Koko Taylor is Dead - RIP September 28, 1928 - June 3, 2009

Now no one out there who knows Chicago doesn't Koko. Know the blues? You know Koko. Know anything about music? Maybe, maybe not. She wasn't famous like Bach, but she is a legend like Elvis.

Koko's dead.

I saw her in a few blues bars over the years, and caught her from the lawn seats at the Chicago Blues Fest.

The Chicago Tribune collected what others are saying.

They describe her
Koko Taylor, born Cora Walton in Memphis, Tennessee, moved to Chicago in 1955 and is known as Queen of the Blues. In 1966, she had a major hit with her cover of Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle (see video below)," a tune that's since become a signature hit for her. Her smoky, almost-masculine-like vocals have influenced some of the most revered female singers around, including Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin. Even now, at 79, she pretty much owns the blues scene, having won 25 W.C. Hardy Awards (now known as the Blues Music Awards), more than any other artist.


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