Blues Legend Koko Taylor Dies at 80
- Posted on Jun 3rd 2009 6:25PM by Benjy Eisen
- Comments (80)
National treasure and blues legend Koko Taylor passed away Wednesday of complications due to recent surgery. The 80-year-old singer underwent a procedure to correct a gastrointestinal bleed on May 19 in Chicago, and had been expected to make a full and healthy recovery, according to a news post (dated May 28) on her official website.Just weeks earlier, on May 7, Taylor performed her iconic hit 'Wang Dang Doodle' at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis, where she accepted the award for Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year. She was honored to receive the award but it wasn't her first: Taylor holds the record for the artist with the most number of Blues Music Awards. She has 29 to her name, plus numerous other accolades including a Grammy and a NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award.
Taylor was known as "Queen of the Chicago Blues," although "Koko" was also a nickname bestowed on her because of her chocolate obsession (her real name is Cora Taylor.) She was born in Memphis, and raised on gospel music before moving to Chicago, where Willie Dixon eventually landed her a recording contract with Chess Records. In 1965, one year after her debut, she hit pay-dirt with 'Wang Dang Doodle' and the rest, as they say, is history. And history will certainly hold a place for Koko Taylor's landmark 45-year career with its countless contributions to American blues music.
Dearly Departed Musicians
Dolla, May 18: The Atlanta-based rapper, whose real name is Roderick Anthony Burton II, was gunned down outside a Los Angeles mall. Burton's publicist told reporters he was waiting at a valet stand after a shopping trip when a gunman shot him. The The 'Make a Toast' star was 21. A suspect is in custody.
Frazer Harrison, Getty Images
Stephen Bruton: The guitarist and songwriter, who worked with the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt and Willie Nelson, died from complications of throat cancer in May 2009. He was 60.
Ebet Roberts/Redferns , Getty Images
Ean Evans: The Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist died in May 2009 after what the band called "a valiant battle with an aggressive form of cancer."
Rusty Russell , Getty Images
Vern Gosdin, April 29: The country hit-maker, best known for songs like 'I Can Tell By the Way You Dance (You're Gonna Love Me Tonight)' and 'I'm Still Crazy,' died in Nashville from complications due to a stroke.
Chuck Krall / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
Rev. Timothy Wright, April 23, 2009:The two-time Grammy-nominated gospel singer died following a July car crash that took the lives of his wife and his grandson.
Mark Q. Murray, AP
David "Pop" Winans, April 9, 2009: The gospel music patriarch -- BeBe and CeCe are his kids -- was twice nominated for Grammys, in 1989 for his album with wife Delores, pictured, and again in 1999 for a solo album. He died at a Nashville hospice, seven months after suffering a heart attack and stroke.
Arnold Turner, WireImage / Getty Images
Bud Shank, April 2, 2009: The alto saxophonist and flutist died at age 82. He was most famous for his work with acts like the Mamas and the Papas and his flute work can be heard on their song 'California Dreamin'.'
GAB Archive / Redferns / Getty Images
Hal Durham, March 29, 2009: He was a fixture on the Grand Ole Opry stage, working at the famed country music institution for 32 years. He was 77.
Donnie Beauchamp, Gaylord Entertainment / AP
Dan Seals, March 25, 2009: The singer, who scored a number of pop and country hits, died at 61 of leukemia. Seals was half of the pop duo, England Dan and John Ford Coley, best known for the ballad, 'I'd Really Love to See You Tonight.'
Beth Gwinn, Retna
Uriel Jones, March 24, 2009: One of the original members of the Funk Brothers, a Motown group that played with Marvin Gaye and The Temptations, Jones died after suffering complications from a heart attack. He was 74.
Tabatha Fireman, Redferns / Getty Images
Reader Comments(1 of 4)
Fearless Leaderat 6-03-2009
The world is going to be a lot less interesting without her. Saw her perform many times, even met her once, very gracious, really cared about her fans. The real deal, May God Bless....
mfprtooat 6-03-2009
Also : Sam Butera R.I.P
http://blog.nola.com/keithspera/2009/06/sam_butera_former_louis_prima.html
LeKoolat 6-04-2009
I am so saddened by the bad news that the great Koko Taylor has passed away. She was one of the best blues singers ever. I'm so happy I had the chance to see her a few times. I always loved her, and I dare to keep still at one of her shows. Long live the queen of the blues.
moorenookieat 6-04-2009
I thought her name was Koko Ono.
jimndeb47at 6-04-2009
Moorenookie,
You are a real two-fer:
1) Someone willing to disrespect the dead for a cheap laugh.
2) An ignorant racist.
Please. Go. Away.
Hello Susieat 6-05-2009
AOL publishes all this crap about Country and Blues Legends, half the time you never even know who the ell they are talking about. I believe was a legend more people would have heard about her.
ROBERT HALLMARKat 6-05-2009
you forgot the 3-fer
he's also a DUMB ***
My Fireat 6-07-2009
What you wrote even though you thought it was funny was nothing more than an innapropriatec crude and very rude joke and you should be ashamed of yourself. What if it had been your mother or grandmother i doubt if you would be laughing then.
J B Marketingat 6-04-2009
Waking up to this news is very sad, have most of her CD's and saw her live; she and her band 'worked their butts off' playing out live.......awesome show. May you rest in peace, Force of Nature!!
MR.KITEat 6-04-2009
Dam right I got the BLUES ! I was very fortunate to have seen the Queen and her Blues Machine many times when she came to the D.C. area. It will be a long time if any that the throne will be filled. What a great gig in the sky ! KO KO, the WOLF and the MUDD ! Long Live The Queen !
LovelyRosat 6-04-2009
She was a wang-dang-doodle of a blues singer--the REAL Queen of the Blues and a beautiful "salt of the earth" person. There will never be another like her. God bless Koko Taylor. RIP Queen.
...and say hello to Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles, Big Mama Maybelle, Dinah Washington, and all of those other blues greats for me.
gerrihan65at 6-04-2009
I am sure that she and Willie Mae Thornton will be singing up a storm together.
dwightandkrisat 6-04-2009
Just put a wig on Samuel L. Jackson and let him lip-sync to her music!!! Sorry, but that's the first thing that came to mind when I saw this pic because I have never even heard of this "legend".
handsomeat 6-05-2009
Then you have no business posting on a board about a blues singer. Ignorant box of rocks
hjpiemanat 6-05-2009
so you're ignorant. nothing to be proud of. there are talented musicians out there who are over 25. get some taste. ps it is better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Marciaat 6-04-2009
I have all her CDs and saw her both at an outdoor concert here in Pennsylvania and at her club in Chicago. She was simply the best. For those of you who have not heard her - purchase the CD "Southside Lady"
joseph dallagoat 6-04-2009
I NEVER HEARD OF THIS WOMAN, SORRY CHARLIE.
LovelyRosat 6-04-2009
WE DON'T CARE that you don't know--why are you here?
Go find Elvis. Tupac? LOL!
amstuebenat 6-08-2009
Sadly Joseph this betrays your own ignorance not her lack of fame. Go find out about her, listen to some tracks of her music, especially her live performance recordings. I have always regretted that when I moved away from Chicago (lived there 3 years after college) I was still too young to know who she was. Since then I have delighted in learning to know her music, but have lived too far away from her touring area to make it to a concert. I have only been able to enjoy her on disk and film. You too have that chance; don't blow it.
LovelyRosat 6-04-2009
Gerrihan65--Ya got that right--I remember both of them "Big Mamas." You don't hear the blues sung like KoKo and the Big Mamas sang the blues anymore.
As a young girl (8, 9 years old) living up North, I used to love to listen to Randy Records, John R, and Bill "Hoss" Allen on radio station WLAC in Nashville,TN. THEY PLAYED THE BADDEST BLUES...EVER and they played a lot of KoKo Taylor and the Big Mamas!
Up North, WLAC didn't come through until late at night around 12:00; sometimes if you were lucky, you might get it around 9:00 at night, but it would come in and out. We could only listen on the weekends--but by 12:00 at night, when we finally got a clear signal--THAT STATION WAS ROCKIN'!!!
I loved it when my father took us to Bluefield, WV for summer vacation; he always went at night so we could pick up WLAC--boy those were the best trips listening to all of that great blues music and gospel. As I got older and spent entire summers in Bluefield, my cousins and I would be up all night playing cards and listening to WLAC. My grandmother said we sounded like some JUKE JOINT--LOL!
For years, I thought the WLAC DJs were black men, but they were WHITE men and they refused to play black music, especially blues, covered by white artists..like Elvis Presley.
Thanks for reminding me of Big Mama Thorton...her name took me back. LOL! And thanks again for telling off that twit - LOL!