Eulis Soko Richardson (December 8, 1939 – January 29, 2004) was an American

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer's ...

. His career spanned almost fifty years, during which he performed and recorded with seminal groups including

John Mayall John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...

's Bluesbreakers and the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. He is perhaps best known for his innovative

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orche ...

of Ike & Tina Turner's version of the

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, also referred to as Creedence and CCR, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band initially consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty; his brother, ...

song "

Proud Mary "Proud Mary" is a song written by John Fogerty and first recorded by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released by Fantasy Records as a single from the band's second studio album, '' Bayou Country'', which was issued by the same ...

."Soko Richardson
. Press release
Pressnetwork.com
January 30, 2004.Noted Soul Drummer Soko Richardson Dies
February 2004.

Biography

Richardson was born and raised in

New Iberia, Louisiana New Iberia (french: La Nouvelle-Ibérie; es, Nueva Iberia) is the largest city in and parish seat of Iberia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The city of New Iberia is located approximately southeast of Lafayette, and forms part of the L ...

. He began his musical career at the age of 16, when he left home to tour the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

with local bands. Shortly thereafter

Ike Turner Izear Luster "Ike" Turner Jr. (November 5, 1931 – December 12, 2007) was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, record producer, and talent scout. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and ...

, upon hearing Richardson play in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, hired him to play with his band, the

Kings of Rhythm The Kings of Rhythm are an American music group formed in the late 1940s in Clarksdale, Mississippi and led by Ike Turner through to his death in 2007. Turner would retain the name of the band throughout his career, although the group has underg ...

, and then later with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Richardson worked with Turner for the next ten years. His ex-wife

Edna Richardson Edna Woods (born August 23, 1949), also known as LeJeune Richardson, is an American singer, dancer and actress. She was an Ikette in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in the 1960s and 1970s, and later a dancer for Tina Turner in the 1980s and 1990s. Ri ...

was an Ikette in the revue as well. In 1971, Richardson's arrangement of the

song "

" reached No. 4 on the pop chart and No. 5 on the R&B chart. It became a signature song for Ike & Tina Turner and won them a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group in 1972.''The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll'' (rev. ed., 2001). New York: Fireside/Simon & Schuster. pp. 1010 . In 1971, Richardson joined

's Bluesbreakers, with whom he would tour and record for the next decade, playing with many of the diverse artists to whom Mayall gave a start.John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
accessed March 7, 2007
Accessed March 7, 2007.''The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll''. p. 621. In the mid-1980s, Richardson joined Albert Collins and the Icebreakers and became an influential figure in the

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

scene. He helped earn the Icebreakers the W. C. Handy Award as Blues Band of the Year in 1985. Over the years Richardson recorded with many other artists, including Pee Wee Crayton,

Bobby Womack Robert Dwayne Womack (; March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Starting in the early 1950s as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing gui ...

and the English guitarist Terry Reid, with whom he was recording an album at the time of his death. Though limited by health problems in later years, he continued to perform and record and to sit in on

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without ...

s with friends. He played his last gig a few weeks before his death, at a club with Reid. Richardson died in the early hours of January 29, 2004, in his home in Los Angeles, from complications of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

. He was 64.John Mayall Newsletter
. Accessed March 7, 2007. He was survived by two daughters, Rosalyn and Dia Richardson, and three grandchildren.

Partial discography

With Ike & Tina Turner

*1966: ''

River Deep – Mountain High "River Deep – Mountain High" is a song by Ike & Tina Turner released as the title track to their 1966 studio album on Philles Records. Produced by Phil Spector and written by Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. ''Rolling Stone'' ranke ...

'',

Ike & Tina Turner Ike & Tina Turner were an American musical duo consisting of husband and wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by Ike Turner's band the Kings of Rhythm and backing voca ...

(

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

) *1969: ''

A Black Man's Soul ''A Black Man's Soul'' is an instrumental album by musician Ike Turner & the Kings of Rhythm released by Pompeii Records in 1969. Recording and release ''A Black Man's Soul'' contains songs written by Ike Turner, fellow St. Louis musician O ...

'', Ike Turner's

( Pompeii Records) *1971: '' What You Hear is What You Get'', Ike & Tina Turner (

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...

) *1972: ''

Strange Fruit "Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black ...

'', Family Vibes (United Artists Records) *1991: '' Proud Mary: The Best of Ike & Tina Turner'' ( EMI)

With John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers

*1974: ''The Latest Edition'' (Polydor) *1975: ''New Year, New Band, New Company'' (ABC/One Way) *1975: ''Notice to Appear'' (ABC/One Way) *1976: ''Banquet in Blues'' (ABC/One Way) *1977: ''A Hard Core Package'' (ABC/One Way) *1978: ''Last of the British Blues'' (ABC/OneWay), live recording *1982: ''Road Show Blues'' (DJM)

With Albert Collins

*1988: ''In Concert'' (MVD), live DVD *1991: ''Iceman'' (Virgin)

Various others

*1992: ''Guitars That Rule the World'', various artists (Metal Blade) *1994: ''Chess Rhythm & Roll'', various artists (Chess) *2003: ''Anthology'',

(The Right Stuff)

References

External links

Life in Legacy - Week of February 7, 2004
picture of Soko Richardson {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Soko 1939 births 2004 deaths People from New Iberia, Louisiana American rock drummers Blues drummers Ike & Tina Turner members Rhythm and blues drummers John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers members Soul drummers Musicians from Louisiana Deaths from diabetes Kings of Rhythm members 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians