musician, Jim was able to draw some of the biggest names to perform at his little club. When Son decided at an early age to become a musician like his father, Jim made sure Son would learn to do things right. "My father taught me everything from the start," Son recalls. "Tuning the guitar, fingering. Where I wanted to be riffing around all up and down the neck right away, he'd keep me on one chord for hours, until I could feel in it in my sleep. I'd get up the next morning, grab the guitar, and I'd be right on that chord."
By the time he was 13, Seals was an accomplished drummer, backing many of the artists who came through The Dipsy Doodle. At 18 he was leading his own band as a guitarist during the week and playing drums behind whomever was playing at his father's club on the weekends. Seals hit the road playing guitar with Earl Hooker in 1963, and soon after that as a drummer with Albert King (with whom he recorded the seminal Stax album Live Wire/Blues Power). He moved to Chicago in 1971 and began jamming with everyone from Junior Wells to Hound Dog Taylor to James Cotton and Buddy Guy. After Hound Dog Taylor's Alligator debut album hit and he began touring, Son took over Hound Dog's regular weekend gigs at The Expressway Lounge on Chicago's South Side.
Seals' debut album, THE SON SEALS BLUES BAND, established him as a groundbreaking new blues artist. Son's audience base grew as he began to tour, playing colleges, clubs and festivals across the country. His 1977 album, MIDNIGHT SON, was his true breakthrough. The album received widespread acclaim from every major music publication. On the strength of MIDNIGHT SON, Seals began what would become regular tours across the U.S.A. as well as repeated appearances in Europe. A strong series of six more successful Alligator releases followed through the 1980s and 1990s, growing Son's audience from a few hundred into many thousands. He became a favorite of critics everywhere. "Excellent modern blues," exclaimed Blues & Rhythm. Musician declared Seals delivers "performances of the most profound emotion...one of the genre's most soulful exorcists." But it isn't just the critics. Fellow musicians - from inside and outside of the blues world - take notice of Seals' immense talents. Seals has shared stages with icons like B.B. King and Johnny Winter. Even the popular rock group Phish came calling, covering Seals' Funky Bitch on record and inviting the bluesman to join them on stage at many of their tour stops.
Son's reputation as a charismatic live performer and a fiercely individual songwriter has taken him from playing in small clubs to headlining international blues festivals. Over the course of his eight Alligator albums, Seals has emerged as one of Chicago's - and the world's - greatest bluesmen, and one of the genre's most powerful live performers. From his introduction as a hot young firebrand in 1973 to his current status as a leading voice of Chicago blues, Son Seals continues to blaze a blues trail that others will follow for years to come.
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