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Usher Performing At The NFL Kickoff Things have changed for the better for R&B singers today: These days, it’s not unusual to find Alicia Keys, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and other contemporary R&B artists residing on the U.S. singles chart — especially in its upper echelons. But that wasn’t always the case. Just ask Jerry Butler, a founding member of the Impressions. When the Hot 100 singles list debuted...
I just recorded a song called Wig In A Box (embedded below, or click here). It’s a song from the off-Broadway musical (and subsequent movie), “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” The show is about Hedwig, a punk rocker who lives in Berlin. Hedwig gets a (botched) sexchange operation in order to legally marry a U.S. solder [...]
Jerry Wexler died, at the age of 91, late last week. I'll be honest, I didn't realize the man was still alive. It's still sad news. I haven't been sure what to say here, and then I found this tribute from Rolling Stone, which kinda sums it up better than anyone else could. Wexler was more than a pioneer of...
A friend of mine mentioned Jerry Wexler to me. I said who? Here’s what he wrote me - Bad week for R&B, what with Isaac Hayes and Jerry Wexler dying. Wexler was THE reason that Atlantic Records and Stax Records were different from Motown. Twenty essential Jerry Wexler recordings 1. Professor [...]
Jerry Wexler, one of the pivotal figures in the history of R&B, rock’n'roll and the U.S. music industry, passed away Friday at the age of 91. From Joel Selvin’s obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle : Wexler was the last living partner in the landmark record label, Atlantic Records, The label’s founder Ahmet Ertegun, who [...]
NEW YORK, NY -- 08/15/08 -- Jerry Wexler, one of the prime architects of Atlantic Records -- as a visionary producer as well as a senior executive -- passed away early today at his home in Florida at the age of 91. A passionate jazz fan a..
Market Wire - Media and Entertainment (Free subscription) | 08/15/2008
NEW YORK, NY (MARKET WIRE) Jerry Wexler, one of the prime architects of Atlantic Records -- as a visionary producer as well as a senior executive -- passed away early today at his home in Florida at the age of 91.
Unless you are a big fan of the 1950s gospel sound chances are you will never have heard of Wynona Carr. But under different circumstances you certainly would know about her today - right up there with LaVern Baker, Brenda Lee, and Connie Frances who were just about the only female solo vocalists singing R&R to hold their own with the original male giants. Born August 23, 1924 in Cleveland she was...
… of Jerry Leiber. He’s 75. Leiber and partner Mike Stoller are in the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame. By the time they were 20, in just three years of working together, their early songs had been recorded by a collection of true all-stars in the rhythm and blues genre including [...]
On last week’s “Theme Time Radio Hour”, Bob Dylan played LaVern Baker singing Soul On Fire. Check out the YouTube clip (it’s just audio and a still picture) of her singing Tweedle Dee. Now, I think that ought to brighten anyone’s day.
The hottest deejay in radio delivered another sizzling show last week. Playlist and selectively selected quotes below. Bessie Smith — There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight ( “the Empress of the blues” ) ( Bob tells us that the all-time highest temperature ever recorded on earth (136 deg. F) occurred in 1922 at [...]
… ought to be a national holiday. It's Aretha Franklin's birthday. The first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is 66 today. Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul,” remains one of the preeminent vocalists of the age, a singer of great passion and control whose finest recordings define the term [...]
On her debut album, "Evil Gal Blues," Willson takes on the early-'50s R&B repertoire of Dinah Washington, Ruth Brown, and LaVern Baker and makes it her own with a voice as expressive as it is overpowering. On an uptempo number like Baker's "Voodoo Voodoo," Willson manages to maintain a laughing, purring tone even as she spits out syllables like machine gun fire. On the ballad standard, "At Last,"...
I cut a LaVern Baker song from the Valentine's playlist at the last minute because it wasn't quite right, but I think she's aces. I just found a great YouTube video of her performing a different song, "Playing the Game of Love", on an old TV show for a bunch of dancin' teens. Both the song and the setting are sweet and cute as can be:
