The Duchess

Norma-Jean Wofford (c. 1942 – April 30, 2005) was an American guitarist who played with Bo Diddley and his band from 1962 to 1966.  During the late 1950's, rock 'n' roll legend Bo Diddley had befriended the Wofford family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in the course of their contact, he taught their daughter Norma-Jean the guitar and, later, how to emulate his sound on electric guitar. Since 1957, Bo Diddley's band had included one female member, singer and guitarist Peggy Jones. When she left in 1961, he replaced her with Norma-Jean Wofford. 

Wofford first appeared on Bo Diddley & Company (1962), and played in his touring band until 1966. The Duchess cut an amazing figure on stage with the band, as preserved permanently in the movie The Big T.N.T. Show (1966) -working alongside singers Gloria Morgan and Lily "Bee Bee" Jamieson, i.e. the "Bo-ettes," she sang on the choruses, but her main function was providing the lead fills on various songs or doubling with Bo Diddley's own rhythm guitar. She was the embodiment of tough-yet-graceful rock'n'roll cool. She dominated the stage churning primal chords and rhythms out of her Gretsch guitar that gave even Diddley a run for his money.

She appeared on several of Bo Diddley's record releases during her time in his band. These include the albums Bo Diddley & Company, Bo Diddley's Beach Party, Hey! Good Lookin', 500% More Man and The Originator. She also toured England in 1962. Eric Burdon later immortalised her in the Animals' "Story Of Bo Diddley".

She died in Fontana, California in 2005.

Etta James

Etta James was born Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 - January 20, 2012) and was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, Rhythm & Blues, soul, Rock'n'Roll, jazz and gospel. 

She 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.  Under his tutelage, she suffered physical abuse during her formative years, with her instructor often punching her in the chest while she sang to force her voice to come from her gut. As a consequence, she developed an unusually strong voice for a child her age. In 1950 she moved to San Francisco and within a couple of years, she began listening to doo-wop and was inspired to form a group, The Creolettes.

At the age of 14, she met musician Johnny Otis who took the group under his wing, helping them sign to Modern Records and changing their name from the Creolettes to the Peaches. He also gave the singer her stage name, changing Jamesetta into Etta James. James recorded the version, for which she was given credit as co-author, in 1954, and the record was released in early 1955 as "Dance with Me, Henry". The original title of the song was "Roll with Me, Henry", but it was changed to avoid censorship due to the title (roll connoting sexual activity). In February of that year, the song reached number one on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Tracks chart. Its success gave the group an opening spot on Little Richard's national tour.

While James was on tour with Richard, pop singer Georgia Gibbs recorded a version of James's song, which was released under the title "The Wallflower" and became a crossover hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100, which angered James. After leaving the Peaches, James had another R&B hit with "Good Rockin' Daddy" but struggled with follow-ups. When her contract with Modern came up for renewal in 1960, she signed a contract with Chess Records instead.

Her first solo hit on Chess was the doo-wop–styled rhythm-and-blues song "All I Could Do Was Cry", which was a number two R&B hit. The first string-laden ballad James recorded was "My Dearest Darling" in May 1960, which peaked in the top five of the R&B chart. Her debut album, At Last!, was released in late 1960 and was noted for its varied selection of music, from jazz to blues to doo-wop and R&B. The album included the future classic "I Just Want To Make Love to You" and "A Sunday Kind of Love". In early 1961, James released what was to become her signature song, "At Last", which reached number two on the R&B chart and number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. Later that same year, James released a second studio album, The Second Time Around, that took the same direction as her first, covering jazz and pop standards and with strings on many of the songs. It produced two hit singles, "Fool That I Am" and "Don't Cry Baby". 

James started adding gospel elements in her music the following year, releasing "Something's Got a Hold on Me", which peaked at number four on the R&B chart and was a Top 40 pop hit. That success was quickly followed by "Stop the Wedding", which reached number six on the R&B chart and also had gospel elements. In 1963, she had another major hit with "Pushover" and released the live album Etta James Rocks the House. After a couple years of minor hits, James's career started to suffer after 1965. After a period of isolation, she reemerged in 1967 with more gutsy R&B numbers thanks to her recording at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. These sessions yielded her comeback hit "Tell Mama", which reached number ten R&B and number twenty-three pop. The B side was "I'd Rather Go Blind", which became a blues classic.

Following this success, James became an in-demand concert performer though she never again reached the heyday of her early to mid-1960s success. Her records continued to chart in the R&B Top 40 in the early 1970s, with singles such as "Losers Weepers" (1970) and "I Found a Love" (1972). 

In 1989, she signed with Island Records and released the albums Seven Year Itch and Stickin' to My Guns. She carried on touring for twenty years but by 2010 had to cancel concert dates because of her gradually failing health. In November 2011, James released her final album, The Dreamer, which was critically acclaimed upon its release.
 

She was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2011. The illness became terminal, and she died on January 20, 2012.

Ruth Brown

Ruth Alston Brown (January 12, 1928 - November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes known as the "Queen of Rhythm & Blues". In 1945, aged 17, Brown ran away from her home in Portsmouth, Virginia to sing in bars and clubs. Blanche Calloway, Cab Calloway's sister, also a bandleader, arranged a gig for Brown at the Crystal Cavern, a club in Washington D.C., and soon became her manager.

In her first audition for Atlantic Records in 1949, she sang "So Long", which became a hit. This was followed by "Teardrops from my Eyes" in 1950. Recorded in New York City in September 1950 and released in October, it was Billboard's R&B number one for 11 weeks. The hit earned her the nickname "Miss Rhythm", and within a few months, she became the acknowledged queen of R&B.

She followed up this hit with "I'll Wait for You" (1951), "I Know" (1951), "5-10-15 Hours" (1953), "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" (1953), "Oh What A Dream" (1954), "Mamabo Baby" (1954), and "Don't Deceive Me" (1960), some of which were credited to Ruth Brown and the Rhythm Makers. Between 1949 and 1955, her records stayed on the R&B chart for a total of 149 weeks; she would go on to score 21 Top 10 hits altogether, including five that landed at number one. Brown played many segregated dances in the southern states, where she toured extensively and was immensely popular.

She returned to music in 1975 at the urging of the comedian Redd Foxx, followed by a series of comedic acting jobs. Brown's fight for musicians' rights and royalties in 1987 led to the founding of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She was inducted as a recipient of the Pioneer Award in its first year, 1989. She was also inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. 

Brown died in a Las Vegas–area hospital on November 17, 2006, from complications following a heart attack and stroke she suffered after surgery in the previous month. She was 78 years old.

Sylvia Robinson

Sylvia Robinson was born as Sylvia Vanterpool, aka Little Sylvia (May 29, 1935 - September 29, 2011) and was an American singer, musician, record producer, and record label executive.  Robinson was best known for her work as founder/CEO of the hip hop label Sugar Hill Records which caused her to be dubbed "The Mother of Hip–Hop".

She began recording music in 1950 for Columbia Record at the age of 15 under the name Little Sylvia. In 1954, she teamed up with guitarist Mickey Baker as the duo Mickey & Sylvia. Although they split up briefly in 1959, they reunited in 1961 till Mickey moved to Paris in 1964.

In 1956, they recorded the Bo Diddley and Jody Williams written rock single, "Love Is Strange," which topped the R&B charts and reached number eleven on the Billboard pop charts in early 1957. 

Also in 1956 and on the same Groove label they released the absolutely brilliant R&B stunner "No Good Lover".

Sylvia restarted her solo career shortly after her initial split from Baker, first under the name Sylvia Robbins and later on as just Sylvia. In 1966 she moved to New Jersey where she formed with her husband a soul music label, All Platinum Record.

In 1972, Robinson sent a demo of a song she had written called "Pillow Talk" to Al Green, who passed on it due to his religious beliefs, so Robinson decided to record it herself, returning to her own musical career. Billed simply as Sylvia, the record became a major hit, reaching number-one on the R&B chart.

Robinson recorded four solo albums on the Vibration subsidiary and had other R&B hits including "Sweet Stuff" and "Pussy Cat". In the 1970s, she co-founded Sugar Hill Records. In 1979 the label released the song "Rapper's Delight" performed by The Sugar Hill Gang, bringing rap into the public music arena and revolutionizing the music industry by introducing rap, scratch, and breakdance. Sylvia was also the driving force behind "The Message" (1982) by Grandmaster Flash and the Furius Five.

Robinson died on the morning of September 29, 2011, aged 76, at Meadowlands Hospital in Secaucus, New Jersey from congestive heart failure.

La Lupe

Lupe Victoria Yolí Raymond (23 December 1939 - 29 February 1992), better known as La Lupe, was a Cuban singer of boleros, guarachas and Latin Soul. In 1954 she participated on a radio program which invited fans to sing imitations of their favorite stars. Lupe escaped from school to sing a bolero of Olga Guillo called "Miénteme" and won the competition.

In 1960 she began to perform her own act at a small nightclub in Havana, La Red where she acquired a devoted following, which included Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Marlon Brando. She recorded her first album, "Con el diablo en el cuerpo" in 1960 for Discuba, the Cuban subsidiary of RCA.

In 1962 she approached Celia Cruz who recommended her to Mongo Santamaría in New York. She relocated to the big apple where she performed at a cabaret named La Berraca and started a new career, making more than 10 records in five years. For a good part of the 1960s she was the most acclaimed Latin singer in New York City due to her partnership with Tito Puentes. She did a wide variety of covers in either Spanish or accented English, including "Yesterday", "Twist & Shout", "Unchained Melody", "Fever" and "America" from West Side Story.

Although she may have been poorly managed by her label Fania Records, she managed and produced herself in mid-career, after she parted ways with Tito Puente. However, in the late 1960s her ephemeral career went downhill. The explosion of salsa and the arrival of Celia Cruz to New York were the determining factors that sent her into the background and her career declined thereafter.  

She died in 1992 of a heart attack.

Big Maybelle

Mabel Louise Smith (May 1, 1924 - January 23, 1972), known as Big Maybelle, was an American Rhythm & Blues singer. She was born in Jackson, Tennessee where she sang gospel as a child and made her first recording in 1944. 

In 1952 she was signed by Okeh records and in 1953 recorded "Gabbin' Blues",  "Way Back Home" and "My Country Man". In 1955 she recorded "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On", produced by Quincy Jones, two years before Jerry Lee Lewis' version.

In 1955 she went over to Savoy where her biggest best seller,  "Candy", was released in 1956. It went to No. 11 on the Billboard R&B chart on that same year. This is the B side "That's A Pretty Good Love".

After 1959 she recorded for a variety of labels and continued to perform into the early 1960s. Her last hit single was in 1967 with a cover of "96 Tears" by Question Mark & The Mysterians. 

She died in  1972, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Wanda Jackson

Wanda Lavonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who is known as the "Queen of Rockabilly" or the "First Lady of Rockabilly". 

 

Her professional career began while still attending high school when she was  discovered by Hank Thompson in 1954,  who heard her singing on a local radio station,  and invited her to perform with his band, the Brazos Valley Boys. She recorded a few songs on their label, Capitol Records, including "You Can't Have My Love". The song was released as a single in 1954 and reached number 8 on the country chart. Jackson asked Capitol to sign her but was turned down by producer Ken Nelson, who told her, "Girls don't sell records." She signed with Decca Records instead.

After graduating from high school in 1955, Jackson began to tour, often sharing  the bill with Elvis Presley, who encouraged her to sing rockabilly. In 1956 she signed with Capitol, recording a number of singles mixing country with rock and roll. In the late 1950s, Jackson recorded and released a number of rockabilly songs, including "Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad", "Mean, Mean Man", "Fujiyama Mama"and "Honey Bop".

 

In 1960, Jackson had a Top 40 pop hit with "Let's Have a Party" and was headlining concerts with her own band, the Party Timers. Her country music career also began to take off with the self-penned "Right or Wrong", this is the b side of that single and gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.

By 1965, Jackson was focusing more exclusively on traditional country music and had a string of Top 40 hits during the next ten years.She also recorded some of her songs in German, Dutch and Japanese. 

In the early 1970s she became a born again Christian and recorded some gospel  albums. And in the early 1980s, she had a comeback touring England, Germany and Scandinavia and releasing Rockabilly Fever, her first secular album in a decade and her first recording of rock music in over twenty years.

LaVern Baker

Delores LaVern Baker (November 11, 1929 - March 10, 1997) was an American Rhythm & Blues singer who had several hit records in the 1950s and early 1960s. She was born Delores Evans in Chicago where she began singing around 1946. She recorded her first records under different names but then from 1952 was using the artistic name Lavern Baker. 

In 1953 she signed with Atlantic Records and released "Soul on Fire". Her first hit came in early 1955, with "Tweedle Dee" and over the next couple of years she had a succession of hits on the R&B charts. She released 11 albums and 80 singles and EPs, most of them on Atlantic and Brunswick.

 

In 1965, Baker recorded a duet single with Jackie Wilson called "Think Twice". Three version were recorded and this is the X version although it was considered inappropriate for airplay, sounds like they were having a hell of a good time.

 

In 1991, she became the second female solo artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame following Aretha Franklin in 1987. She died on March 10, 1997, at the age of 67.

Lady Bo

Peggy Jones (July 19, 1940 - September 16, 2015), also known as Lady Bo was an American musician. A pioneer of Rock'n'roll, Jones played rhythm guitar in Bo Diddley's band in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and was sometimes called the Queen Mother of Guitar.

She was born in Harlem, New York and bought her first guitar when she was 15. In 1957 she was invited to join Bo Diddley's band as a guitarist, appearing on singles including "Hey! Bo Diddley", "Road Runner", "Bo Diddley's A Gunslinger", and the instrumental "Aztec" which she wrote and played all the guitar parts on.

Throughout her time with Diddley, Jones maintained a separate career as a songwriter, session musician, and bandleader. She led her own band, the Jewels  which became a top Rhythm & Blues band on the New York - Boston club scene in the 1960s and 1970s. She eventually left Diddley's band in 1962 to concentrate on the Jewels and was replaced by The Duchess.

Jones played guitar on Les Cooper's 1962 instrumental "Wiggle Wobble" and percussion on the 1967 hit "San Franciscan Nights" by Eric Burdon and The Animals and later backed James Brown and Sam & Dave. She remained musically active well into the 21st century.  She died on September 16, 2015, at the age of 75.

Sparkle Moore

Sparkle Moore (born Barbara Morgan on November 6, 1936) is an American rockabilly singer who was influential as a pioneer of female rockabilly.  Her name comes from a character in the Dick Tracy comics, Sparkle Plenty. Sparkle dressed in men's clothing, often including leather, and sported a pompadour.

She just released two singles, “Rock-A-Bop/Skull and Crossbones” in 1956 and “Killer / Tiger” in 1957, both on Fraternity Record. At a time when female singers only wore dresses, Sparkle sported men’s slacks and suit jackets. In a 1986 interview with the magazine Kicks, Sparkle remembered how she used to freak people out with her masculine stage wear.

“People would see me when I went to play somewhere, and they’d say, ‘Can’t you wear something more sexy, like a gown?’” Moore said. “And I never would. I always wore a playing suit, and I’d say, ‘This is as sexy as I get.”

Although Moore's career lasted less than two years, she managed to tour with Gene Vincent,  mingle with Sammy Davis Jr., who compared her to James Dean, and get booked at the Grand Ole Opry, a gig she had to cancel due to illness.

Yma Sumac

Yma Sumac was a soprano singer and an icon of the exotica movement. Known for her multi-octave voice, she was the highest selling artist for Capitol Records in the 1950s and her voice, incredible stage presence and unique style have made her an enduring icon for the last six decades.  

She was born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo on September 10, 1923, in Perú. The government of Peru in 1946 formally supported her claim to be descended from Atahualpa, the last Incan emperor. She adopted the stage name of Imma Sumack (also spelled Ymma Sumack and Ima Sumack) before she left South America for the United States. Sumac first appeared on the radio in 1942.

A now classic record, 'Voice of the Xtabay' was recorded in 1950 and sold over 100,000 copies. After a massively successful concert at the Hollywood Bowl that same year, Yma Sumac would become world famous and travel the globe and become a vocal phenomenon. Sumac toured and recorded albums for the entire decade of the 50's, appeared in at least 4 films, had worldwide fan clubs and was eventually declared "the 8th wonder of the world."

In the early 1970’s Yma Sumac recorded a complete album of psychedelic music, titled ‘Miracles.’ Due to her now infamous temperament, the album was quickly pulled from record stores everywhere. This is one of the rarest of Yma Sumac memorabilia today.

She died on November 1st, 2008, in Los Angeles, California.

Memphis Minnie

Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 - August 6, 1973), better known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted from the 1920s to the 1950s. She recorded around 200 songs, such as "Bumble Bee", "Nothing in Rambling", and "Me and My Chauffeur Blues". 

She learned to play the banjo by the age of 10 and the guitar by the age of 11, when she started playing at parties. In 1910, at the age of 13, she ran away from home to live on Beale Street, in Memphis. She played on street corners for most of her teenage years. 

She recorded for Columbia, Vocalion, Decca and Okeh. By 1941 Minnie had started playing electric guitar, and in May of that year she recorded her biggest hit, "Me and My Chauffeur Blues".

An anecdote from Big Bill Broonzy´s autobiography, Big Bill Blues, recounts a cutting contest between Minnie and Broonzy in a Chicago nightclub, for the prize of a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of gin. Each singer had to sing two songs; after Broonzy sang "Just a Dream" and "Make My Getaway," Minnie won the prize with "Me and My Chauffeur Blues" and "Looking the World Over". 

She died in Memphis of a stroke in 1973.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (March 20, 1915 - October 9, 1973) is considered the godmother of Rock´n´Roll. She was popular in the 1930s and 1940s and was the first gospel musicians to appeal to Rhythm & Blues and Rock´n´Roll audiences. She was groundbreaking and a big influence to artists like Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. She broke through the barriers of racism, homophobia and sexism to become one of the most influential artists in music history.

She began performing onstage with her mother from the age of four, playing the guitar and singing. By age six, and billed as a "singing and guitar playing miracle," Rosetta Tharpe accompanied her mother in hybrid performances part sermon, part gospel concert before audiences all across the American South.

In 1938, Tharpe moved to New York City, where she signed with Decca Records and recorded the first four gospel songs ever recorded on the label: "Rock Me," "That's All," "The Man and I" and "The Lonesome Road."

During the early 1940s, Tharpe continued to mix gospel music with more secular sounds. She recorded such hits as "Shout Sister Shout," "I Want a Tall Skinny Papa" and "That's All" which was the first record on which Tharpe played the electric guitar.

She kept touring and recording gospel and blues records till her death on October 9, 1973, at the age of 58, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.