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Blues queen Koko Taylor dies at 80 mmusic news
Orphaned at 11, Koko a nickname she earned because of an early love of chocolate at age 18 moved to Chicago with her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert "Pops" Taylor, in search for work.Setting up house on the South Side, Koko found work as a cleaning woman for a wealthy family living in the city's northern suburbs. At night and on weekends, she and her husband, who would later become her manager, frequented Chicago's clubs, where many of the artists heard on the radio performed.
I started going to these local clubs, me and my husband, and everybody got to know us,Taylor said. And then the guys would start letting me sit in, you know, come up on the bandstand and do a tune.The break for Tennessee-born Taylor came in 1962, when arranger composer Willie Dixon, impressed by her voice, got her a Chess recording contract and produced several singles and two albums for her, including the million-selling 1965 hit, Wang Dang Doodle, which she called silly, but which launched her recording career. From Chicago blues clubs Taylor took her raucous, gritty, good-time blues on the road to blues and jazz festivals around the nation, and into Europe. After the Chess label folded, she signed with Alligator Records. In most years, she performed at least 100 concerts a year.
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