|
|
Jus` Blues Lifetime Blues & Soul Living Legends Award
Archie Bell
|
Outstanding Contributions to Blues & Soul Music Trend Setting Archie Lee Bell, one of seven children born to Langston and Ruthie Bell, in Henderson, Texas. His parents moved to Houston, Texas when he was just four months old. At the age of ten he began singing professionally. While attending Junior High School, Archie formed a group that assumed a derivative of his own last name, called the "Drells.". He was instrumental in helping with their first record "Tighten Up" it sold 200,000 copies in just two days in New York, the record went gold and the rest is history. More on Archie Bell |
Bobby Blue Bland” Lifetime Blues Award
Carl Sims
|
Outstanding Blues & Soul Music Stylist
Carl Sims was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1949, In the family of four sisters and three brothers only Carl got carried away by music, mainly due to his band teacher, Mr. Harry Winfield, in Porter Junior High School. “We had a little group called The Mustangs, just a school group, in which I started singing when I was about twelve. Later I got with The Bar-Kays. I was the lead singer for them, I traveled with them at that time, when they cut `Soul Finger' (in '67), Otis Redding picked us up to be his back-up band. I opened the show for Otis Redding, I was with Otis when he had the plane crash (10.12. 67), James Alexander and I identified all the bodies. we were on a commercial flight, not enough room on Otis plane to fly with them. More on Carl Sims |
Little Milton Lifetime Bluesman Award
Benny Turner
|
Smooth vocals,
a unique Blues sound with Feelings Born in Gilmer, Texas, Benny and his older brother, blues legend Freddie King, learned to play guitar from their mother, Ella Mae (King) Turner and her brothers Leon and Leonard King. While Freddie was captivated by the guitar and wanted to be a performer, Benny just enjoyed the music and the opportunities to share it with the older brother he admired and adored. The boys used to race home from school to catch the last few minutes of a radio show called “In the Groove,” where they heard the music of artists such as Louis Jordan, Charles Brown, Hank Williams, and T-Bone Walker. More on Benny Turner |
Denise LaSalle Lifetime Recording Of Excellence Award
Karen Wolfe
|
Recording Of Excellence Awards Blues & Soul music Karen Wolfe recorded her first album with a Gospel Quartet group called "The Harmonettes", the CD was titled "Stop By Here". The group later changed their name to "Direction". Karen joined the Blues arena by singing background behind the Queen of the Blues, the Legendary Denise LaSalle for over 20 years, it wasn't long before she was signed to B&J Records. More on Karen Wolfe |
Albert King Lifetime Award “The Lucy Award”
Eugene Hideaway Bridges
|
Being on Fire, Feeling, Funk & Soul
Outstanding Blues & Soul Music Born in 1963 in New Orleans and raised in Amite, Louisiana, the son of Otheneil Bridges Sr, also known as blues guitarist Hideaway Slim, Eugene is the fourth child of five. His mother was from the Bullock family (the same as Anna Mae Bullock better known as Tina Turner) and Eugene claims he got his guitar skills from the Bridges side and his voice from the Bullocks. At five he was already playing with his father around Louisiana; with his brothers as The Bridges Brothers he sang gospel and was the musician of his church touring with the Pastor, Elder AA Edwards. At thirteen Eugene was entering R&B talent shows and had formed his first R&B band The Five Stars. More on Eugene Hideaway Bridges |
KoKo Taylor “Queen of the Blues” Awards
Deitra Farr
|
Preserving Traditional Blues Heritage
Deitra Farr is considered one of Chicago ’s top vocalists, according to Living Blues Magazine (May 1997). Fiery, energetic, and soul-stirring describes this woman, this Chicago native began her career in 1975, singing with local soul bands, before starting her blues career in the early 1980’s. When Deitra was 18 years old, she recorded the lead vocals on Mill Street Depo’s record ” You Won’t Support Me “. That record was a Cashbox Top 100 R&B hit in 1976. Over thirty years later, that recording has been re-released and is popular again worldwide. She also toured the US and Canada with the Sam Lay Blues Band. From 1993 to 1996, Deitra was the lead singer with Mississippi Heat, recording two CD’s with this all-star group. more on Deitra Farr |
Willie Dixon Lifetime Songwriters Award
Joe Louis Walker
|
Outstanding Contributions to
Traditional Blues Born on December 25, 1949 in San Francisco, at age 14, he took up the guitar. Just two years later, he was a known on the Bay Area music scene, playing blues with an occasional foray into psychedelic rock. For a while, he roomed with Mike Bloomfield, who introduced him to Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead. Walker even made a brief pilgrimage to Chicago to check out the blues scene there. In 1975, burned out on blues, Walker turned to God, singing for the next decade with a gospel group, the Spiritual Corinthians. When the Corinthians played the 1985 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Walker was inspired to embrace his blues roots again. He assembled the Boss Talkers and merged many of his past influences. More on Joe Louis Walker |
Millie Jackson “Classy & Sassy” Award
Ms Jody
|
Outstanding Contributions to
Blues & Soul "Keeping it Real" Ms. Jody was born to the late Reverend Joe and Vertie Sims Pickens in Chicago, IL. She was raised in Bay Springs, Mississippi where she presently lives. In 2006, at the suggestion of her friends Leo Johnson and William Day, Ms. Jody made a visit to Ecko Records in Memphis, TN where she was introduced to the staff. Shortly thereafter she joined Ecko Records, her first CD was released entitled "You're My Angel" has brought Ms. Jody immediate recognition from the radio station programmers and their listeners. Songs like "Ms. Jody", "Sugar Daddy", and "Get Drunk Party" received heavy airplay and the label rushed out a second CD. More on Ms. Jody |
Willie Mitchell Lifetime Artist Award
Calvin Richardson
|
Outstanding Contributions
to Blues & Soul music Calvin Richardson came by his soulful style honestly. Born in Monroe, North Carolina, the fifth of nine children, Calvin had a strong musical upbringing. His mother sang in the local gospel group, The Willing Wonders, and he sang with them as a youth, but he was able to listen to secular soul music and funk and was particularly inspired by Bobby Womack, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Donny Hathaway. In recent years he has seen his classic soul composition “There Goes My Baby,” collaboration with Babyface, become one of the biggest R&B hits of the year, thanks to Charlie Wilson’s great version. On June 25 2010, Calvin received an ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Award for writing and publishing the song which topped the R&B/Hip-Hop Music Charts in 2009. More on Calvin Richardson |
Benny Latimore “Let's Straighten It Out” Award
Ms. Leola Grey
|
Working behind the Blues scenes
Since the demise of the original Checkerboard, Lee’s has inherited the title of the South Side’s leading blues bar, and with good reason. The unassuming brick house, across from an auto wrecker in the shadow of the I-90 overpass, books a variety of local acts for seasoned regulars ready to hop. Perhaps the last truly authentic juke joint in the city. More on Leola Grey club |
Bobby Rush Lifetime Blues Entertainers Award
Grady Champion
|
Artist who continues to maintain the tradition of Blues “Show-Business”
Grady Champion was born Oct. 10, 1969 and grew up on a farm in Canton, Mississippi. Award winning songwriter, entertainer/musician, Grady Champion has been captivating audiences for more than two decades. The singer/harp player/guitarist/songwriter/producer signed to Malaco Records, headquartered in nearby Jackson, MS, in 2013; his first full-length release with the legendary blues label was released the following year. His album, Bootleg Whiskey, named for the George Jackson song, that is one of the album highlights, establishes Champion as a torch carrier for authentic Mississippi blues. More on Grady Champion. |
Jus’ Blues Historian Blues Award
Teeny Tucker
|
Performing artist continues Blues education
Although Teeny was born into blues royalty, (daughter of Tommy “Hi-Heel Sneakers” Tucker), one need only to hear Teeny to know that she has cultivated and developed her “gifts” into her very own uniquely compelling world-class package. As a child, this Dayton Ohio native began singing in the church choir. This experience, like so many other soulful success stories, undoubtedly began to chart the course of Teeny’s music career. The paths which would lead to her abilities to interpret with soulful, bluesy, and uniquely stylistic renderings was set. More on Teeny Tucker |
Jus' Blues "The Muddy" Lifetime Blues Award
Ronnie Baker Brooks
|
Outstanding Contributions to Traditional Blues
Brooks, 49, likes to treat each album he makes as a platform for him to grow, but the reality is that he’s been climbing the blues world’s latter all his life. He was born in Chicago, and started playing guitar around age six. At 19, he joined his father, who by then had influenced some of the most well-known bluesman of our history: Jimmy Reed, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Winter, and Junior Wells. For 12 years the two would tour together, putting Ronnie out front with Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Koko Taylor. In 1998, when he was 32, his father told him to go solo. More on Ronnie Baker Brooks |
Humanitarian Award - Historical Photographer
Jim Alexander
|
Humanitarian Historical Photographer Award
Photographer Jim Alexander was born to contractor David Alexander and Frances James Alexander on August 7, 1935 in Waldwick, New Jersey. He attended Waldwick Public School and Ramsey High School. Joining the U.S. Navy Alexander developed an interest in photography. Alexander moved to Ridgewood, New Jersey and started a career as a freelance photographer. He earned a certificate in business management from Rutgers University in 1967 and a degree in commercial photography from the New York Institute of Photography in 1968, that same year, Alexander began to document the local and national response to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Earning a reputation as a documentary photographer. More on Jim Alexander |
Bobby Byrd "I Know You Got Soul" Awards
Tony Coleman
|
Blues, Soul & Funk Heritage
Tony was born August 12, 1955 in Kissimmee, Florida. He always knew that he wanted to play drums. As a baby, his grandmother would put a transistor radio in his crib to calm him and he would tap out the beat of the music. He was playing drums with various local bands in Florida until he graduated from high school. Tony Coleman has toured around the planet performing with some of the best R&B and blues musicians ever. Tony can attest to playing drums with B.B. King, Otis Clay, Bobby Blue Bland, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, Albert Collins, Etta James, James Cotton, Katie Webster, Z.Z. Hill, O.V. Wright, Buddy Guy, and the list goes on and on. More on Tony Coleman |