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Wednesday, Mar 8 2017, 6AM
"On Valentine's Day in 1967, when feminism was sorely needed but had not yet ripened into a movement, a trim, dignified 25-year-old African American woman named Aretha Franklin walked into a New York City recording studio. Franklin's idea was to take "Respect," a song Otis Redding had released two years earlier as a man's strident plea to his lover, and transform it into a woman's sexy exhortation for human dignity." Read the article about this transformative song:www.elle.com
It's almost Candi Staton's birthday. She was born March 13, 1940 in Hanceville, Alabama.: www.allmusic.com
"I've been bitten by the love bug...." Watch The Supremes performing "Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart": www.youtube.com
This song was recorded in 1964 but was shelved from release because it sounded too much like a song by The Supremes. It was released as a single more than two years later right after the Vietnam War began. One of the debates concerning the war was how there were more African-American men than white men being sent to fight. This gave the song a different meaning to listeners, many of whom had loved ones being sent overseas.
Little Sister was an American all-female vocal harmony group, which served primarily as the background vocalists for the influential rock/funk band Sly and the Family Stone in concert and on record. Originally a gospel music group called The Heavenly Tones, Little Sister was composed of Vet Stewart (Family Stone frontman Sly Stone's little sister), Mary McCreary, and Elva Mouton, and became a recording act of its own for a brief period in 1970-1971.
"Something's Got a Hold on Me" was written by Etta James, Leroy Kirkland and Pearl Woods, while it was produced by two founders of the Chess Records, Leonard and Phil Chess.
Agatha Natalie Weston first materialized in Detroit on December 30, 1939. The girl with the old-sounding name must have been quite mature, vocally, for she started performing at age 3 in church choirs. By adolescence, she'd made her voice known to the outside world, touring with the gospel-singing Wright Specials." Read more of Kim Weston's biography: www.soullyoldies.com
Here's the video for "Bye Bye Baby": www.youtube.com
Readan interview with Irma Thomas in 2013 about her half century in the music business: www.youtube.com
Born in Los Angeles, California, on January 25, 1938, Etta James was a gospel prodigy. Her career had begun to soar by 1960, due in no small part to songs like "I'd Rather Go Blind" and "At Last." Despite her continued drug problems, she earned a Grammy Award nomination for her 1973 eponymous album. She died in Riverside, California on January 20, 2012. Enjoy a biography here:www.biography.com
Little Ann's 40-year-old single "Deep Shadows," produced by Detroit's Dave Hamilton, is a marvel of subtle understatement, built around little more than a bass line, a slight tinkle of piano, a cutting guitar line and, most notably, those bells, which ring loud and portend nothing auspicious. Read more about it here: www.npr.org
For a picture and an article about Texas R & B "Guitar Goddess" Barbara Lynn, go here: blog.ponderosastomp.com
Breaking news!: The home where singer and civil rights activist Nina Simone was born was nearly lost to weathering and time until four Black artists saved it with a $95,000 purchase. Painter Rashid Johnson, sculptor Adam Pendleton, abstract painter Julie Mehretu and collagist and filmmaker Ellen Gallagher recognized the value of the Tryon, N.C., house and told The New York Times making the bid was an act of art and politics, raising Simone as a pillar of activism in a climate of continuing racial tension. Read all about it here: atlantablackstar.com
Ann Peebles, the "girl with the big voice," looks back on her career in this Guardian interview: www.theguardian.com
This song was written by Betty Davis and is quite suggestive. Here are the lyrics: www.lyricsfreak.com
"Dalton could sound like Billie Holiday, and she had the striking beauty of a Walker Evans dustbowl portrait. Bob Dylan called her his favorite singer from the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s" . Learn more about this "reluctant voice": www.npr.org
Enjoy this American Masters tribute to "The Queen of Soul": www.pbs.org
Watch the video for "Jump To It," a song written and produced by Luther Vandross: www.youtube.com
Welcome to the website of 4'10" jazz pianist and singer Patrice Rushen:www.patricerushen.com
63-year-old Chaka Khan said in an interview published today that "life is my inspiration": www.connectsavannah.com
In this Essence article, Meli'sa Morgan reflected on her friendship with Prince: www.essence.com
A performer since childhood, R&B artist Alicia Myers won a talent contest in her native Detroit at the age of 10, when she and her brother Jackie dueted on a cover of Ashford & Simpson's "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," a Motown classic popularized by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Here's an Allmusic biography:www.allmusic.com
Here are the translated lyrics to this anthem against the patriarchy: www.musixmatch.com . Watch the extraordinary video which is perfect for International Women's Day: themuse.jezebel.com
ormed from a friendship started at age fourteen by Londoners Miki Berenyi and Emma Anderson, the pair ran a fanzine, and attended a catholic variety of gigs nightly..." Read more about this London duo:www.4ad.com
Renowned artist Polly Jean Harvey will be in Seattle on Friday, May 5th, 2017, playing the WaMu Theater.
Ohh, the images of Kate Bush at her website: www.katebush.com
Neko Case has much about International Women's Day on her Twitter page: twitter.com
Biography.com featured "beloved cultural icon" Dolly Parton in this essay: www.biography.com
Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns wrote this song. Aretha Franklin's younger sister Erma sang the original version and put it on the R&B charts in 1967. Big Brother & the Holding Company quickly covered it and took it to #12 on the Hot 100. For Erma Franklin, it was her biggest hit. She went on to sing backup on some of Aretha's songs, and ran a childcare agency called Boysville. Erma died of cancer in 2002 at age 63.
Watch the video for "Words and Guitar": www.youtube.com
Aretha Franklin recorded for Columbia Records from 1960-1966, never charting higher on the Hot 100 than #37. In 1967, she signed with Atlantic and released "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" as her debut single with the label, and it became the first Top 10 hit for the Queen of Soul. this song Aretha plays a victim, somebody helplessly attached to a no-good, heartbreaking, cheating liar. On her next single "Respect," Franklin took on an entirely different role, that of a sexually confident woman. The Muscle Shoals rhythm section backed Aretha on that one as well.
Hole was an American alternative rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1989 by singer and guitarist Courtney Love and lead guitarist Eric Erlandson. Hole went on to become one of the most commercially successful female-fronted rock bands of all time, selling over three million records in the United States alone. www.billboard.com
"Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard..But I think "oh bondage, up yours!" Here's the band performing this magnificent anthem: www.youtube.com
Ann and Nancy Wilson discuss their life "in 15 songs" here: www.rollingstone.com
Jett was touring England as a member of an all teenage girl group called The Runaways when she discovered this song. She wanted to record it with The Runaways, but the other members didn't like the song and made the mistake of passing it up. So, in 1979, Jett recorded it with Paul Cook and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols and released it as a B-side. Finally, in 1981, Jett recorded the song with her band The Blackhearts, resulting in a monster hit.
Playing in Seattle with Chronixx at the Showbox next Friday 3/17. Get in touch with Kelissa Music here: www.facebook.com
Meet Sevana in this Jamaica Observer article from last week: www.jamaicaobserver.com
Queen Ifrica touches on key social issues throughout the album, "Climb." The soul-tinged reggae track “I Can’t Breathe” rails against ongoing police brutality in America; the ska flavored “Rebellion” name checks uprisings across several continents that have secured rights and improved the lives of many marginalized individuals. This sentiment is reinforced on “Battlefield”, which warns “we never yield, its war on the battlefield, if you nah hear you ah go feel.”: sflcn.com
Ileana Mercedes Cabra Joglar[1] (April 28, 1989), better known as ILE, is a Puerto Rican singer, composer, and vocalist who for 10 years was the sole female singer of the Puerto Rican band Calle 13, performing along with her brothers René Pérez Joglar ("Residente") and Eduardo Cabra Joglar ("Visitante").
Here is Ms. Franklin singing "Soul Serenade" live in Amsterdam in 1968: www.youtube.com
In 2010, NPR talked about "the many voices of Lauryn Hill": www.npr.org
This song was nominated for the Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance. Here's the video: www.youtube.com
Mommy Long Legs brought their infectious energy to the KEXP studio for a live performance in 2015: www.youtube.com
"One of the weirdest things humans do is to classify half of all humans as niche. As though women’s shit isn’t real shit—as though menses and horses and being internet-harassed aren’t as interesting as beer-farts and monster trucks and doing the harassing. That’s why Tacocat is radical: not because a female-driven band is some baffling novelty, but because they’re a group making art about experiences in which gender is both foregrounded and neutralized. This isn’t lady stuff, it’s people stuff. It’s normal. It’s nothing and everything. It’s life." learn more about these four best friends at Hardly Art: www.hardlyart.com
Here are these lovely ladies in this wonderful video: www.youtube.com
This is a cover of a song by Canadian band the Guess Who. Read why the Guess Who weren't allowed to play "American Woman" at the White House: ultimateclassicrock.com
Watch a clip from a documentary called "L7: Pretend We're Dead":www.laweekly.com
Watch a great live in-studio performance by Throwing Muses at KEXP in 2014: blog.kexp.org
Watch Chrissie Hynde and Dan Auerbach jam in a video for Pretenders' new "Holy Commotion": blog.kexp.org
Here's the official video of Blondie performing "Rapture": www.youtube.com
Latifah was born in Newark, New Jersey, and lived primarily in East Orange, New Jersey.
She is the daughter of Rita (née Bray), a teacher at Irvington High School (Latifah's alma mater) and Lancelot Owens, Sr, a police officer. Here are many other things you may not known about Dana Elaine Owens, aka Queen Latifah:www.boomsbeat.com
In January, MC Lyte revealed her new boyfriend on Instagram.: www.essence.com