On this blog I will talk about Rock´n´Roll women that I love. From Blues and Rockabilly, to Punk passing through 60s Garage Punk and 70s Glam, this is my tribute to the wonderful women of the Rock´n´Roll underground.
Please note that suggestions are welcome but there is no guarantee that I will publish it as this is a personal project.
Kumbia Queers is Argentine tropical-punk band, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2007. The latest formation includes Pilar Arrese (Pila Devil) on guitar, Inés Laurencena on drums, Patricia Pietrafesa (Pat) on bass, Juana Rosenbaum (Juana Chang) singing and Florencia Lliteras ( Flor Linyera) on keyboards. Ali Gua Gua is a former member.
The project was born in Buenos Aires in 2007, the union of She Devils, Juana Chang and Florencia Lliteras (Happy Makers), (Argentina), with Ali Gua Gua of Las Ultrasónicas (México). At first, they played covers of The Cure, Madonna, Ramones, Black Sabbath, twisting them to the rhythm of cumbia with lyrics full of queer poetry and humor. Kumbia Nena! which is their first LP contains covers of Black Sabbath, The Cure, The Ramones, Madonna, Nancy Sinatra and Bronco plus three original songs by Kumbia Queers. The LP was released in Argentina, Mexico, Chile and Japan. In february 2007 a month after they started the band, Ali returned to her band Ultrasonicas in Mexico and in Buenos Aires the remaining five Kumbia Queers finished the recordings of their debut long play while they collected money from any available place and friend to afford their flights to Mexico where they were bound to meet in June. In July 2007 they played their second show with thousands of people as audience in the closure of the Lgbtttbqi Pride Day on the stage of Zocalo Square in Distrito Federal, Mexico. From then onwards they came and go from Mexico to Argentina for a couple years then they added Chile to the route and as time went by they included more countries to the list Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, Spain, Sweeden, Denmark, Austria, Italy, Usa, Canada, Colombia, Uruguay and Brazil. During 2011 they released their second long play called “La gran estafa del tropi punk” (“The great tropi punk swindle”) produced by Pablo Lescano from popular band Damas Gratis.
With their third album, Pecados Tropicales (2012) the group turned to their own songs and lyrics mainly. In summer 2012, the band went on their third tour in Europe. Within 27 days they played at 23 locations from Stockholm to Madrid in a total of 25 concerts. 2014 was the band in Latin America and - at the invitation of the jury of the SXSW Festival - traveling in the United States. In summer 2015, the Kumbia Queers returned to Europe and performed with a new lineup, without Ali Gua Gua.
The band struck back during july/august 2015 with their new album “Canta y no llores” and had concerts in Malmo, Copenhagen, Hamburg, people went crazy in the city festival in Lausane, at the Breminale. SO36 in Berlin was sold out confirming the love of berliners for KQ live concerts. Their last album was released in 2019 and was called La Oscuridad bailable.
Megan Martha White (born December 10, 1974) is an American drummer and occasional singer known for her work in the Detroit rock duo The White Stripes. According to the bands mythos, on Bastille Day (July 14) of 1997, Meg tried playing Jack's drumkit on a whim. The two then began calling themselves The White Stripes (because Meg favored peppermint candies) and soon played their first gig at the Gold Dollar in Detroit. Their live performances were made of three basic elements, Jack did the guitar and vocal work while she played drums.
They began their career as part of Michigan's underground, garage rock music scene. They played along with and opened for more established local bands such as Bantam Rooster, the Dirtbombs, Two Star Tabernacle, Rocket 455, and the Hentchmen, among others. In 1998, the band signed with Italy Records, a small and independent Detroit-based garage punk label of Dave Buick. The band released its self-titled debut album in 1999, and a year later the album was followed up by the cult classic, De Stijl. The album eventually peaked at number 38 in Billboard's Independent Albums chart.
Though Jack usually sang lead vocals, Meg occasionally sang as well, the first time being backup on the record "Your Southern Can is Mine" from De Stijl. She sang lead on four Stripes' songs: "In the Cold, Cold Night", from the album Elephant, "Passive Manipulation" from Get Behind Me Satan, "Who's a Big Baby", the B-side to "Blue Orchid," and "St. Andrew (This Battle Is in the Air)" from Icky Thump. She also sang the popular Christmas song "Silent Night" on the single Candy Cane Children. Both Meg and Jack share vocal duties on the tracks "Hotel Yorba" and "This Protector" from White Blood Cells, "Rated X" from the "Hotel Yorba" single, "Well It's True That We Love One Another" on Elephant, and "Rag and Bone" from Icky Thump.
While on tour in support for The White Stripes' sixth studio album, Icky Thump, White suffered a bout of acute anxiety, and the remaining dates of the tour were cancelled. After a few public appearances, and a hiatus from recording, The White Stripes announced in February 2011 that they would be disbanding. White has not been active in the music industry since.
Sean Yseult (born Shauna Reynolds; June 6, 1966) is an American rock musician. She currently plays bass guitar in the band Star & Dagger. She has played various instruments with different bands since the mid-1980s, and is best known for playing bass in White Zombie.
White Zombie was co-founded by Rob Zombie and Sean Yseult. She had been playing the Farfisa keyboard in the band LIFE with Ivan de Prume, but the band soon broke up. Ena Kostabi owned a recording studio, which he would rent out to different bands. When he met Yseult, she asked if he could teach her to play bass. They then recruited Peter Landau to play drums and began to write and record songs. White Zombie's first release, Gods on Voodoo Moon, was an EP and was recorded on October 18, 1985. It was released under the band's own label Silent Explosion, under which they would release most of their early work. Only 300 copies were pressed, of which only 100 were sold; the band members still retain possession of the remaining 200. In 1986, Zombie hired Tim Jeffs, his Parsons School of Design roommate, to play guitar to replace Ena Kostabi, and Yseult brought in de Prume from their days in the band LIFE as the replacement for Landau. It was at this time the band started touring, making their live performance debut at CBGB on April 28, 1986. White Zombie released their second EP, Pig Heaven, that year. The release contained two songs, "Pig Heaven" and "Slaughter the Grey". The EP was recorded at 6/8 Studios in NoHo in New York City. Other songs that were recorded during the session but never released were titled "Follow Wild", "Rain Insane", "Paradise Fireball", and "Red River Flow". After touring for a year in the band, Tim Jeffs left and was replaced by Tom Guay, often known as Tom Five. The band released a second pressing of Pig Heaven with different cover art, but retained the same recording with Jeffs on guitar. Only 500 copies of each pressing were released on vinyl.
On March 17, 1992, White Zombie released La Sexorcisto: Devil Music Volume One, the album which launched them into mainstream recognition. White Zombie began a two-and-a-half-year-long tour for the album soon after its release, during which the band gained a large cult following. During the tour, Ivan de Prume left the band to pursue a successful career as a producer/engineer as well as drummer/percussionist and opened his own studio, Burningsound. He was replaced by Phil Buerstatte. The music video for the song "Thunder Kiss '65" went into heavy rotation on MTV in 1993. The TV show Beavis and Butt-head began featuring their music videos, boosting the band's popularity. By the end of 1993, the album had been certified gold by the RIAA. By the time the tour ended in December 1994 La Sexorcisto had gone platinum. Due to artistic differences, Buerstatte was let go, and John Tempesta (who had previously worked with Exodus and Testament) was hired to record White Zombie's second major label album. In 1995, Astro Creep: 2000 was released, featuring the hit single "More Human than Human". In 1996, an album of remixes was released under the title Supersexy Swingin' Sounds. After making one last song for the 1996 film Beavis and Butt-head Do America, titled "Ratfinks, Suicide Tanks and Cannibal Girls", White Zombie broke up in September 1998.
After the breakup of White Zombie, Sean Yseult joined the budget rock band The Famous Monsters, and started playing bass for horror-themed New Orleans-based band, Rock City Morgue. She also briefly played bass for The Cramps. In 1996, she participated along with Jay Yuenger in the tribute band to the Germs called Ruined Eye. On November 1, 2010, Yseult released I'm in the Band, a book containing tour diaries and photos as well as detailing her eleven years spent as a member of White Zombie. She once owned and ran a dive bar popular among artists and musicians, The Saint, in New Orleans' Garden District.
Belinda Magnus (23 October 1953), better known as Pauline Black, is an English singer, actress and author. In a music career spanning over 40 years, Black came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the 2 Tone ska revival band the Selecter.
Belinda Magnus was born on 23 October 1953, in Romford, east London, England, to an Anglo-Jewish teenage mother and Nigerian father. She was adopted by a white middle-aged couple and given the name Pauline Vickers. Black was a founding member of 2 Tone ska band The Selecter who were formed in Coventry in 1979. The Selecter, along with the Specials and Madness, are credited with starting the ska revival movement. She adopted a stage name in order to conceal her involvement in the band from her employer, choosing the surname Black partly in reaction to her upbringing - her adoptive family had always referred to her as "coloured" rather than black.
In 1977, Neol Davies and John Bradbury (who later became a member of The Specials), with the trombone player Barry Jones, recorded a track in a recording session in 1977–78 that resulted in "Kingston Affair". The band then became "The Selecter". Their debut single, also called "The Selecter", was the b-side of the Special AKA's hit single "Gangsters", the first 2 Tone Records single. It was released in March 1979, reaching 6 in the UK Charts. The track was written by Davies and Bradbury. Guitarist Davies added long time friends Desmond Brown, who played Hammond organ, and Charley Anderson on bass guitar. With Compton Amanor on guitar, the vocals of Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson and Charley 'H' Bembridge on drums the seven piece line-up for the original band was completed when Pauline Black was spotted by Davies. Davies offered Pauline an audition with The Selecter – she joined along with other members in July 1979.
The new band released the singles "On My Radio", "Three Minute Hero" and "Missing Words", written by Davies. The Selecter's debut album,Too Much Pressure, was recorded at the end of 1979 and beginning of the new year, and was released in February 1980 by 2 Tone Records and Chrysalis Records. Anderson and Brown left The Selecter in 1980 to form The People. Their replacements were James Mackie and Adam Williams. Their second album, Celebrate the Bullet was issued in February 1981 and the title track has a music video that aired on MTV's first day of broadcast before Black left the band to pursue a solo career. A short time after, unsuccessfully having tried Stan Campbell as the singer, the rest of the members disbanded. The Selecter were featured in the 2 Tone film documentary and on the live compilation album Dance Craze. The Selecter split up in 1982 but have sporadically reformed since 1994.
In 2001 Black, with Jean-Jacques Burnel (The Stranglers), Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers) and Nicky Welsh (The Selecter & Bad Manners) formed and toured as 3 Men & Black, doing acoustic versions of songs they are famous for, and talking a little about how they came to write the songs etc. The band continued with a line-up of Black and three male artists, which varied according to availability as the artists also continued with their separate careers, and has also included Bruce Foxton (The Jam & SLF), Eric Faulkner (Bay City Rollers) and Dave Wakeling (The Beat). An album, 3 Men + Black, Acoustic, featuring Black, Burnel, Burns, Foxton & Welsh was released in 2004. Another revival of Selecter took place in 2010 with Black and Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson from the original band once again playing together under The Selecter name to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, Too Much Pressure.
Black has also performed with Gorillaz on their Humanz tour.
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actress, author, businesswoman, and humanitarian, known primarily for her work in country music.
Parton began performing as a child, singing on local radio and television programs in the East Tennessee area. By ten, she was appearing on The Cas Walker Show on both WIVK Radio and WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee. At 13, she was recording (the single "Puppy Love") on a small Louisiana label, Goldband Records, and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry, where she first met Johnny Cash, who encouraged her to follow her own instincts regarding her career. After graduating from high school in 1964, Parton moved to Nashville . Her initial success came as a songwriter, having signed with Combine Publishing shortly after her arrival; with her frequent songwriting partner, her uncle Bill Owens, she wrote several charting singles during this time, including two top-10 hits: Bill Phillips's "Put It Off Until Tomorrow" (1966) and Skeeter Davis's "Fuel to the Flame" (1967). Her songs were recorded by many other artists during this period, including Kitty Wells and Hank Williams Jr. She signed with Monument Records in 1965, at age 19; she initially was pitched as a bubblegum pop singer. She released a string of singles, but the only one that charted, "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby", did not crack the Billboard Hot 100. Although she expressed a desire to record country material, Monument resisted, thinking her unique voice with its strong vibrato was not suited to the genre. After her composition "Put It Off Until Tomorrow", as recorded by Bill Phillips (with Parton, uncredited, on harmony), went to number six on the country chart in 1966, the label relented and allowed her to record country. Her first country single, "Dumb Blonde" (composed by Curly Putman, one of the few songs during this era that she recorded but did not write), reached number 24 on the country chart in 1967, followed by "Something Fishy", which went to number 17. The two songs appeared on her first full-length album, Hello, I'm Dolly.
In 1967, musician and country music entertainer Porter Wagoner invited Parton to join his organization, offering her a regular spot on his weekly syndicated television program The Porter Wagoner Show, and in his road show. Wagoner convinced his label, RCA Victor, to sign her. RCA decided to protect their investment by releasing her first single as a duet with Wagoner. That song, a remake of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind", released in late 1967, reached the country top 10 in January 1968, launching a six-year streak of virtually uninterrupted top-10 singles for the pair.
Parton's first solo single for RCA Victor, "Just Because I'm a Woman", was released in the summer of 1968 and was a moderate chart hit, reaching number 17. For the next two years, none of her solo efforts – even "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)", which later became a standard – were as successful as her duets with Wagoner. The duo was named Vocal Group of the Year in 1968 by the Country Music Association, but Parton's solo records were continually ignored. By 1970, both Parton and Wagoner had grown frustrated by her lack of solo chart success. Wagoner persuaded Parton to record Jimmie Rodgers' "Mule Skinner Blues", a gimmick that worked. The record shot to number three, followed closely, in February 1971, by her first number-one single, "Joshua". For the next two years, she had numerous solo hits – including her signature song "Coat of Many Colors" (number four, 1971) – in addition to her duets. Top-20 singles included "The Right Combination" and "Burning the Midnight Oil" (both duets with Wagoner, 1971); "Lost Forever in Your Kiss", (with Wagoner) "Touch Your Woman", (1972) "My Tennessee Mountain Home" and "Travelin' Man" (1973).
Although her solo singles and the Wagoner duets were successful, her biggest hit of this period was "Jolene". Released in late 1973, it topped the country chart in February 1974 and reached the lower regions of the Hot 100. (It eventually also charted in the U.K., reaching number seven in 1976, representing Parton's first U.K. success). Parton, who had always envisioned a solo career, made the decision to leave Wagoner's organization; the pair performed their last duet concert in April 1974, and she stopped appearing on his TV show in mid-1974, although they remained affiliated. He helped produce her records through 1975.The pair continued to release duet albums, their final release being 1975's Say Forever You'll Be Mine. In 1974, her song, "I Will Always Love You", written about her professional break from Wagoner, went to number one on the country chart. Around the same time, Elvis Presley indicated that he wanted to record the song. Parton was interested until Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign over half of the publishing rights to any song recorded by Presley. Parton refused. That decision has been credited with helping to make her many millions of dollars in royalties from the song over the years. Parton had three solo singles reach number one on the country chart in 1974 ("Jolene", "I Will Always Love You" and "Love Is Like a Butterfly"), as well as the duet with Porter Wagoner, "Please Don't Stop Loving Me".
Between 1974 and 1980 Parton had a series of country hits, with eight singles reaching number one. Her influence on pop culture is reflected by the many performers covering her songs, including mainstream and crossover artists such as Olivia Newton-John, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt. In 1978, Parton won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her Here You Come Again album. She continued to have hits with "Heartbreaker", (1978) "Baby I'm Burning" (1979) and "You're the Only One," (1979) all of which charted in the pop Top 40 and topped the country chart. "Sweet Summer Lovin'" (1979) became the first Parton single in two years to not top the country chart (though it did reach the Top 10). During this period, her visibility continued to increase, with multiple television appearances. A highly publicized candid interview on a Barbara Walters Special in 1977 (timed to coincide with Here You Come Again's release) was followed by appearances in 1978 on Cher's ABC television special, and her own joint special with Carol Burnett on CBS, Carol and Dolly in Nashville. In the mid-1980s, her record sales were still relatively strong, with "Save the Last Dance for Me", "Downtown", "Tennessee Homesick Blues" (1984), "Real Love" (another duet with Kenny Rogers), "Don't Call It Love" (1985) and "Think About Love" (1986) all reaching the country Top 10 ("Tennessee Homesick Blues" and "Think About Love" reached number one; "Real Love" also reached number one on the country chart and became a modest crossover hit). However, RCA Records did not renew her contract after it expired in 1986, and she signed with Columbia Records in 1987.
Parton's albums in the 1990s did not sell as well, but she achieved
commercial success again in the new millennium and has released albums
on various independent labels since 2000, including her own label, Dolly
Records.
Phyllis Dillon OD (27 December 1944 – 15 April 2004) was a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae singer who recorded for Duke Reid's lucrative Treasure Isle record label in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Dillon was born in 1944 in Linstead, St. Catherine, Jamaica, and attended the Linstead Primary School. Influenced by American singers Connie Francis, Patti Page and Dionne Warwick, she began singing in talent contests. It was during a performance at the Glass Bucket Club in Kingston, Jamaica with the group The Vulcans, that Duke Reid's session guitarist Lynn Taitt discovered Dillon. Dillon recorded her first record for Duke Reid, "Don’t Stay Away", in late 1966, a recording that has been described as "perhaps the finest female performance in Jamaican music".
While most of Dillon’s subsequent recordings would be covers of popular and obscure American songs including Bettye Swann's "Make Me Yours", Perry Como's "Tulips and Heather," The Grass Roots' "Midnight Confessions," and Stephen Stills's "Love the One You're With"; "Don't Stay Away" was an original composition featuring Tommy McCook and the Supersonics as the backing band.
Another original song, "It’s Rocking Time" would later be turned into the Alton Ellis' hit "Rocksteady". While these early recordings demonstrate Dillon's mastery of the rocksteady sound, a much slower, soulful, response to the sultry weather that made ska's upbeat rhythm and tempo undesirable, even impracticable, it was no indication of her greatest performance, 1967's "Perfidia". Popularized by the American surf rock band The Ventures, "Perfidia" is a 1940 song written by Alberto Domínguez and made popular by the Cuban bandleader, Xavier Cugat. Dillon also recorded duets with Ellis (as 'Alton and Phyllis'), including "Why Did You Leave Me To Cry" and "Remember that Sunday". Dillon is regarded as one of the key singers of the rocksteady era.
At the end of 1967, Dillon moved to New York. The following five years, she spent living a double life. She had a family and career in banking in the United States, flying frequently back to Kingston, Jamaica to continue recording for Reid. After a number of singles and an album entitled Living in Love, Dillon ended her recording career in 1971.
In 1991, Michael Bonnet, the entertainment director for the Oceanea Hotel in Kingston approached Dillon inviting her to sing. Her refusal at first was later rescinded and sparked a revitalized interest in performing and recording. In the years following, Dillion would tour the UK, Germany and Japan. In 1998 Phyllis Dillon returned to the recording studio with Lynn Taitt, marked by reinterest in ska music in the United States. She remained active until illness took hold.
Phyllis Dillon died on 15 April 2004 in Long Island, New York, after a two-year battle with cancer, at the age of 59. Dillon was posthumously awarded the Order of Distinction in 2009 by the Jamaican government.
Millicent Dolly May Small CD (6 October 1947 – 5 May 2020) was a Jamaican singer and songwriter, best known for her 1964 recording of "My Boy Lollipop", which reached number two in both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100. On her UK records, she was usually credited mononymously as Millie. She was the Caribbean's first international recording star, and its most successful female performer.
Small was born in Clarendon, Jamaica, the daughter of a sugar plantation overseer. She was one of seven brothers and five sisters. Like many Jamaican singers of the era, her career began by winning the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour talent contest, which she won at the age of twelve. Wishing to pursue a career as a singer, she moved to live with relatives in Love Lane in Kingston. She auditioned for Studio One record producer Coxsone Dodd, who was struck by the similarity of her voice to that of Shirley Goodman of the American duo Shirley and Lee. He paired her with singer Owen Gray, and they made several records together, including "Sugar Plum", which became a local hit.
When Gray resumed his solo career, Small began recording with another singer, Samuel Augustus "Roy" Panton. Working with producer Roy Robinson, the duo of Roy & Millie had a run of local hits, including "We'll Meet". They had further successes working with Dodd, as well with producer Lindon Pottinger, including the local hit "Marie" in 1963; and then with Prince Buster. Her popularity brought her to the attention of Anglo-Jamaican entrepreneur Chris Blackwell, who was convinced of her wider international potential, and became her manager and legal guardian. In late 1963 he took her to Forest Hill, London, where she was given intensive training in dancing and diction.
Her first recording in London, "Don't You Know", made little impact when released by Fontana Records in late 1963, but for her next recording Blackwell recruited guitarist and arranger Ernest Ranglin to oversee the session. Ranglin and his musicians adopted the newly-popular ska style, and his rearrangement of "My Boy Lollipop", a song originally released in the US by teenager Barbie Gaye in late 1956, became immediately successful. Released in March 1964, Small's version (on which she was credited simply as "Millie") was a massive hit. She appeared on British TV shows including Top of the Pops, and the single reached number two in the UK Singles Chart, in the US Billboard Hot 100, and in Canada. It also topped the chart in Australia. Initially it sold over 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. Including singles sales, album usage, and compilation inclusions, the song has since sold more than seven million copies worldwide. "My Boy Lollipop" was doubly significant in British pop history. It was the first major hit for Island Records (although it was actually released on the Fontana label because Chris Blackwell, Island's owner, did not want to overextend its then-meagre resources; in the US, the record appeared on the Smash Records subsidiary of Mercury Records). Small was the first artist to have a hit that was recorded in the bluebeat style, a music genre that was a direct ancestor of reggae. She was billed as "The Blue Beat Girl" on the single's label in the US.
She toured in Britain and appeared frequently on British television, before collapsing from exhaustion and food poisoning; she was also involved in a traffic accident. Although her next single, "Sweet William", was less successful, reaching number 30 in the UK, number 40 in the US, and number 22 in Canada, she had become an international celebrity. She was given a gold disc in New York, and was driven in an open-top car on her return to Kingston where she performed in several major shows, on one occasion topping the bill over Otis Redding, Patti LaBelle, and Inez and Charlie Foxx. She also performed in a Ska Spectacular show at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Her first album, More Millie, contained a varied selection of songs arranged by Ranglin. In the US it was issued as My Boy Lollipop, with a slightly different selection of tracks. Her early Jamaican recordings were also reissued to take advantage of her popularity. She appeared on the 1964 Beatles TV special Around the Beatles. On 28 December 1964 she also appeared in ITV's Play of the Week episode "The Rise and Fall of Nellie Brown", playing the role of Selina Brown. The play features a number of songs composed by Dolores Claman and performed by Small. In early 1965, she featured in a Ready, Steady, Go! special, Millie in Jamaica, and soon afterwards she embarked on a world tour, with concerts in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, the US, Brazil and Argentina. On 6 March 1965, Small appeared on the Australian television programme Bandstand. This was as part of a concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Kings Domain, Melbourne, part of the Moomba Festival. She performed "My Boy Lollipop", "What Am I Living For", and "See You Later, Alligator".
In 1965 She released her second LP record, Millie Sings Fats Domino, but it failed to reached the charts. Her eighth single in Britain, a version of Wynonie Harris' "Bloodshot Eyes", was her last UK chart success, reaching number 48 in late 1965, but she continued to tour successfully in Australia and Africa. After returning to Britain she made further recordings with Jackie Edwards, including the album Pledging My Love, and also appeared on the compilation album Ska at the Jamaica Playboy Club, singing on one track with the then-unknown Jimmy Cliff. However, her popularity in Britain appeared to dwindle as she spent more time touring abroad. In 1968, after two albums of The Best of Jackie & Millie, her recording contracts with Island and Fontana ended.
The emergence of reggae in the United Kingdom in 1969 prompted a return to recording for Small, with the single "My Love and I", on which she was backed by the band Symarip. She then recorded for the Trojan label, her first single combining a version of Nick Drake's "Mayfair" with her own song, the politically-inspired and defiant "Enoch Power", which faced a radio ban but re-established her profile among the British Caribbean community. However, after a short period with President Records, she ended her recording career soon afterwards. Small continued to tour and perform in Jamaica, but in 1971 decided to move to Singapore to live. She returned to Britain in 1973, to coincide with the release of another compilation album, Lollipop Reggae. Thereafter, she largely stayed out of the public eye, even when "My Boy Lollipop" was reissued and re-charted in the UK in 1987 at no. 46.
Millie Small died on 5 May 2020 in London, reportedly from a stroke.
Lucille Bogan (April 1, 1897 – August 10, 1948) was an American classic female blues singer and songwriter, among the first to be recorded. She also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson. Music critic Ernest Borneman noted that Bogan was one of "the big three of the blues", along with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Many of Bogan's songs have been recorded by later blues and jazz musicians.Many of her songs were sexually explicit, and she was generally considered to have been a dirty blues musician.
She was born Lucille Anderson in Amory, Mississippi, and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She first recorded vaudeville songs for Okeh Records in New York in 1923, with the pianist Henry Callens. Later that year she recorded "Pawn Shop Blues" in Atlanta, Georgia; this was the first time a black blues singer had been recorded outside New York or Chicago. In 1927 she began recording for Paramount Records in Grafton, Wisconsin, where she recorded her first big success, "Sweet Petunia", which was covered by Blind Blake. She also recorded for Brunswick Records, backed by Tampa Red.
By 1930 her songs tended to concern drinking and sex, such as "Sloppy Drunk Blues" (covered by Leroy Carr and others) and "Tricks Ain't Walkin' No More" (later recorded by Memphis Minnie). She also recorded the original version of "Black Angel Blues", which (as "Sweet Little Angel") was covered by B. B. King and many others. With her experience in some of the rowdier juke joints of the 1920s, many of Bogan's songs, most of which she wrote herself, have thinly veiled humorous sexual references.
In 1933, she returned to New York, and, apparently to conceal her identity, began recording as Bessie Jackson for the Banner label of ARC. She was usually accompanied on piano by Walter Roland, with whom she recorded over 100 songs between 1933 and 1935, including some of her biggest commercial successes, "Seaboard Blues", "Troubled Mind", and "Superstitious Blues". Her other songs include "Stew Meat Blues", "Coffee Grindin' Blues", "My Georgia Grind", "Honeycomb Man", "Mr. Screw Worm in Trouble", and "Bo Hog Blues".
Her final recordings with Roland and Josh White include two takes of "Shave 'Em Dry", recorded in New York on Tuesday, March 5, 1935. The unexpurgated alternate take is notorious for its explicit sexual references, a unique record of the lyrics sung in after-hours adult clubs. Another of her songs, "B.D. Woman's Blues", takes the position of a "bull dyke" ("B.D."), with the lyrics "Comin' a time, B.D. women, they ain't gonna need no men", "They got a head like a sweet angel and they walk just like a natural man" and "They can lay their jive just like a natural man".
She appears not to have recorded after 1935. She managed her son's jazz group, Bogan's Birmingham Busters, for a time, before moving to Los Angeles shortly before her death from coronary sclerosis in 1948.
Back in May I was contacted by a music teacher from 3 O'Clock Rock and asked if they could use this blog for a music program they wanted to do called Pioneering Women in Rock n Roll. The idea of 10-13 year olds learning about these women filled me with so much joy and I said yes straight away. Ten weeks later here's the class presentation that one of the students made about Shannon Shaw. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Shannon Shaw
By: Luna Garcia
Shannon Shaw is a musician born on May 21, 1983 in Napa, California.
When she was a kid her parents didn’t let her listen to pop music so she
listened to oldies music because that’s what her parents listened to.
She started playing bass when she was 25 years old. She sings and plays
bass in Shannon and the Clams and she played bass in Hunx and His Punx.
In 2008, Shannon and the Clams recorded the album “Scuffle With the Clams”,
onto CD in guitarist Cody’s bedroom.
In 2009, they recorded their first studio album called “I Wanna Go Home”
with 1-2-3-4 Go! Records from Oakland, California.
