Ray Charles is usually described as a baritone, and his speaking voice would suggest as much, as would the difficulty he experiences in reaching and sustaining the baritone’s high E and F in a popular ballad. But the voice undergoes some sort of transfiguration under stress, and in music of gospel or blues character he can and does sing for measures on end in the high tenor range of A, B flat, B, C and even C sharp and D, sometimes in full voice, sometimes in an ecstatic head voice, sometimes in falsetto. In falsetto he continues up to E and F above high C. On one extraordinary record, ‘I’m Going Down to the River’…he hits an incredible B flat…giving him an overall range, including the falsetto extension, of at least three octaves.”

In 1975, Ray Charles was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement and presented with the Golden Plate Award and the Academy of Achievement gold medal.
In 1979, Charles was one of the first musicians born in the state to be inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. His version of “Georgia on My Mind” was also made the official state song of the state of Georgia.
In 1981, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was one of the first inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural ceremony, in 1986.
He also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1986.
Charles won 17 Grammy Awards from his 37 nominations. In 1987, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1991, he was inducted to the Rhythm & Blues Foundation and was presented with the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement during the 1991 UCLA Spring Sing.
In 1990, he was given an honorary doctorate of fine arts by the University of South Florida.
In 1993, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 1998 he was awarded the Polar Music Prize, together with Ravi Shankar, in Stockholm, Sweden.
In 2004 he was inducted to the National Black Sports & Entertainment Hall of Fame.
The Grammy Awards of 2005 were dedicated to Charles.
In 2001, Morehouse College honored Charles with the Candle Award for Lifetime Achievement in Arts and Entertainment, and later that same year granted him an honorary doctor of humane letters. Charles donated $2 million to Morehouse “to fund, educate and inspire the next generation of musical pioneers.”
In 2003, Charles was awarded an honorary degree by Dillard University, and upon his death he endowed a professorship of African-American culinary history at the school, the first such chair in the nation.
In 2010, a $20 million, 76,000 sq ft (7,100 m2) facility named the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center and Music Academic Building, opened at Morehouse.
The United States Postal Service issued a forever stamp honoring Charles, as part of its Musical Icons series, on September 23, 2013.
In 2015, Charles was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame.
In 2016, U.S. President Barack Obama said, “Ray Charles’s version of “America the Beautiful” will always be in my view the most patriotic piece of music ever performed”.
In 2022, Charles was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the third African-American to be inducted after Charley Pride (2000) and Deford Bailey (2005). He was also the 13th person to be inducted into both the Country and Rock Halls of Fame.
On March 15, 1961, shortly after the release of the hit song “Georgia on My Mind” (1960), the Albany, Georgia-born musician was scheduled to perform at a dance at Bell Auditorium in Augusta, but cancelled the show after learning from students of Paine College that the larger auditorium dance floor would be restricted to whites, while blacks would be obligated to sit in the Music Hall balcony. Charles left town immediately after letting the public know why he would not be performing, but the promoter went on to sue Charles for breach of contract, and Charles was fined $757 in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on June 14, 1962. The following year, Charles did perform at a desegregated Bell Auditorium concert together with his backup group the Raelettes on October 23, 1963, as depicted in the 2004 film, Ray. On December 7, 2007, Ray Charles Plaza was opened in Albany, Georgia, with a revolving, lighted bronze sculpture of Charles seated at a piano..

Founded in 1986, the Ray Charles Foundation maintains the mission statement of financially supporting institutions and organizations in the research of hearing disorders. Originally known as The Robinson Foundation for Hearing Disorders, it was renamed in 2006 and has provided financial donations to numerous institutions involved in hearing loss research and education. The purpose of the foundation has been “to administer funds for scientific, educational and charitable purposes; to encourage, promote and educate, through grants to institutions and organizations, as to the causes and cures for diseases and disabilities of the hearing impaired and to assist organizations and institutions in their social educational and academic advancement of programs for the youth, and carry on other charitable and educational activities associated with these goals as allowed by law”.
Recipients of donations include Benedict College, Morehouse College, and other universities. The foundation has taken action against donation recipients who do not use funds in accordance with its mission statement, such as the Albany State University, which was made to return a $3 million donation after not using the funds for over a decade. The foundation houses its executive offices at the historic RPM International Building, originally the home of Ray Charles Enterprises and now also home to the Ray Charles Memorial Library on the first floor, which was founded on September 23, 2010 (what would have been his 80th birthday). The library was founded to “provide an avenue for young children to experience music and art in a way that will inspire their creativity and imagination”, and is not open to the public without reservation, as the main goal is to educate mass groups of underprivileged youth and provide art and history to those without access to such documents.
Charles enjoyed playing chess. As part of his therapy when he quit heroin, he met with psychiatrist Friedrich Hacker , who taught him how to play chess, three times a week. He used a special board with raised squares and holes for the pieces. When questioned if people try to cheat against a blind man, he joked in reply, “You can’t cheat in Chess… I’m gonna see that!” In a 1991 concert, he referred to Willie Nelson as “my chess partner”. In 2002, he played and lost to the American grandmaster and former U.S. champion Larry Evans.

Little Richard

Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020),born in Macon, GA, was known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the third of twelve children of Leva Mae (née Stewart) and Charles “Bud” Penniman. His father was a church deacon and a brick mason,[2] who sold bootlegged moonshine on the side and owned a nightclub called the Tip In Inn. His mother was a member of Macon’s New Hope Baptist Church. Initially, his first name was supposed to have been “Ricardo”, but an error resulted in “Richard” instead. In childhood, he was nicknamed “Lil’ Richard” by his family because of his small and skinny frame. A mischievous child who played pranks on neighbors, he began singing in church at a young age. Possibly as a result of complications at birth, he had a slight deformity that left one of his legs shorter than the other. This produced an unusual gait, and he was mocked for his allegedly effeminate appearance.He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the “Architect of Rock and Roll”, Richard’s most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his charismatic showmanship and dynamic music, characterized by frenetic piano playing, pounding back beat and raspy shouted vocals, laid the foundation for rock and roll. Richard’s innovative emotive vocalizations and uptempo rhythmic music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk. He influenced numerous singers and musicians across musical genres from rock to hip hop; his music helped shape rhythm and blues for generations.
“Tutti Frutti” (1955), one of Richard’s signature songs, became an instant hit, crossing over to the pop charts in both the United States and overseas in the United Kingdom. His next hit single, “Long Tall Sally” (1956), hit No. 1 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues Best-Sellers chart, followed by a rapid succession of fifteen more in less than three years. His performances during this period resulted in integration between White Americans and African Americans in his audience. In 1962, after a five-year period during which Richard abandoned rock and roll music for born again Christianity, concert promoter Don Arden persuaded him to tour Europe. During this time, the Beatles opened for Richard on some tour dates. Richard advised the Beatles on how to perform his songs and taught the band’s member Paul McCartney his distinctive vocalizations.
Richard is cited as one of the first crossover black artists, reaching audiences of all races. His music and concerts broke the color line, drawing blacks and whites together despite attempts to sustain segregation. Many of his contemporaries, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, recorded covers of his works. Taken by his music and style, and personally covering four of Richard’s songs on his own two breakthrough albums in 1956, Presley told Richard in 1969 that his music was an inspiration to him and that he was “the greatest”.
In October 1947, Sister Rosetta Tharpe overheard the fourteen-year-old Richard singing her songs before a performance at the Macon City Auditorium. She invited him to open her show. After the show, Tharpe paid him, inspiring him to become a professional performer. Richard stated that he was inspired to play the piano after he heard Ike Turner’s piano intro on “Rocket 88”. In 1949, he began performing in Doctor Nubillo’s traveling show. Richard was inspired to wear turbans and capes in his career by Nubillo, who also “carried a black stick and exhibited something he called ‘the devil’s child’—the dried-up body of a baby with claw feet like a bird and horns on its head.” Nubillo told Richard he was “gonna be famous” but that he would have to “go where the grass is greener”.
Before entering the tenth grade, Richard left his family home and joined Hudson’s Medicine Show in 1949, performing Louis Jordan’s “Caldonia”. Richard recalled that the song was the first secular R&B song he learned, since his family had strict rules against playing R&B music, which they considered “devil music”. Other sources also indicate that Little Richard was influenced by Jordan. In fact, according to one reliable source, the whoop sound on Jordan’s record “Caldonia””sounds eerily like the vocal tone Little Richard would adopt” in addition to the “Jordan-style pencil-thin mustache”.
Richard also performed in drag during this time, performing under the name “Princess LaVonne”. In 1950, Richard joined his first musical band, Buster Brown’s Orchestra, where Brown gave him the name Little Richard. Performing in the minstrel show circuit, Richard, in and out of drag, performed f or various vaudeville acts such as Sugarfoot Sam from Alabam, the Tidy Jolly Steppers, the King Brothers Circus, and Broadway Follies.Ha ving settled in Atlanta at this point, Richard began listening to rhythm and blues and frequented Atlanta clubs, including the Harlem Theater and the Royal Peacock where he saw performers such as Roy Brown and Billy Wright onstage. Richard was further influenced by Brown’s and Wright’s flashy style of showmanship and was even more influenced by Wright’s flamboyant persona and showmanship. Inspired by Brown and Wright, he decided to become a rhythm-and-blues singer and after befriending Wright, began to learn how to be an entertainer from him, and began adapting a pompadour hairdo similar to Wright’s, as well as styling a pencil mustache, using Wright’s brand of facial pancake makeup and wearing flashier clothes

Although Richard never won a competitive Grammy (his classic run of hits ended before the Grammys commenced), he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.[276] His album Here’s Little Richard and three of his songs (“Tutti Frutti”, “Lucille” and “Long Tall Sally”) are inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[277]
Richard received various awards for his key role in the formation of popular music genres.
• 1956: He received the Cashbox Triple Crown Award for “Long Tall Sally” in 1956.
• 1984: He was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
• 1986: He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the initial class of inductees chosen for that honor.
• 1990: He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• 1994: He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
• 1997: He received the American Music Award of Merit.
• 2002: Along with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, he was honored as one of the first group of BMI icons at the 50th Annual BMI Pop Awards.
• 2002: He was inducted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame.
• 2003: He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
• 2006: He was inducted into the Apollo Theater Hall of Fame.
• 2008: He received a star on Nashville’s Music City Walk of Fame.
• 2009: He was inducted to the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
• 2010: He received a plaque on the theater’s Walk of Fame.
• 2015: He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
• 2015: He was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame.
• 2015: He received the Rhapsody & Rhythm Award from the National Museum of African American Music.
• 2019: He received the Distinguished Artist Award at the 2019 Tennessee Governor’s Arts Awards.

Jackie Wilson

Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. (June 9, 1934 – January 21, 1984 )born in Detroit, MI, was an American soul and rock and roll singer and performer. Wilson was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was considered a master showman and one of the most dynamic singers and performers in pop, R&B, and rock and roll history, earning the nickname “Mr. Excitement”.
Wilson gained initial fame as a member of the R&B vocal group Billy Ward and His Dominoes. He went solo in 1957 and scored over 50 chart singles spanning the genres of R&B, pop, soul, doo-wop, and easy listening. This included 16 Top 10 R&B hits, six of which ranked as number ones. On the Billboard Hot 100, Wilson scored 14 top 20 pop hits, six of which reached the top 10.

Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. was born on June 9, 1934, in Highland Park, Michigan, as the third and only surviving child of singer-songwriter Jack Leroy Wilson, Sr. (1903–1983) and Eliza Mae Wilson (1900–1975). Eliza Mae was born on the Billups-Whitfield Place in Lowndes County, Mississippi. Eliza Mae’s parents were Tom and Virginia Ransom. Wilson often visited his family in Columbus and was greatly influenced by the choir at Billups Chapel. Growing up in the suburban Detroit enclave of Highland Park, Wilson joined a gang called the Shakers and often got himself in trouble. Wilson’s alcoholic father was frequently absent and usually unemployed. In 1943, his parents separated shortly after Jackie’s ninth birthday.
Jackie Wilson began singing as a youth, accompanying his mother, an experienced church choir singer. In his early teens he joined a quartet, the Ever Ready Gospel Singers, who gained popularity in local churches. Wilson was not very religious, but he enjoyed singing in public. The money the quartet earned from performing was often spent on alcohol, and Wilson began drinking at an early age.
Wilson dropped out of high school at age 15, having been sentenced twice to detention in the Lansing Corrections system for juveniles. During his second stint in detention, Wilson learned to box and began competing in the Detroit amateur circuit at age 16. Wilson’s record in the Golden Gloves was 2 and 8. After his mother forced Jackie to quit boxing, Wilson was forced to marry Freda Hood by her father after getting her pregnant, and he became a father at age 17.
He began working at Lee’s Sensation Club as a solo singer,[9] then formed a group called the Falcons that included cousin Levi Stubbs, who later led the Four Tops. (Two other Wilson cousins, Hubert Johnson and Levi’s brother Joe, later became members of the Contours.) The other Falcons joined Hank Ballard as part of the Midnighters, including Alonzo Tucker and Billy Davis, who worked with Wilson several years later as a solo artist. Tucker and Wilson collaborated as songwriters on a few songs Wilson recorded, including his 1963 hit “Baby Workout”.
Wilson was discovered by talent agent Johnny Otis, who recruited him for a group called the Thrillers.
Shortly before Wilson signed a solo contract with Brunswick, Green suddenly died. Green’s business partner Nat Tarnopol took over as Wilson’s manager (and ultimately rose to president of Brunswick). Wilson’s first single was released, “Reet Petite” (from his first album He’s So Fine), which became a modest R&B success (many years later, an international smash hit). “Reet Petite” was co-written by future Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. (another former boxer who was a native son of Detroit),[14] with partner Roquel “Billy” Davis (using the pseudonym Tyran Carlo) and Gordy’s sister Gwendolyn. The trio composed and produced six additional singles for Wilson: “To Be Loved”, “I’m Wanderin'”, “We Have Love”, “That’s Why (I Love You So)”, “I’ll Be Satisfied”, and Wilson’s late-1958 signature song, “Lonely Teardrops”, which peaked at No. 7 on the pop charts, ranked No. 1 on the R&B charts in the U.S., and established Wilson as an R&B superstar known for his extraorrdinary, operatic multi-octave vocal range.[15] Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops” sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.[16]
Due to Wilson’s fervor when performing, with his dynamic dance moves, impassioned singing and fashion sense, he was nicknamed “Mr. Excitement”. His stagecraft in his live shows inspired James Brown, Teddy Pendergrass, Michael Jackson[17] and Elvis Presley, as well as a host of other artists that followed. Presley was so impressed with Wilson that he made it a point to meet him, and the two instantly became good friends. In a photo of the two posing together, Presley’s caption in the autograph reads “You got you a friend for life”. Wilson was sometimes called “The Black Elvis”.[18] Reportedly, when asked about this Presley said, “I guess that makes me the white Jackie Wilson.” Wilson also said he was influenced by Presley, saying, “A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man’s music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis.”[19]
Wilson’s powerful, electrifying live perfoormances rarely failed to bring audiences to a state of frenzy.[20] His live performances consisted of knee-drops,[21][22] splits, spins, back-flips,[23][24] one-footed across-the-floor slides, removing his tie and jacket and throwing them off the stage, basic boxing steps like advance and retreat shuffling,[25] and one of his favorite routines, getting some of the less attractive women in the audience to come up to the stage and kiss him. Wilson often said “if I get the ugliest girl in the audience to come up and kiss me, they’ll all think they can have me and keep coming back and buying my records.
According to Larry Geller, who visited Wilson backstage in Las Vegas with Elvis Presley, the singer had a habit of taking a handful of salt tablets and drinking large amounts of water before each performance, to create profuse sweating. Wilson told Elvis Presley, “The chicks love it.”
On September 29, 1975, Wilson was one of the featured acts in Dick Clark’s Good Ol’ Rock and Roll Revue, hosted by the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He was in the middle of singing “Lonely Teardrops” when he suffered a massive heart attack. On the words “My heart is crying” he collapsed on stage; audience members applauded as they initially thought it was part of the act. Clark sensed something was wrong, then ordered the musicians to stop the music. Cornell Gunter of the Coasters, who was backstage, noticed Wilson was not breathing. Gunter was able to resuscitate him and Wilson was then rushed to a nearby hospital.[12]
Medical personnel worked to stabilize Wilson’s vital signs, but the lack of oxygen to his brain caused him to slip into a coma. He briefly recovered in early 1976, and was even able to take a few wobbly steps, but slipped back into a semi-comatose state
Van Morrison recorded a tribute song called “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile)” on his 1972 album Saint Dominic’s Preview. It was covered by Dexys Midnight Runners in 1982.
After Wilson’s death, Michael Jackson paid tribute to him at the 1984 Grammy Awards. Jackson dedicated his Album of the Year Grammy for Thriller to Wilson, saying, “Some people are entertainers and some people are great entertainers. Some people are followers. And some people make the path and are pioneers. I’d like to say Jackie Wilson was a wonderful entertainer. He’s not with us anymore, but Jackie, where you are I’d like to say, I love you and thank you so much.”
In 1985, the Commodores recorded “Nightshift” in memory of Wilson and soul singer Marvin Gaye, who had both died in 1984.
Wilson scored a posthumous hit in Europe when “Reet Petite” topped the charts in the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom in 1986.[29] This success was likely due in part to a new animated video made for the song, featuring a clay model of Wilson, that became popular on the BBC Two TV network in the latter country. The following year, Wilson’s posthumous charting success in the United Kingdom continued when he hit the UK Singles Chart again with “I Get the Sweetest Feeling” (number three), and “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” (number 15).
In his 1994 autobiography To Be Loved (named for one of the hit tunes he wrote for Wilson) Motown founder Berry Gordy stated that Wilson was “The greatest singer I’ve ever heard. The epitome of natural greatness. Unfortunately for some, he set the standard I’d be looking for in singers forever”.
In 1994, Peter Tork of The Monkees recorded a bluegrass-rock cover of “Higher and Higher” on his first solo album Stranger Things Have Happened, having previously self-released a single featuring it in 1981. The song remained Tork’s signature solo number in subsequent Monkees concert tours.
In the 2010 VH1 television special, Say It Loud: A Celebration of Black Music in America, Smokey Robinson and Bobby Womack both paid tribute to Wilson. Smokey explained that “Jackie Wilson was the most dynamic singer and performer that I think I’ve ever seen.” Bobby added “He was the real Elvis Presley, as far as I’m concerned…and Elvis took a lot from him too.”
In 2010, Wilson’s songs “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” and “Lonely Teardrops” were ranked No. 248 and No. 315 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In 2014, artist Hozier released a song titled “Jackie and Wilson”, a play on Wilson’s name. The song includes the lyrics “We’ll name our children Jackie and Wilson and raise them on rhythm and blues.”
In 2016, Cottage Grove Street in Detroit was renamed Jackie Wilson Lane in his honor.
In 2018, Hologram USA Networks Inc. launched the hologram stage show, Higher & Higher: The Jackie Wilson Story.
During their 2019-20 season, “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” was played following every home win by the St. Louis Blues.
In his 1994 autobiography To Be Loved (named for one of the hit tunes he wrote for Wilson) Motown founder Berry Gordy stated that Wilson was “The greatest singer I’ve ever heard. The epitome of natural greatness. Unfortunately for some, he set the standard I’d be looking for in singers forever”.[56]
In 1994, Peter Tork of The Monkees recorded a bluegrass-rock cover of “Higher and Higher” on his first solo album Stranger Things Have Happened, having previously self-released a single featuring it in 1981.[57] The song remained Tork’s signature solo number in subsequent Monkees concert tours.
In the 2010 VH1 television special, Say It Loud: A Celebration of Black Music in America, Smokey Robinson and Bobby Womack both paid tribute to Wilson. Smokey explained that “Jackie Wilson was the most dynamic singer and performer that I think I’ve ever seen.” Bobby added “He was the real Elvis Presley, as far as I’m concerned…and Elvis took a lot from him too.”
In 2010, Wilson’s songs “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” and “Lonely Teardrops” were ranked No. 248 and No. 315 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In 2014, artist Hozier released a song titled “Jackie and Wilson”, a play on Wilson’s name. The song includes the lyrics “We’ll name our children Jackie and Wilson and raise them on rhythm and blues.”
In 2016, Cottage Grove Street in Detroit was renamed Jackie Wilson Lane in his honor.
In 2018, Hologram USA Networks Inc. launched the hologram stage show, Higher & Higher: The Jackie Wilson Story.
During their 2019-20 season, “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” was played following every home win by the St. Louis Blues.

Sam Cooke

SSamuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), born in Clarlsdale, MS he was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the “King of Soul” for his distinctive vocals, notable contributions to the genre and significance in popular music.
Cooke was born in Mississippi and later relocated to Chicago with his family at a young age, where he began singing as a child and joined the Soul Stirrers as lead singer in the 1950s. Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including “You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, “Cupid”, “Wonderful World” (not to be confused with Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World), “Chain Gang”, “Twistin’ the Night Away”, “Bring It On Home to Me”, and “Good Times”. During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of Billboard’s Black Singles chart.
Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including “You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, “Cupid”, “Wonderful World” (not to be confused with Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World), “Chain Gang”, “Twistin’ the Night Away”, “Bring It On Home to Me”, and “Good Times”. During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of Billboard’s Black Singles chart.
• In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• In 1987, Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
• In 1989, Cooke was inducted a second time to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the Soul Stirrers were inducted.
• On February 1, 1994, Cooke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the music industry, located on 7051 Hollywood Boulevard.
• Although Cooke never won a Grammy Award, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, presented by Larry Blackmon of funk super-group Cameo.
• In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cooke 16th on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”.
• In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth “Greatest Singer of All Time” by Rolling Stone.
• In 2008, Cooke received the first plaque on the Clarksdale Walk of Fame, located at the New Roxy theater.
• In 2009, Cooke was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Clarksdale.
• In June 2011, the city of Chicago renamed a portion of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue as the honorary “Sam Cooke Way” to remember the singer near a corner where he hung out and sang as a teenager.
• In 2013, Cooke was inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University.[99] The founder of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, LaMont Robinson, said he was the greatest singer ever to sing.
• The words “A change is gonna come” from the Sam Cooke song of the same name are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.
• Cooke is inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.[102]
• In 2020, Dion released a song and music video as a tribute to Cooke called “Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)” (featuring Paul Simon) from his album Blues with Friends. American Songwriter magazine honored “Song for Sam Cooke” as the “Greatest of the Great 2020 Son

James Brown

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer, and bandleader. Born in Barnwell, South Carolina, to 16-year-old Susie (née Behling; 1916–2004) and 21-year-old Joseph Gardner Brown (1912–1993) in a small wooden shack. Brown’s name was supposed to have been Joseph James Brown, but his first and middle names were mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate.
The Brown family lived in extreme poverty in Elko, South Carolina, which was an impoverished town at the time.
The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames “Godfather of Soul”, “Mr. Dynamite”, and “Soul Brother No. 1”. In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown was one of the first 10 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction in New York on January 23, 1986.
Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He first came to national public attention in the mid-1950s as the lead singer of the Famous Flames, a then-only Rhythm and blues vocal group founded by Bobby Byrd. With the hit ballads “Please, Please, Please” and “Try Me”, Brown built a reputation as a dynamic live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra. His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”, “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”.
During the late 1960s, Brown moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly “Africanized” approach to music-making, emphasizing stripped-down interlocking rhythms that influenced the development of funk music.[6] By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of the J.B.s with records such as “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” and “The Payback”. He also became noted for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud”. Brown continued to perform and record until his death from pneumonia in 2006.

As a vocalist, Brown performed in a forceful shout style derived from gospel music. Meanwhile, “his rhythmic grunts and expressive shrieks harked back farther still to ring shouts, work songs, and field cries”, according to the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): “He reimported the rhythmic complexity from which rhythm and blues, under the dual pressure of rock ‘n’ roll and pop, had progressively fallen away since its birth from jazz and blues.”
For many years, Brown’s touring show was one of the most extravagant productions in American popular music. At the time of Brown’s death, his band included three guitarists, two bass guitar players, two drummers, three horns and a percussionist. The bands that he maintained during the late 1960s and 1970s were of comparable size, and the bands also included a three-piece amplified string section that played during the ballads. Brown employed between 40 and 50 people for the James Brown Revue, and members of the revue traveled with him in a bus to cities and towns all over the country, performing upwards of 330 shows a year with almost all of the shows as one-nighters: Brown’s main social activism was in preserving the need for education among youths, influenced by his own troubled childhood and his being forced to drop out of the seventh grade for wearing “insufficient clothes”. Due to heavy dropout rates in the 1960s, Brown released the pro-education song, “Don’t Be a Drop-Out”. Royalties of the song were donated to dropout-prevention charity programs. The success of this led to Brown meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House. Johnson cited Brown for being a positive role model to the youth. In 1968 James Brown endorsed Hubert Humphrey, but later Brown gained the confidence of President Richard Nixon, to whom he found he had to explain the plight of Black Americans.
Throughout the remainder of his life, Brown made public speeches in schools and continued to advocate the importance of education in school. Upon filing his will in 2002, Brown advised that most of the money in his estate go into creating the I Feel Good, Inc. Trust to benefit disadvantaged children and provide scholarships for his grandchildren. His final single, “Killing Is Out, School Is In”, advocated against murders of young children in the streets. Brown often gave out money and other items to children while traveling to his childhood hometown of Augusta. A week before his death, while looking gravely ill, Brown gave out toys and turkeys to kids at an Atlanta orphanage, something he had done several times over the years.

Though Brown performed at benefit rallies for civil rights organizations in the mid-1960s, Brown often shied away from discussing civil rights in his songs in fear of alienating his crossover audience. In 1968, in response to a growing urge of anti-war advocacy during the Vietnam War, Brown recorded the song, “America Is My Home”. In the song, Brown performed a rap, advocating patriotism and exhorting listeners to “stop pitying yourselves.

Brown demanded extreme discipline, perfection and precision from his musicians and dancers – performers in his Revue showed up for rehearsals and members wore the right “uniform” or “costume” for concert performances. During an interview conducted by Terri Gross during the NPR segment “Fresh Air” with Maceo Parker, a former saxophonist in Brown’s band for most of the 1960s and part of the 1970s and 1980s, Parker offered his experience with the discipline that Brown demanded of the band:
You gotta be on time. You gotta have your uniform. Your stuff’s got to be intact. You gotta have the bow tie. You got to have it. You can’t come up without the bow tie. You cannot come up without a cummerbund … [The] patent leather shoes we were wearing at the time gotta be greased. You just gotta have this stuff. This is what [Brown expected] … [Brown] bought the costumes. He bought the shoes. And if for some reason [the band member decided] to leave the group, [Brown told the person to] please leave my uniforms . …

Brown’s main social activism was in preserving the need for education among youths, influenced by his own troubled childhood and his being forced to drop out of the seventh grade for wearing “insufficient clothes”. Due to heavy dropout rates in the 1960s, Brown released the pro-education song, “Don’t Be a Drop-Out”. Royalties of the song were donated to dropout-prevention charity programs. The success of this led to Brown meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House. Johnson cited Brown for being a positive role model to the youth. In 1968 James Brown endorsed Hubert Humphrey,[81] but later Brown gained the confidence of President Richard Nixon, to whom he found he had to explain the plight of Black Americans.[82]
Throughout the remainder of his life, Brown made public speeches in schools and continued to advocate the importance of education in school. Upon filing his will in 2002, Brown advised that most of the money in his estate go into creating the I Feel Good, Inc. Trust to benefit disadvantaged children and provide scholarships for his grandchildren. His final single, “Killing Is Out, School Is In”, advocated against murders of young children in the streets. Brown often gave out money and other items to children while traveling to his childhood hometown of Augusta. A week before his death, while looking gravely ill, Brown gave out toys and turkeys to kids at an Atlanta orphanage, something he had done several times over the years.
Though Brown performed at benefit rallies for civil rights organizations in the mid-1960s, Brown often shied away from discussing civil rights in his songs in fear of alienating his crossover audience. In 1968, in response to a growing urge of anti-war advocacy during the Vietnam War, Brown recorded the song, “America Is My Home”. In the song, Brown performed a rap, advocating patriotism and exhorting listeners to “stop pitying y
Brown received awards and honors throughout his lifetime and after his death. In 1993 the City Council of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, conducted a poll of residents to choose a new name for the bridge that crossed the Yampa River on Shield Drive. The winning name, with 7,717 votes, was “James Brown Soul Center of the Universe Bridge”. The bridge was officially dedicated in September 1993, and Brown appeared at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the event. A petition was started by local ranchers to return the name to “Stockbridge” for historical reasons, but they backed off after citizens defeated their efforts because of the popularity of Brown’s name. Brown returned to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, on July 4, 2002, for an outdoor festival, performing with bands such as The String Cheese Incident.
During his long career, Brown received many prestigious music industry awards and honors. In 1983 he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Brown was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction dinner in New York on January 23, 1986. At that time, the members of his original vocal group, The Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd, Johnny Terry, Bobby Bennett, and Lloyd Stallworth) were not inducted. However, on April 14, 2012, The Famous Flames were automatically and retroactively inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside Brown, without the need for nomination and voting, on the basis that they should have been inducted with him in 1986. On February 25, 1992, Brown was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th annual Grammy Awards. Exactly a year later, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 4th annual Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards. A ceremony was held for Brown on January 10, 1997, to honor him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
On June 15, 2000, Brown was honored as an inductee to the New York Songwriters Hall of Fame. On August 6, 2002, he was honored as the first BMI Urban Icon at the BMI Urban Awards. His BMI accolades include an impressive ten R&B Awards and six Pop Awards.[179] On November 14, 2006, Brown was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, and he was one of several inductees to perform at the ceremony. In recognition of his accomplishments as an entertainer, Brown was a recipient of Kennedy Center Honors on December 7, 2003. In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked James Brown as No. 7 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. I n an article for Rolling Stone, critic Robert Christgau cited Brown as “the greatest musician of the rock era”. He appeared on the BET Awards June 24, 2003, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Michael Jackson, and performed with him. In 2004, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Aretha Franklin.

Statue of James Brown in Augusta
Brown was also honored in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, for his philanthropy and civic activities. On November 20, 1993, Mayor Charles DeVaney of Augusta held a ceremony to dedicate a section of 9th Street between Broad and Twiggs Streets, renamed “James Brown Boulevard”, in the entertainer’s honor. On May 6, 2005, as a 72nd birthday present for Brown, the city of Augusta unveiled a life-sized bronze James Brown statue on Broad Street. The statue was to have been dedicated a year earlier, but the ceremony was put on hold because of a domestic abuse charge that Brown faced at the time. In 2005, Charles “Champ” Walker and the We Feel Good Committee went before the County commission and received approval to change Augusta’s slogan to “We Feel Good”. Afterward, officials renamed the city’s civic center the James Brown Arena, and James Brown attended a ceremony for the unveiling of the namesake center on October 15, 2006.
On December 30, 2006, during the public memorial service at the James Brown Arena, Dr. Shirley A.R. Lewis, president of Paine College, a historically black college in Augusta, Georgia, bestowed posthumously upon Brown an honorary doctorate in recognition and honor of his many contributions to the school in its times of need. Brown had originally been scheduled to receive the honorary doctorate from Paine College during its May 2007 commencement.
During the 49th Annual Grammy Awards presentation on February 11, 2007, James Brown’s famous cape was draped over a microphone by Danny Ray at the end of a montage in honor of notable people in the music industry who died during the previous year. Earlier that evening, Christina Aguilera delivered an impassioned performance of Brown’s hit “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” followed by a standing ovation, while Chris Brown performed a dance routine in honor of James Brown.
On August 17, 2013, the official R&B Music Hall of Fame honored and inducted James Brown at a ceremony held at the Waetjen Auditorium at Cleveland State University.
ART THE BOX began in early 2015 as a collaboration between three organizations: the City of Augusta, the Downtown Development Authority and the Greater Augusta Arts Council. 19 local artists were selected by a committee to create art on 23 local traffic signal control cabinets (TSCCs). A competition was held to create the James Brown Tribute Box on the corner of James Brown Blvd. (9th Ave.) and Broad St. This box was designed and painted by local artist, Ms. Robbie Pitts Bellamy and has become a favorite photo opportunity to visitors and locals in Augusta, Georgia.
“I have a lot of musical heroes but I think James Brown is at the top of the list”, remarked Public Enemy’s Chuck D. “Absolutely the funkiest man on Earth … In a black household, James Brown is part of the fabric – Motown, Stax, Atlantic and James Brown.”

Etta James

Jamesetta Hawkins was an American singer who performed in various genres, to Dorothy Hawkins in Los Angeles, Ca, who was 14 at the time. Although her father has never been identified,[9] James speculated that she was the daughter of pool player Rudolf “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone, whom she met briefly in 1987. Her mother was frequently absent from their apartment in Watts, conducting relationships with various men, and James lived with a series of foster parents, most notably “Sarge” and “Mama” Lu. James referred to her mother as “the Mystery Lady”.
James received her first professional vocal training at the age of five from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir at the St. Paul Baptist Church in South-Central Los Angeles. Hines abused James while she was under his tutelage; he often punched her in the chest while she sang to force her voice to come from her gut. She quickly became known for having an unusually strong voice for a child her age.
Sarge, like the musical director for the choir, was also abusive. During drunken poker games at home, he would awaken James in the early morning hours and force her with beatings to sing for his friends. The trauma of her foster father forcing her to sing under these humiliating circumstances caused her to have difficulties with singing on demand throughout her career
including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as “The Wallflower”, “At Last”, “Tell Mama”, “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”, and “I’d Rather Go Blind”. She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.
James’s deep and earthy voice bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. She won six Grammy Awards and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001.She also received a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2003. Rolling Stone magazine ranked James number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; she was also ranked number 62 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Billboard’s 2015 list of “The 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time” also included James, whose “gutsy, take-no-prisoner vocals colorfully interpreted everything from blues and R&B/soul to rock n’roll, jazz and gospel.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame called hers “one of the greatest voices of her century” and says she is “forever the matriarch of blues.”
James possessed the vocal range of a contralto. Her musical style changed during the course of her career. At the beginning of her recording career, in the mid-1950s, James was marketed as an R&B and doo-wop singer. After signing with Chess Records in 1960, James broke through as a traditional pop-styled singer, covering jazz and pop music standards on her debut album, At Last! James’s voice deepened and coarsened, moving her musical style in her later years into the genres of soul and jazz.
James was once considered one of the most overlooked blues and R&B musicians in the music history of the United States. It was not until the early 1990s, when she began receiving major industry awards from the Grammys and the Blues Foundation, that she received wide recognition. In more recent years, she has been hailed as a pioneer who helped bridge the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll and thereby contributed significantly to American musical history.James has influenced a wide variety of musicians, including, notably, Diana Ross, Christina Aguilera, Janis Joplin, Brandy, Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Beth Hart and Hayley Williams of Paramore as well as British artists The Rolling Stones, Elkie Brooks, Paloma Faith, Joss Stone, Rita Ora, Amy Winehouse, and Adele, and the Belgian singer Dani Klein.
In particular, her song “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” has been recognized in many ways. Brussels music act Vaya Con Dios covered the song on their 1990 album Night Owls. Another version, performed by Christina Aguilera, was in the 2010 film Burlesque. Pretty Lights sampled the song in “Finally Moving”, followed by Avicii’s dance hit “Levels”, and again in Flo Rida’s single “Good Feeling”.
In 2001, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the latter for her contributions to the developments of both rock and roll and rockabilly. In 2003, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. On her 2004 release, Blue Gardenia, she returned to a jazz style. Her final album for Private Music, Let’s Roll, released in 2005, won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her number 62 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
James performed at the top jazz festivals in the world, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1977, 1989, 1990 and 1993.[33] She performed nine times at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival and five times at the San Francisco Jazz Festival. She performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival in 1990, 1997, 2004, and 2007. She performed six times at the North Sea Jazz Festival, in 1978, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993.[35] She performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2006 and 2009 (prior 2012 credit – after date of death). She also often performed at free summer arts festivals throughout the United States.
James knew Malcolm X and was a member of the Nation of Islam for around 10 years, taking the name Jamesetta X.

Smokey Robinson

William “Smokey” Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and former record executive director. Robinson was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. He led the group from its 1955 origins as “the Five Chimes” until 1972, when he announced his retirement from the group to focus on his role as Motown’s vice president. However, Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year. After the sale of Motown Records in 1988, Robinson left the company in 1990.

In August 1957, Robinson and the Miracles met songwriter Berry Gordy after a failed audition for Brunswick Records. At that time during the audition, Robinson had brought along with him a “Big 10” notebook with 100 songs he wrote while in high school. Gordy was impressed with Robinson’s vocals and even more impressed with Robinson’s ambitious songwriting.[1] With his help, the Miracles released their first single, “Got a Job”, an answer song to the Silhouettes’ hit single “Get a Job” on End Records. It was the beginning of a long and successful collaboration. During this time, Robinson attended college and started classes in January 1959, studying electrical engineering. He dropped out after only two months, following the Miracles’ release of their first record.
Gordy formed Tamla Records which was later reincorporated as Motown. The Miracles became one of the first acts signed to the label.
In August 1957, Robinson and the Miracles met songwriter Berry Gordy after a failed audition for Brunswick Records. At that time during the audition, Robinson had brought along with him a “Big 10” notebook with 100 songs he wrote while in high school. Gordy was impressed with Robinson’s vocals and even more impressed with Robinson’s ambitious songwriting. With his help, the Miracles released their first single, “Got a Job”, an answer song to the Silhouettes’ hit single “Get a Job”[8] on End Records. It was the beginning of a long and successful collaboration. During this time, Robinson attended college and started classes in January 1959, studying electrical engineering. He dropped out after only two months, following the Miracles’ release of their first record.
Gordy formed Tamla Records which was later reincorporated as Motown. The Miracles became one of the first acts signed to the label
On February 22, 1983, Smokey was awarded an individual star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame. Four years later, in 1987, Robinson was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Robinson’s single “Just to See Her”” from the One Heartbeat album was awarded the 1988 Grammy Award for Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. This was Robinson’s first Grammy Award. One year later, in 1989, he was inducted to the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame
In 1993, Robinson was awarded a medal at the National Medal of Arts. Two years before, he won the Heritage Award at the Soul Train Music Awards. In 2005, Robinson was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. At its 138th Commencement Convocation in May 2006, Howard University conferred on Robinson the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa. In December 2006 Robinson was one of five Kennedy Center honorees, along with Dolly Parton, Zubin Mehta, Steven Spielberg and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
On March 20, 2009, the Miracles were finally honored as a group with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Smokey was present with original Miracles members Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, (Bobby’s cousin) Claudette Rogers, and Gloria White, accepting for her husband, the late Ronnie White, whose daughter Pamela and granddaughter Maya were there representing him as well. Smokey’s replacement, 1970s Miracles lead singer Billy Griffin, was also honored.
Controversially, original Miracle Marv Tarplin was not honored, against the wishes of his fellow Miracles and the group’s fans, who felt that he should have also been there to share the honor. Later, Tarplin did receive his star. He was also inducted with the rest of the original Miracles, Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, Ronnie White, and Claudette Robinson, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, 25 years after Robinson’s controversial solo induction in 1987. He was also awarded Society of Singers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
In 2009, Robinson received an honorary doctorate degree — along with Linda Ronstadt — and gave a commencement speech at Berklee College of Music’s commencement ceremony. In 2015, he was given a BET Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2016, Robinson received the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song; and, on August 21, 2016, he was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in his hometown of Detroit.
In 2019, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council members Jimmy Page and Peter Gabriel.

Johnny “Guitar” Watson

John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996),[3] known professionally as “Johnny Guitar” Watson, was an American musician and singer-songwriter; he was born in Houston, TX. 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.
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 many years later. When Johnny was 11, his grandfather offered to give him a guitar if, and only if, the boy didn’t play any of the “devil’s music”. His parents separated in 1950, when he was 15. His mother moved to Los Angeles, and took Watson with her.
In his new city, Watson won several local talent shows. This led to his employment, while still a teenager, with jump blues-style bands such as Chuck Higgins’s Mellotones and Amos Milburn. He worked as a vocalist, pianist, and guitarist. He quickly made a name for himself in the African-American juke joints of the West Coast, where he first recorded for Federal Records in 1952. He was billed as Young John Watson until 1954. That year, he saw the Joan Crawford film Johnny Guitar, and a new stage name was born.

Watson affected a swaggering, yet humorous personality, indulging a taste for flashy clothes and wild showmanship on stage.[3] His “attacking” style of playing, without a plectrum, resulted in him often needing to change the strings on his guitar once or twice a show, because he “stressified on them” so much, as he put it. Watson’s 1954 instrumental “Space Guitar” was his first recording to show his “sheer off-the-wall madness” on electric guitar. Watson would later influence a subsequent generation of guitarists. His song “Gangster of Love” was first released on Keen Records in 1957. It did not appear in the charts at the time, but was later re-recorded and became a hit in 1978, becoming Watson’s “most famous song”.
He toured and recorded with his friend Larry Williams, as well as Little Richard, Don and Dewey, the Olympics, Johnny Otis and, in the mid-1970s with David Axelrod. In 1975 he was a guest performer on two tracks (flambe vocals on the out-choruses of “San Ber’dino” and “Andy”) on the Frank Zappa album One Size Fits All. He also played with Herb Alpert and George Duke. But as the popularity of blues declined and the era of soul music dawned in the 1960s, Watson transformed himself from southern blues singer with pompadour into urban soul singer in a pimp hat. His new style was emphatic – wearing the gold teeth, broad-brimmed hats, flashy suits, fashionable outsized sunglasses and ostentatious jewelry.
He modified his music accordingly. His albums Ain’t That a Bitch (included funk blues singles “Superman Lover” and “I Need It”) and Real Mother For Ya (1977) fused funk and blues. Watson’s album Love Jones was released in 1980. Reviewing Watson’s 1977 album A Real Mother for Ya, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau’s Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): “Watson has been perfecting his own brand of easy-listening funk for years, and this time he’s finally gone into the studio with his guitar Freddie and his drummer Emry and a bunch of electric keyboards and come up with a whole album of good stuff. The riff-based tracks go on too long but go down easy and the lyrics have an edge. Granted, Watson can’t match George Benson’s chops, but this is dance music, chops would just get in the way. And I prefer his Lou-Rawls-without-pipes to Benson’s Stevie-Wonder-ditto.
When compared to Jimi Hendrix, Watson allegedly became irritated, supposedly stating: “I used to play the guitar standing on my hands. I had a 150-foot cord and I could get on top of the auditorium – those things Jimi Hendrix was doing, I started that shit.”
Frank Zappa stated that “Watson’s 1956 song ‘Three Hours Past Midnight’ inspired me to become a guitarist”. Watson contributed to Zappa’s albums One Size Fits All (1975), Them or Us (1984), Thing-Fish (1984) and Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention (1985). Zappa also named “Three Hours Past Midnight” his favorite record in a 1979 interview.
Steve Miller not only recorded “Gangster of Love” for his 1968 album Sailor (substituting “Is your name “Stevie ‘Guitar’ Miller?” for the same line with Watson’s name), he made a reference to it in his 1969 song “Space Cowboy” (“And you know that I’m a gangster of love”) as well as in his 1973 hit song “The Joker” (“Some call me the gangster of love”). Miller had also borrowed the sobriquet for his own “The Gangster Is Back”, on his 1971 album Rock Love.
Jimmie Vaughan, brother of Stevie Ray Vaughan, is quoted as saying: “When my brother Stevie and I were growing up in Dallas, we idolized very few guitarists. We were highly selective and highly critical. Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson was at the top of the list, along with Freddie, Albert and B.B. King. Watson influenced Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, Etta James, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Bobby Womack said: “Music-wise, he (Watson) was the most dangerous gunslinger out there, even when others made a lot of noise in the charts – I’m thinking of Sly Stone or George Clinton”.
Etta James stated, in an interview at the 2006 Rochester International Jazz Festival: “Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson … Just one of my favorite singers of all time. I first met him when we were both on the road with Johnny Otis in the ’50s, when I was a teenager. We traveled the country in a car together so I would hear him sing every night. His singing style was the one I took on when I was 17 – people used to call me the female Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson and him the male Etta James … He knew what the blues was all about”.
James is also quoted as saying: “I got everything from Johnny … He was my main model … My whole ballad style comes from my imitating Johnny’s style… He was the baddest and the best … Johnny Guitar Watson was not just a guitarist: the man was a master musician. He could call out charts; he could write a beautiful melody or a nasty groove at the drop of a hat; he could lay on the harmonies and he could come up with a whole sound.”