RIP Koko Taylor

Chicago lost a blues legend with the June 2009 death of Koko Taylor from complications of gastro-intestinal surgery. She was 80 years old.

Known as the Queen of Chicago blues, the big-voiced Taylor helped to prove that the world of blues is not just for men. She came from a tradition of hard-belting blues women starting with Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Big Momma Thornton. A player in the Chicago blues scene in early 60s, she was discovered singing in a club by blues artist Willie Dixon in 1963.

She signed with Chicago-based Chess Records in 1964 and had a major hit with “Wang Dang Doodle” the following year. She transferred to another Chicago label, Alligator, in 1975 when Chess closed. Meanwhile she had formed her own band, The Blues Machine.

The 1984 Grammy-winner (for best blues album) was born Cora Walton, a sharecropper’s daughter in Memphis TN. She got her nickname because she loved chocolate. Her musical career began with gospel-singing in her local Baptist church. She married Pops Taylor in 1953. Taylor remained a devout Christian throughout her life, avoiding the hard drinking and drugging common in the music business. She remained an active performer until her death.

You Tubes

Here is a You Tube video of a young Koko singing Wang Dang Doodle with Little Walter on harmonica. Here is an older Koko singing I'm a Woman at the Kennedy Center tribute to Morgan Freeman.

Discography 1969-2007

Koko Taylor
Basic Soul
South Side Lady
I Got What it Takes
Queen of the Blues
Southside Baby
The Earthshaker
From the Heart of a Woman
An Audience with Koko
Taylor
Live from Chicago
Jump for Joy
Love you Like a Woman
Wang Dang Doodle
Force of Nature
Royal Blue
Old School

Bold = at Niles in Blues and Jazz