Koko Taylor

Koko Taylor, September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009, was an American Chicago blues musician, popularly known as the Queen of the Blues.  She was known primarily for her rough, powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings. Born Cora Walton in Shelby County, Tennessee, Taylor was the daughter of a sharecropper.  She left Memphis for Chicago, Illinois in 1952 with her husband, truck driver Robert "Pops" Taylor.  In the late 1950s she began singing in Chicago 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 where she recorded Wang Dang Doodle, a song written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf five years earlier.  The song became a hit, reaching number four on the R&B charts in 1966, and selling a million copies.

Famously capable of standing up for herself, and tolerating no nonsense from any of her male colleagues, she had recently declared: "It's tough being out there doing what I'm doing in what they call a man's world."  With her big, raw blues shouting voice, she took her cues from the likes of Bessie Smith, Big Mamma Thornton and Memphis Minnie.  Koko, in turn, influenced an entire generation of younger female blues artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Janis Joplin, Shannon Curfman, and Susan Tedeschi.

Wanderin' Spirit
October, 2012
"Koko's Juke Joint"

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