Koko Taylor (Undated photograph)

Koko Taylor sometimes called KoKo Taylor (born September 28, 1935 as Cora Walton, on a farm just outside Memphis, Tennessee) is an American blues musician, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues." She is known primarily for her rough and powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings. Image File history File links KokoTaylorPromoPhoto. ... Image File history File links KokoTaylorPromoPhoto. ... September 28 is the 271st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (272nd in leap years). ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Nickname: The River City, The Bluff City Official website: http://www. ... The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on a pentatonic scale and a characteristic twelve-bar chord progression. ...

Taylor left Memphis for Chicago, Illinois in 1954 with her husband, truck driver Robert "Pops" Taylor and in the late 1950s 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, for which her single Wang Dang Doodle (written by Dixon, and a hit for Howlin' Wolf five years earlier) became a major hit, reaching number four on the R&B charts in 1966 and selling a million copies. Taylor has recorded many versions of this Dixon-penned song over the past several decades and has added more material, both original and covers, but has never repeated that initial chart success. Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Official website: http://egov. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Willie Dixons style of blues was one of the inspirations for a new generation of music, rock and roll. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Chess Records was an American record label, based in Chicago, Illinois. ... Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), better known as Howlin Wolf, was an influential blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ...

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 has since recorded over a dozen albums for that label, many nominated for Grammy awards, and come 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, the 1990s found Taylor in movies such as Blues Brothers 2000, and she opened a blues club on Division St. in Chicago in 1994, but closed it in 1999. Alligator Records is the Chicago-based independent record label set up by Bruce Iglauer with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (originally called the Gramophone Awards), presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music... The W. C. Handy Awards (also called The Handys) were presented annually in Memphis, Tennessee, by the Blues Foundation to recognize the best blues music recordings and performances of the previous year. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... The Blues Brothers: Dan Aykroyd (left) and the late John Belushi The Blues Brothers is the name of a blues band fronted, incognito, by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

Koko Taylor has influenced such musicians as Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Janis Joplin, Shannon Curfman, and Susan Tedeschi. She currently resides and occasionally performs in Vancouver and for a time operated a club on one of the city's main nightlife streets, "Wasserman's Beat". Bonnie Raitt on the cover of her album Silver Lining Arbonna Bonnie Raitt, (born November 8, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who was born in Burbank, California, the daughter of Broadway musical star John Raitt. ... Shemekia Copeland (1979 – ) is a notable American blues singer born in Harlem, New York. ... Janis Joplin on the cover of her posthumously released live album In Concert Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American blues-influenced rock singer and occasional songwriter with a distinctive voice. ... Shannon Curfman Shannon Curfman (b. ... Susan Tedeschi American blues artist. ... This article refers to the city in British Columbia, Canada. ... Jack Wasserman (1927-77) -- a highly-respected nightlife and celebrity columnist for the Vancouver Sun newspaper from 1949 on. ...

Music awards

• Blues Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award - 1999
• Blues Hall of Fame - Inducted 1997
• Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album - 1985
• Howlin' Wolf Award - 1996
• NEA National Heritage Fellowship - 2004
• W. C. Handy Award (a.k.a. the Blues Music Award) - 24 times, including the following categories:

• Contemporary Blues Female Artist
• Entertainer of the Year
• Female Artist
• Traditional Blues Female Artist
• Vocalist of the Year

The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee that is affiliated with more than 135 Blues organizations, and with a membership spanning some twenty countries. ... Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (originally called the Gramophone Awards), presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music... The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album has been awarded since 1983. ... The National Endowment for the Arts is a United States federally funded program that offers support and funding for projects that exhibit artistic excellence. ... The W. C. Handy Awards (also called The Handys) were presented annually in Memphis, Tennessee, by the Blues Foundation to recognize the best blues music recordings and performances of the previous year. ...

External links

• Koko Taylor at The Internet Movie Database
• Koko Taylor at TV.com
• Koko Taylor Official Web site