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Koko Taylor

It is not easy being a woman succeeding in the male- dominated blues world, but Koko Taylor has done just that. She’s taken her music from the tiny clubs on the South Side of Chicago to giant festivals, and continues to perform all over the world. She’s appeared on national television numerous times and has even been the subject of a PBS documentary. Through good times and personal hardships, Koko Taylor has remained a major force in the blues. “It’s a challenge,” she says. “It’s tough being out here doing what I’m doing in what they call a man’s world. It’s not every woman that can hang in there and do what I am doing.” Without a doubt, Koko Taylor is the preeminent blues woman in the world today. She is, and will remain, the undisputed Queen of the Blues.

"I come from a poor family,” recalls Koko. “A very poor family, I was raised up on what they call a sharecropper’s farm.” Born Cora Walton (an early love of chocolate earned her the lifelong nickname Koko) in 1928 just outside of Memphis in Bartlett, Tennessee, Koko was an orphan by age 11. Along with her five brothers and sisters, Koko developed a love for music from a mixture of gospel she heard in church and blues she heard on radio stations beaming in from Memphis. Even though her father encouraged her to sing only gospel music, Koko and her siblings would sneak out back with their homemade instruments and play the blues. With one brother accompanying on a guitar strung with baling wire and another brother on a fife made out of a corncob, Koko began her career as a blues woman. As a youngster, Koko listened to as many blues artists as she could. Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie were particular influences, as were Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. She would listen to their songs over and over again. Although she loved to sing, she never dreamed of joining their ranks.

When she was in her early 20s, Koko and her soon-to-be husband, the late Robert “Pops” Taylor, moved to Chicago looking for work. With nothing but, in Koko’s words, “35 cents and a box of Ritz crackers,” the couple settled on the city’s South Side, the cradle of the rough-edged sound of Chicago blues. Taylor found work cleaning houses for wealthy families in the ritzy northern suburbs. At night and on weekends, Koko and Pops would visit the South and West Side blues clubs, where they would hear singers like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Magic Sam, Little Walter, and Junior Wells. And thanks to prodding from Pops, it wasn’t long before Taylor was sitting in with many of the legendary blues artists on a regular basis.

Taylor’s big break came in 1963. After a particularly fiery performance, songwriter/arranger Willie Dixon approached her. Much to Koko’s astonishment, he told her, “My God, I never heard a woman sing the blues like you sing the blues. 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 to sing the blues.” Dixon first recorded Koko for USA Records and then secured a Chess recording contract for her. He produced several singles and two albums for her including her huge 1966 hit single “Wang Dang Doodle,” firmly establishing Koko as the world’s number one female blues talent.

In the early 1970s, Taylor was among the first of the South Side Chicago blues artists to find work, and an audience, on the city’s white North Side. In 1972, Koko played at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in front of more people than ever before (including a young Bruce Iglauer). Atlantic Records recorded the festival (including her performance) and released a live album, which brought Koko to the attention of a large, national audience. In 1975, Koko found a home with the city’s newest blues label, Iglauer’s Alligator Records. Her first album for the fledgling label, “I Got What It Takes,” earned her a Grammy nomination. Since then, Koko’s recorded eight more albums for Alligator, and secured her place in the list of top selling blues artists.

On her most recent effort released in 2007, Koko returns with her first album in seven years, the aptly titled “Old School.” Koko Taylor once again shows the world what she does so well. From foot-stomping barnburners to powerful slow blues, she proves in an instant that her blues are joyous and life-affirming, powerful and soul-stirring.

Over the course of her almost 50-year career, Taylor has received just about every award the blues world has to offer and then some. She’s received Grammy nominations for seven of her last eight Alligator albums, and she won a Grammy in 1984 for the live multi-artist album “Blues Explosion” on Atlantic Records. In 2004 she was presented with the coveted National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment For The Arts. She holds 25 Blues Music Awards (more than any other blues artist, male or female). A major feather in her cap came on March 3, 1993, when Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor with a Legend Of The Year Award, and declared “Koko Taylor Day” throughout Chicago. In 1998, Chicago Magazine named her “Chicagoan Of The Year,” and in 1999, Taylor was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall Of Fame. There are many kings of the blues, but only one queen. Koko’s voice is still capable of pinning a listener to the back wall.
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Celebrating Koko Taylor Plus New Releases By Count Basie Orchestra, Darcy James Argue, Lenora Zenzali Helm, Kavita Shah, Lezlie Harrison & More

by Mary Foster Conklin
October 9, 2023

This broadcast includes new releases from The Count Basie Orchestra, Sharon Minemoto, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Lenora Zenzalai Helm, Kavita Shah, Lezlie Harrison and Eunmi Lee, with birthday shoutouts to Koko Taylor, Ann Richards, George Garzone, Melissa Stylianou, Basia, Nadia Washington and Carolina Calvache, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and online. Purchase their music so they can continue to distract, comfort, provoke and inspire. Playlist Eric ...

Radio & Podcasts

New Releases Plus Women Driven Jazz From Terri Lyne Carrington's Book New Standards Vol. 1

by Mary Foster Conklin
October 10, 2022

This broadcast presents new vocal releases from Samara Joy, Melissa Stylianou, Sonica (Nicole Zuraitis, Thana Alexa, Julia Adamy), and Kate Baker & Vic Juris, with birthday shoutouts to blues legend Koko Taylor, pianists Emily Takahashi, Hyuna Park, Carolina Calvache and vocalists Melissa Stylianou, Laila Biali, among others. Also Part I of music selections from Terri Lyne Carrington's latest New Standards Vol. 1 book featuring 101 Lead Sheets composed by women. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear ...

Album Review

Various artists: Alligator Records: 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music

Read "Alligator Records: 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music" reviewed by Jim Trageser

by Jim Trageser
June 18, 2021

Maybe this half-century commemoration of the jny: Chicago-based, blues-focused label should have been titled, “The Last of the Independents." Almost alone of the mid-major labels that formerly thrived in the 1980s and '90s by specializing in non-mainstream styles of music, Alligator has managed to navigate stunning changes in the music business--from the vinyl of LPs and 45s to cassettes and CDs, and then, most recently, the virtual collapse of the retail record business and wholesale pivot to online ...

Radio & Podcasts

You Ain't Worth a Good Woman - Celebrating Koko Taylor

by Mary Foster Conklin
October 19, 2020

Included are fresh singles from Jonathan Karrant, Melody Gardot, plus a new release from the Jen Hodge All Stars with birthday shoutouts to Koko Taylor (pictured), Lauren White, Melissa Stylianou, Laila Biali, Ann Richards, pianists Carolina Calvache, Hyuna Park, Emily Takahashi and more. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by purchasing their music during this time of lockdown. Playlist Hyuna Park “Driving in New York" from Her Morning Waltz (Internova Records) 00:00 Lauren White ...

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Album Review

Koko Taylor: Royal Blue

by Ed Kopp
September 1, 2000

Now regarded as the Queen of the Blues, Koko Taylor is a classic female blues shouter who favors the raw, electric energy of Chicago blues. On Royal Blue, Taylor’s feisty singing helps to inspire a star-studded supporting cast that includes B.B. King, Keb’ Mo’, Johnnie Johnson and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.No singer gives more or herself than Taylor, and no one plays the angry or sensual woman better than the 64-year-old blues mama. Taylor’s growly voice still sounds powerful ...

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Obituary

Funeral Arrangements Announced for Blues Singer Koko Taylor

Source: All About Jazz
June 6, 2009

WAKE/VISITATION AND FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR KOKO TAYLOR

Wake/Visitation (Lie in State) Thursday, June 11, 2009 4:00 pm - 9:00 pm Rainbow Push Coalition National Headquarters 930 East 50th Street (at Drexel) Chicago, IL 60615

Funeral Services Friday, June 12, 2009 6:00 pm (4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Visitation) Rainbow Push Coalition National Headquarters 930 East 50th Street (at Drexel)
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190

Obituary

Koko Taylor: 1928-2009

Source: JamBase
June 4, 2009

“QUEEN OF THE BLUES" KOKO TAYLOR 1928 - 2009

Koko Taylor 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 ...
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231

Obituary

Chicago Blues Legend Koko Taylor Dies at 80

Source: All About Jazz
June 3, 2009

Koko Taylor more than once said she hoped that when she died, it would be on stage, doing the thing she loved most: Singing the blues. She nearly got her wish. The Chicago musical icon died Wednesday at age 80 of complications from gastrointestinal surgery less than four weeks after her last performance, at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis, Tenn. There she collected her record 29th Blues Music Award, capping an era in which she became the most revered ...
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181

Festival

Lineup Announced for 2008 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival

Source: All About Jazz
May 15, 2008

DAVENPORT, Iowa - Grammy-award winner Koko Taylor, dubbed “The Queen of Blues" for having won more Blues Awards than any other blues artist-male or female, returns to the 2008 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival.

The Mississippi Valley Blues Society (MVBS) today announced the festival lineup of 28 acts performing on two stages, July 3 - 5, in Davenport, Iowa. Produced by MVBS and presented by IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union, the event draws nearly 15,000 to LeClaire Park-a blues-inspiring outdoor ...
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Performance / Tour

Koko Taylor, Queen of the Blues, Celebrates New Release with Live Performance in Blackwood

Source: All About Jazz
March 21, 2007

"The great blues singer of her generation." - Rolling Stone

Grammy Award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor and her roof-raising Blues Machine will celebrate the release of Old School with a live performance in Blackwood. Inspired by the sound and spirit of the Chicago blues of the 1950s, Taylor wrote five new originals for Old School and carefully chose songs from Willie Dixon, Lefty Dizz, Magic Sam and others to create an album of tough, “old school" Chicago blues. ...
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128

Performance / Tour

Alligator Artists the Holmes Brothers, Koko Taylor and Shemekia Copeland to Perform in Philadelphia

Source: All About Jazz
March 17, 2005

Performance information is as follows:

The Holmes Brothers Saturday, May 14th: Annenberg Center, Zellerbach Theater 3680 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA www.annenbergcenter.org 8:00 p.m. Ticket Price: Please check website for details “Shout Sister Shout: A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe" with Special guest Marie Knight!

Koko Taylor and Shemekia Copeland Saturday, May 21st: Keswick Theatre 291 Keswick Avenue Glenside, PA www.keswicktheatre.com/ ...
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Music Industry