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Spoonful Of Music
"Spoonful" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin' Wolf. Called "a stark and haunting work", it is one of Dixon's best known and most interpreted songs. Etta James and Harvey Fuqua had a pop and R&B record chart hit with their duet cover of "Spoonful" in 1961, and it was popularized in the late 1960s by the British rock group Cream. Background and lyrics Dixon's "Spoonful" is loosely based on "A Spoonful Blues", a song recorded in 1929 by Charley Patton. Earlier related songs include "All I Want Is a Spoonful" by Papa Charlie Jackson (1925) and "Cocaine Blues" by Luke Jordan (1927). The lyrics relate men's sometimes violent search to satisfy their cravings, with "a spoonful" used mostly as a metaphor for pleasures, which have been interpreted as sex, love, and drugs: Composition and recording "Spoonful" has a one-chord, modal blues structure found in other songs Willie Dixon wrote for Howlin' Wolf, such as "Wang Dang Doodle" and "Back Do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade career, he recorded in genres such as blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and psychedelic rock. He also helped bridge the gap between Delta blues and Chicago blues. Born into poverty in Mississippi as one of six children, he went through a rough childhood where his mother kicked him out of her house, and he moved in with his great-uncle, who was particularly abusive. He then ran away to his father's house where he finally found a happy family, and in the early 1930s became a protégé of legendary Delta blues guitarist and singer, Charley Patton. He started a solo career in the Deep South, playing with other notable blues musicians of the era, and at the end of a decade had made a name for himself in the Mississippi Delta. After going t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wang Dang Doodle
"Wang Dang Doodle" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon. Music critic Mike Rowe calls it a party song in an urban style with its massive, rolling, exciting beat. It was first recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1960 and released by Chess Records in 1961. In 1965, Dixon and Leonard Chess persuaded Koko Taylor to record it for Checker Records, a Chess subsidiary. Taylor's rendition quickly became a hit, reaching number thirteen on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and number 58 on the pop chart. "Wang Dang Doodle" became a blues standard and has been recorded by various artists. Composition and lyrics "Wang Dang Doodle" was composed by Willie Dixon during the second part of his songwriting career, from 1959 to 1964. During this period, he wrote many of his best-known songs, including "Back Door Man", "Spoonful", "The Red Rooster" (better-known as "Little Red Rooster"), "I Ain't Superstitious", "You Shook Me", "You Need Love" (adapted by Led Zeppelin for "Whole Lotta Love"), and "You Can' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Wyman
William George Wyman (né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who achieved international fame as the bassist for the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993. In 1989, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Rolling Stones. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. He has worked producing records and films, and has scored music for films and television. Wyman has kept a journal since he was a child during World War II, and has published seven books. He is also a photographer, and his works have been displayed in galleries around the world. Wyman became an amateur archaeologist and enjoys metal detecting. He designed and marketed a patented "Bill Wyman signature metal detector", which he has used to find relics in the English countryside dating back to the era of the Roman Empire. Early life Born William George Perks in Lewisham Hospital in Lewisham, South London, the son of bricklayer Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his distinctive, soulful high tenor voice, Winwood plays other instruments proficiently, including drums, mandolin, guitar, bass, and saxophone. Winwood was an integral member of three seminal musical ensembles of the 1960s and 1970s: the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, and Blind Faith. Beginning in the 1980s, his solo career flourished and he had a number of hit singles, including "While You See a Chance" (1980) from the album ''Arc of a Diver'' and "Valerie" (1982) from ''Talking Back to the Night'' ("Valerie" became a hit when it was re-released with a remix from Winwood's 1987 compilation album ''Chronicles''). His 1986 album ''Back in the High Life'' marked his career zenith, with hit singles including "Back in the High Life Again", "The Finer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions
''The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions'' is an album by blues musician Howlin' Wolf released in 1971 on Chess Records, and on Rolling Stones Records in Britain. It was one of the first super session blues albums, setting a blues master among famous musicians from the second generation of rock and roll, in this case Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman. It peaked at #79 on the ''Billboard'' 200. History Backstage at the Fillmore Auditorium, after a concert by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Electric Flag, and Cream, Chess Records staff producer Norman Dayron spotted the guitar players of the latter two bands, Mike Bloomfield and Eric Clapton, talking and joking around. Dayron approached Clapton and, on impulse, asked "how would you like to do an album with Howlin' Wolf?" After confirming that the offer was legitimate, Clapton agreed, and Dayron set up sessions in London through the Chess organization to coordinate with Clapton's schedule. Clapton secured the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marshall Chess
Marshall Chess (born 13 March 1942, Chicago, Illinois) is an American record producer, the son of Leonard Chess who co-founded Chess Records. Chess Records Marshall worked for sixteen years with Chess Records; founded by his father Leonard and his uncle Phil. He did everything from pressing records and loading trucks to producing over 100 Chess Records projects and eventually heading up the label as President after their acquisition by GRT in 1969. In the late 1960s, Marshall also ran his own Cadet Concept imprint as a division of Chess Records. He created and produced the Rotary Connection, which became the springboard for Minnie Riperton’s career. He signed John Klemmer and created a new format which was heralded as the first jazz-fusion album, ''Blowin' Gold''. He signed the underground black rock legends Black Merda. His Cadet Concept also imported and released the only American hit, "Pictures of Matchstick Men", by the British rock group Status Quo. He also created and pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howlin' Wolf (album)
''Howlin' Wolf'' is the second album from the Chicago blues singer/guitarist/harmonicist Howlin' Wolf. It is a collection of twelve singles previously released by the Chess label from 1960 through 1962. Because of the illustration on its sleeve (by Don S. Bronstein), the album is often called ''The Rockin' Chair Album'', a nickname even added to the cover on some reissue pressings of the LP. Legacy and awards In 1966, fellow Chess artist Koko Taylor recorded a cover version of "Wang Dang Doodle" which reached No. 4 on the Billboard's R&B Charts and became a minor crossover hit by making No. 58 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Earlier in 1963 Sam Cooke released a single of "Little Red Rooster" making No. 7 on the R&B Singles chart and No. 11 on the Hot 100.Whitburn, Joel (1988). ''Top R&B Singles 1942-1988'', Records Research, Inc., . In 1964 "Little Red Rooster" was released by the Rolling Stones, and became the first and only time that a blues record reached No. 1 in the UK Singles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freddie King
Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Mostly known for his soulful and powerful voice and distinctive guitar playing, King had a major influence on electric blues music and on many later blues guitarists. Born in Gilmer, Texas, King became acquainted with the guitar at the age of six. He started learning the guitar from his mother and his uncle. King moved to Chicago when he was a teenager; there he formed his first band the Every Hour Blues Boys with guitarist Jimmie Lee Robinson and drummer Frank "Sonny" Scott. As he was repeatedly being rejected by Chess Records, he got signed to Federal Records, and got his break with single "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" and instrumental " Hide Away", which reached number five on the ''Billboard'' magazine's rhythm and blues chart in 1961. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Below
Frederick Below, Jr. (September 6, 1926 – August 13, 1988) was an American blues drummer, best known for his work with Little Walter and Chess Records in the 1950s. According to Tony Russell, Below was a creator of much of the rhythmic structure of Chicago blues, especially its backbeat. He was the drummer on Chuck Berry's song " Johnny B. Goode". Career Below was born in Chicago, and as he put it - "grew up around nothing ''but'' music". He started learning music and playing drums in the DuSable High School and at about the age of 14, formed a sort of a jazz band with two of his high school friends, Johnny Griffin and Eugene Wright. As a young man, Below served in the Army twice. The first time between 1945 - 1946, after being conscripted into the United States Army, he served in the infantry ("I practiced on helmet liners, helmets, boxes and things like that"). In 1946, When he was discharged from his service and came back home to Chicago, Below attended the reputable Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otis Spann
Otis Spann (March 21, 1924 or 1930April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician, whom many consider to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist. Early life Sources differ over Spann's early years. Some state that he was born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1930, but researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc concluded on the basis of census records and other official information that he was born in 1924 in Belzoni, Mississippi. Spann's father was, according to some sources, a pianist called Friday Ford. His mother, Josephine Erby, was a guitarist who had worked with Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith, and his stepfather, Frank Houston Spann, was a preacher and musician. One of five children, Spann began playing the piano at the age of seven, with some instruction from Friday Ford, Frank Spann, and Little Brother Montgomery.Harris, S. (1981). ''Blues Who's Who''. New York: Da Capo Press. pp. 477–479. . Career By the age of 14, he was playing in bands in the Jackson area. He moved to C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abu Talib (musician)
Abu Talib (born Fred Leroy Robinson; February 24, 1939 – October 8, 2009) was an American blues and R&B guitarist. Career Born in Memphis, Tennessee, he was raised in the state of Arkansas and moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1956. Inspired as a guitarist by Joe Willie Wilkins, he first recorded that year, backing harmonica player Birmingham Jones. In 1958, he began touring with Little Walter, and after seeing a jazz band perform was inspired to learn music formally at the Chicago School of Music. He also began working with Howlin' Wolf, recording with him such notable blues classics as "Spoonful", "Back Door Man" and "Wang Dang Doodle". In the mid-1960s, he played with R&B singers Jerry Butler and Syl Johnson, before joining Ray Charles' band in Los Angeles. While there, he recorded the instrumental "Black Fox", which became a minor pop hit reaching #56 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and # 29 on the R&B chart. In the early 1970s, he worked with English blues bandleader John Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
