Artists

Sam Cooke

in Artists, Record Companies & Recording Studios, Songwriters

At the age of thirty-three, on December 11th 1964, Sam Cooke was shot and killed at the Hacienda Motel, in Los Angeles. This article is posted on December 11th 2020 in his memory. Samuel Cook was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931. He was the fifth of eight children born to Charles […]

Phil Collins, Tom Washington & the Phenix Horns

in Arrangers, Artists, Chicago, UK

Phil Collins started writing songs for his first solo album, after he returned to the UK in April 1979 from Vancouver, where he had tried but failed to patch things up with his wife. As a result, the new songs were very personal and Collins decided to produce them himself, […]

The Staple Singers: “God’s Greatest Hit-makers”

in Artists, Chicago, Gospel, Memphis, Muscle Shoals

Family patriarch Roebuck “Pops” Staples was born near Winona in Minnesota. In the early 1920s his family moved to Will Dockery’s plantation near Drew in Mississippi, where Roebuck was introduced to Delta blues. Charley Patton inspired him to learn the guitar. In his teenage years Roebuck started singing with gospel […]

William Bell & Judy Clay

in Artists, Memphis, Songwriters, Soul

William Bell was born William Yarbrough in 1939 in Memphis. Judy Clay was born Judith Grace Guions in St. Pauls, North Carolina, just one year earlier. Around thirty years later they teamed up to cut a track at Stax Records in Memphis, “Private Number”, that achieved success in the UK, reaching number […]

Johnnie Taylor at Stax

in Artists, Memphis, Soul

Johnnie Taylor was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas, but grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas. Like most black kids of his generation, he was introduced to singing and performing through the church. In 1953 he joined a gospel group called The Highway Q.C.’s, replacing Lou Rawls, who had joined in 1951 when Sam Cooke […]

Dusty In Memphis

in Artists, Memphis, Soul

“You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” was a massive hit for Dusty Springfield in 1966, but it was followed by a fallow year in terms of chart success. So Dusty was looking for a way to regain her popularity in the UK and the USA and came up […]

Little Richard in New Orleans

in Artists, New Orleans, Record Companies & Recording Studios

Richard Wayne Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, on December 5th 1932, the third of twelve children. His father was a bricklayer, who owned a night club and sold bootleg moonshine. He was also a church deacon. His mother was a member of New Hope Baptist Church in Macon. His […]

Lloyd Price

in Artists, New Orleans, New York & East Coast

Lloyd Price was born on March 9th 1933 in Kenner, Louisiana, not far from New Orleans. He was the eighth of eleven children. Like many young kids, he was given music lessons, learning piano and trumpet. He also sang in the local church choir. Price has spoken about learning all the […]

Ashford & Simpson at Sigma Sound Studios, New York

in Artists, New York & East Coast, Producers, Songwriters

Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson had staff positions at Motown, where they wrote and produced hits for Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross. During their stay at Motown, Valerie released a couple of solo albums which flopped, prompting her and Ashford to leave in 1973. From then on, the duo concentrated on making […]

Tyrone Davis

in Artists, Chicago

Tyrone Fettson was born in Greenville, Mississippi, in 1937 or 1938. He moved to Chicago in 1959 and began working as a chauffeur for Blues legend Freddie King. He also starting singing in local clubs, where he was noticed by Harold Burrage, who helped him record some early tracks for small Chicago record labels, […]