Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Koko Taylor


Koko Taylor

Koko Taylor was born on September 28, 1935 as Cora Walton, on a farm just outside Memphis, Tennessee. Taylor left for Chicago in 1954 with her husband, truck driver Robert "Pops" Taylor and in the late 1950s began singing in 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, recorded a major hit that reached number four on the R&B charts in 1966. It sold a million copies. 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 then recorded over a dozen albums for that label, many nominated for Grammy awards. She came to dominate the female blues singer ranks, winning 24 W. C. Handy Awards (more than any other artist). After her recovery from a near-fatal car crash in 1989, Taylor appeared in movies such as Blues Brothers (2000). She opened a blues club on Division St. in Chicago in 1994 but closed it in 1999. Koko Taylor was awarded the W. C. Handy Lifetime Music Achievement Award in 2007; won the 2008 Grammy for “Old School”, Best Traditional Blues Album; won the 2008 Grammy for Gonna Buy Me a Mule, Best Song of the Year; and a Grammy as the Best Female Blues Performer of 2008. Koko Taylor performed until her death on June 3, 2009.

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