Koko Taylor died she was 80

Cora Walton died she was 80. Ofcourse the world knew Cora as Koko Taylor, Taylor was an American blues musician, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues." She was known primarily for her rough powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings.

September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009

Born in Shelby County, Tennessee, Taylor 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, 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 recorded many versions of this Dixon-penned song over the past few decades and has added more material, both original and covers, but never repeated that initial chart success.

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 recorded nine albums for Alligator, 8 of which were Grammy-nominated), and come to dominate the female blues singer ranks, winning twenty five 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 films such as Blues Brothers 2000, and she opened a blues club on Division St. in Chicago in 1994, but it closed in 1999.

Taylor influenced musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Janis Joplin, Shannon Curfman, and Susan Tedeschi. In the years prior to her death, she performed over 70 concerts a year and resided just south of Chicago in Country Club Hills, Illinois.

In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service said that Taylor owed $400,000 in back taxes, penalties and interest. Her tax problems concerned 1998, 2000 and 2001; for those years combined, her adjusted gross income was $949,000.[2]

Taylor died on June 3, 2009, after complications from a surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding on May 19, 2009. Her final performance was at the Blues Music Awards, on May 7, 2009.


Awards
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album - 1985
Howlin' Wolf Award - 1996
Blues Hall of Fame - Inducted 1997
Blues Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award - 1999
NEA National Heritage Fellowship - 2004
Blues Music Award (formerly the W. C. Handy 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
At age 76 in 2004, she appeared as a special guest with Taj Mahal on an episode of Arthur.
At age 80 in 2008, she appeared as a special guest with Umphrey's McGee at their New Year's Eve performance at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago, IL.

Love You Like a Woman (Charly Records) - November 30, 1968
Koko Taylor (MCA/Chess) - 1969
Basic Soul (Chess) - 1972
South Side Lady (Evidence Records) - 1973
I Got What It Takes (Alligator) - 1975
Southside Baby (Black & Blue) - 1975
The Earthshaker (Alligator) - 1978
From The Heart Of A Woman (Alligator) - 1981
Queen of the Blues (Alligator) - 1985
An Audience with Koko Taylor (Alligator) - 1987
Live from Chicago (Alligator) - 1987
Love You Like a Woman (Charly Records) - November 30, 1968
Wang Dang Doodle (Huub Records) - 1991
Jump for Joy (Alligator) - 1992
Force of Nature (Alligator) - 1993
Royal Blue (Alligator) - 2000
Deluxe Edition (Alligator) - 2002
Old School (Alligator) - 2007

Koko Taylor ft. Little Walter - Wang Dang Doodle



Koko Taylor, "Voodoo Woman"