Bad Influence (Robert Cray Album)
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Bad Influence (Robert Cray Album)
''Bad Influence'' is the second studio album by the blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Robert Cray. Released with Hightone Records, this was the album thought to have put Cray on the map, prior to his explosion into the mainstream with ''Strong Persuader'' in 1986. It was his second release and his first on Hightone Records. It contained two cover versions: Johnny Guitar Watson's "Don't Touch Me" and Eddie Floyd's "Got to Make a Comeback". The most well-known songs off the album are probably the funky minor-key blues song "Phone Booth", later covered by Cray's idol Albert King, and the title track which was subsequently covered by Eric Clapton. Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker produced the album for the California-based label. To date the album has sold over one million copies. Track listing #"Phone Booth" (Robert Cray, Richard Cousins, Dennis Walker, Mike Vannice) (3:32) #"Bad Influence" (Cray, Mike Vannice) (2:56) #"Grinder" (Cray, David Amy) (4:09) #"To Make a Comeback" ...
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Soul Blues
Soul blues is a style of blues music developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s that combines elements of soul music and urban contemporary music. Origin African American singers and musicians who grew up listening to the electric blues by artists such as Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, and Elmore James, and soul singers such as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Otis Redding fused blues and soul music. Bobby Bland was one of the pioneers of this style. See also * List of soul-blues musicians * Soul music * Blues * R&B * Gospel music * Doo wop * Funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ... References {{Soulmusic Soul music genres Blues music genres ...
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Cover Version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song released around the same time as the original in order to compete with it. Now, it refers to any subsequent version performed after the original. History The term "cover" goes back decades when cover version originally described a rival version of a tune recorded to compete with the recently released (original) version. Examples of records covered include Paul Williams' 1949 hit tune "The Hucklebuck" and Hank Williams' 1952 song "Jambalaya". Both crossed over to the popular hit parade and had numerous hit versions. Before the mid-20th century, the notion of an original version of a popular tune would have seemed slightly odd – the production of musical entertainment was seen as a live event, even if it was reproduced at home via a cop ...
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1983 Albums
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the true Internet). * January 24 – Twenty-five members of the Red Brigades are sentenced to life imprisonment for the 1978 murder of Italian politician Aldo Moro. * January 25 ** High-ranking Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia. ** IRAS is launched from Vandenberg AFB, to conduct the world's first all-sky infrared survey from space. February * February 2 – Giovanni Vigliotto goes on trial on charges of polygamy involving 105 women. * February 3 – Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Fraser is granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament, for elections on March 5, 1983. As Fraser is being granted the dissolution, Bill Hayden resigns as leader of the Australian Labor Party, and in the subsequent lea ...
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Steve Cropper
Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. He also acted as the producer of many of these records. He was later a member of the Blues Brothers band. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him 36th on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, while he has won two Grammy Awards from his seven nominations. Early life Born on a farm near Willow Springs, Missouri, Cropper lived in the nearby towns of Dora and West Plains before moving with his family to Memphis at age nine. In Memphis, where he was exposed to black church music, which, he said, "blew me away". Cropper acquired his first guitar via mail order at age 14. He loved the Five Royals and he admired guitarists including Tal Farlow, Chuck Berry, Ji ...
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Booker T
Booker T or Booker T. may refer to * Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), African American political leader at the turn of the 20th century ** List of things named after Booker T. Washington, some nicknamed "Booker T." * Booker T. Jones (born 1944), American musician and frontman of Booker T. and the M.G.'s * Booker T (wrestler) (born 1965), ring name of American professional wrestler Booker Huffman Also * Booker T. Bradshaw (1940–2003), American record producer, film and TV actor, and executive * Booker T. Laury (1914–1995), American boogie-woogie and blues pianist * Booker T. Spicely (1909–1944) victim of a racist murder in North Carolina, United States * Booker T. Whatley (1915–2005) agricultural professor at Tuskegee University * Booker T. Washington White (1909–1977), American Delta blues guitarist and singer known as Bukka White * Booker T. Boffin, pseudonym of Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dol ...
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Johnny "Guitar" Watson
John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, his recording career spanned forty years, and encompassed rhythm and blues, funk and soul music. Watson recorded throughout the 1950s and 1960s with some success. His creative reinvention in the 1970s with funk overtones, saw Watson have hits with "Ain't That a Bitch" and "Superman Lover". His highest charting single was 1977's "A Real Mother for Ya". Early life Watson was born in Houston, Texas. His father John Sr. was a pianist, and taught his son the instrument. But young Watson was immediately attracted to the sound of the guitar, in particular the electric guitar as played by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. His grandfather, a preacher, was also musical. "My grandfather used to sing while he'd play guitar in church, man," Watson reflected ...
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Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of the " 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibsons "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". He was also named number five in ''Time'' magazine's list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009. After playing in a number of different local bands, Clapton joined the Yardbirds in 1963, replacing founding guitarist Top Topham. Dissatisfied with the change of the Yardbirds sound from blues rock to a more radio-friendly pop rock sound, Clapton left in 1965 to play with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. On leaving Mayall in 1966, after one album, he formed the power trio Cream with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce, in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop". After Cream br ...
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Albert King
Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps best known for his popular and influential album ''Born Under a Bad Sign'' (1967) and its title track. He, B.B. King, and Freddie King, all unrelated, were known as the "Kings of the Blues". The left-handed King was known for his "deep, dramatic sound that was widely imitated by both blues and rock guitarists." He was once nicknamed "The Velvet Bulldozer" because of his smooth singing and large size–he stood taller than average, with sources reporting or , and weighed –and also because he drove a bulldozer in one of his day jobs early in his career. King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1983. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2011, he was ranked number 13 on ''Rolling Stone''s 100 ...
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Eddie Floyd
Edward Lee Floyd (born June 25, 1937) is an American R&B and soul singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s, including the No. 1 R&B hit song " Knock on Wood". Biography Floyd was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He founded The Falcons, which also featured Mack Rice. They were forerunners to future Detroit vocal groups such as The Temptations and The Four Tops. Their most successful songs included "You're So Fine" and later, when Wilson Pickett was recruited into the group as the lead singer, "I Found a Love". Pickett then embarked on a solo career, and The Falcons disbanded. Floyd signed a contract with the Memphis-based Stax Records as a songwriter in 1965. He wrote a hit song, "Comfort Me", recorded by Carla Thomas. He then teamed with Stax's guitarist Steve Cropper to write songs for Wilson Pickett, now signed to Atlantic Records. Atlantic distributed Stax and Jerry Wexler brought Pickett ...
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Johnny Guitar Watson
Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Variant forms of Johnny include Johnnie, Johnney, Johnni and Johni. The masculine Johnny can be rendered into Scottish Gaelic as . Notable people and characters named Johnny or Johnnie include: People Johnny * Johnny Adams (born 1932), American singer * Johnny Aba (born 1956), Papua New Guinean professional boxer * Johnny Abarrientos (born 1970), Filipino professional basketball player * Johnny Abbes García (1924–1967), chief of the government intelligence office of the Dominican Republic * Johnny Abel (1947–1995), Canadian politician * Johnny Abrego (born 1962), former Major League baseball player * Johnny Ace (1929–1954), American rhythm and blues singer * John Laurinaitis John Hodger Laurinaitis (born July 31, 1962), also known by ...
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Strong Persuader
''Strong Persuader'' is the fifth studio album by American blues singer and guitarist Robert Cray. It was recorded by Cray at the Los Angeles studios Sage & Sound and Haywood's with producers Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker, before being released on November 17, 1986, by Mercury Records and Hightone Records. ''Strong Persuader'' became his mainstream breakthrough and by 1995 it had sold over two million copies. The record was later ranked #42 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 80's. Critical reception ''Strong Persuader'' received rave reviews from contemporary critics. In a review for ''Rolling Stone'', Jon Pareles said Cray delivered intriguing stories about sex and infidelity with disciplined singing, songwriting, and "a version of blues and soul that doesn't come from any one region, building an idiom for songs that tell with conversational directness the stories of ordinary folks". Robert Christgau from ''The Village Voice'' praised Cray's sophistica ...
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Hightone Records
HighTone Records was an American independent record label based in Oakland, California, United States. HighTone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg in 1983. The label's first release that year was '' Bad Influence'' by bluesman Robert Cray. In 1984, the label released Frankie Lee's debut album, ''The Ladies and the Babies''. Some of the label's releases in the late 1980s featured Joe Louis Walker including ''Cold is the Night'' and ''The Gift.'' Between 1995 and 2000, the label issued three albums by James Armstrong (''Sleeping with a Stranger'', ''Dark Night'', and ''Got It Goin' On''). From 1997 to 2005 it reissued much of the High Water Recording Company catalogue of LPs on CD. In 1997, Clara McDaniel recorded her debut album, ''Unwanted Child'', which was released on HighTone. In September 2006, the label released a five CD boxed set titled ''America ...
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