Alberta Hunter

Alberta Hunter (April 1, 1895 – October 17, 1984) was an American jazz and blues singer and songwriter from the early 1920s to the late 1950s. After twenty years of working as a nurse, Hunter resumed her singing career in 1977.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hunter began her singing career in a bordello and soon moved to clubs. By 1914 she was receiving lessons from a prominent jazz pianist, Tony Jackson, who helped her to expand her repertoire and compose her own songs. She was still in her early teens when she settled in Chicago. Part of her early career was spent singing at Dago Frank's, a brothel. She then sang at Hugh Hoskin's saloon and, eventually, in many Chicago bars. One of her first notable experiences as an artist was at the Panama Club, a white-owned club with a white-only clientele that had a chain in Chicago, New York and other large cities. Hunter's first act was in an upstairs room, far from the main event; thus, she began developing as an artist in front of a cabaret crowd. Her big break came when she was booked at Dreamland Cafe, singing with King Oliver and his band. In early 1923, she suggested that Columbia records should record Oliver's band, but when she was not available to record with them, Columbia refused.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She first toured Europe in 1917, performing in Paris and London. Her career as singer and songwriter flourished in the 1920s and 1930s, and she appeared in clubs and on stage in musicals in both New York and London. The songs she wrote include the critically acclaimed "Downhearted Blues" (1922). She recorded several records with Perry Bradford from 1922 to 1927. Hunter recorded prolifically during the 1920s, starting with sessions for Black Swan in 1921, Paramount in 1922–1924, Gennett in 1924, OKeh in 1925–1926, Victor in 1927 and Columbia in 1929. While still working for Paramount, she also recorded for Harmograph Records under the pseudonym May Alix. Hunter wrote "Downhearted Blues" with Lovie Austin and recorded the track for Ink Williams at Paramount Records. She received only $368 in royalties. Williams had secretly sold the recording rights to Columbia Records in a deal in which all royalties were paid to him. The song became a big hit for Columbia, with Bessie Smith as the vocalist. This record sold almost 1 million copies. Hunter learned what Williams had done and stopped recording for him.

Hunter eventually moved to New York City. She performed with Bricktop and recorded with Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. With a vocal duet chorus between Clarence Todd and herself, "Cake Walking Babies (From Home)," featuring the Bechet and Armstrong, was another one of Hunter's hits recorded in December 1924 during her time in New York City. She continued to perform on both sides of the Atlantic, and as the head of the U.S.O.'s first black show, until her mother's death. Then she became a nurse an retired from music for twenty years.

In the summer of 1976, Hunter attended a party for her long-time friend Mabel Mercer, hosted by Bobby Short; music public relations agent Charles Bourgeois asked Hunter to sing and connected her with the owner of Cafe Society, Barney Josephson. Josephson offered Hunter a limited engagement at his Greenwich Village club, The Cookery. Her two-week appearance there was a huge success, turning into a six-year engagement and a revival of her career in music. Impressed with the attention paid her by the press, John Hammond signed Hunter to Columbia Records. Hunter was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015. Hunter's comeback album, Amtrak Blues, was honored by the Blues Hall of Fame in 2009.

Cher Strauberry

Cher Strauberry (born 1992) is an American skateboarder and musician. Some of the bands she has formed are Evil Twins, Pookie & the Poodlez and Twompsax.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At age 16, Strauberry discovered 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, an all-inclusive and all-ages collective music venue and she became a regular at east bay punk shows. She joined Nobunny and also formed her own band Pookie And The Poodlez. The band was active from 2012 to 2016 and put out 2 Lps, a cassette and 2 split EPs. 

In 2017 she put out a cassette under the name Evil Twins together with Stevie Shakes. Her next project was Twompsax, an Oakland based crew of friends turned bandmates. Ian plays the drums, Izzy plays guitar, Tris plays bass and Strauberry sings. In the vein of bands like Blatz and Limpwrist, the band trades in aggressive, fast, short and catchy songs that make you want to dance and scream. Some songs directly tackle trans issues like “Trap,” a driving freak punk anthem about taking transphobic and homophobic slurs and turning them into something powerful. “Chelsea Hair” is a sweet and bouncy 30-second pop banger that traverses punk hair politics, feeling cute, and experiencing the cisgender gaze in public. Twompsax’s latest cassette “Disgusting Me Out,” was recorded by the band in a Texas bedroom- turned-studio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her solo album, Chering is Caring came out in June 2021 on Silver Arrow Records. The Lp brings together recordings from the past two years of Cher’s life, including major losses and heartaches, explosive moments of joy and love, and no-holds-barred punk ruminations on where life has brought her to this point. It bridges together her adolescent obsession with “zine culture”, her deep connection with the 90s Riot Grrrl movement, and her own journey of self-discovery, to create an experience that is enlightening, enveloping and more than a little charming.

Elza Soares

Elza da Conceição Soares (née Gomes; 23 June 1930 – 20 January 2022), known professionally as Elza Soares was a Brazilian samba singer. In 1999, she was named Singer of the Millennium along with Tina Turner by BBC Radio.

 

 

 

 

 

In 1958, Soares spent eight months touring Argentina with Mercedes Batista. She became popular with her first single "Se Acaso Você Chegasse", on which she introduced scat singing à la Louis Armstrong, adding a bit of jazz to samba, however, Elza said that she did not know American music at the time. She moved to São Paulo, where she performed at theaters and night clubs. Her husky voice became her trademark. After finishing her second album, A Bossa Negra, she went to Chile to represent Brazil in the 1962 FIFA World Cup and met Louis Armstrong. 

 

From 1967 to 1969, Soares recorded three albums with the record label Odeon, partnering with singer Miltinho. The albums were titled Elza, Miltinho e Samba (Volumes 1–3). The songs in these albums were mostly in the potpourri style with duets. The albums were produced by Milton Miranda and Hermínio Bello de Carvalho and re-released on CD in 2003 by EMI-Odeon. In the 1970s, she toured the U.S. and Europe. In 2000, she was named Best Singer of the Millennium by the BBC in London, where she performed a concert with Gal Costa, Chico Buarque, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, and Virgínia Rodrigues. During the same year, she played a series of avant-garde concerts directed by José Miguel Wisnik in Rio de Janeiro. 

Soares scored a number of hits in Brazil throughout her career, including "Se Acaso Você Chegasse" (1960), "Boato" (1961), "Cadeira Vazia" (1961), "Só Danço Samba" (1963), "Mulata Assanhada" (1965), and "Aquarela Brasileira" (1974). Elza Pede Passagem produced no major hit singles but it was considered representative of the samba-soul of the early 1970s. 

She died at her residence in Rio de Janeiro, on 20 January 2022, at the age of 91.

Rachel Nagy & Mary Ramirez - The Detroit Cobras

The Detroit Cobras were an American garage rock band from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 1994. Rachel Nagy was the lead singer and played piano and Mary Ramirez played guitar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Detroit Cobras signed with Sympathy for the Record Industry and released their first album, Mink, Rat or Rabbit, in 1998. After a three-year gap, they released a second album, Life, Love and Leaving. The two albums consisted entirely of cover versions of popular songs from the 1960s. Their retro-garage rock formula proved popular in the UK and prompted the London-based Rough Trade Records to sign the band. They released an EP, Seven Easy Pieces, in 2003 and their third album, Baby, in 2004. Baby broke with the Cobras' tradition in that it included one original song, "Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat)". Baby was picked up for release in the US by Bloodshot (who added the songs from the Seven Easy Pieces EP to the end of Baby. In April 2007, Bloodshot released the band's fourth album, Tied & True. 

 

 

 

 

 

The band was known for multiple line-up changes. They generally had a touring line-up different from their recording line-up. Greg Cartwright of Reigning Sound (aka Greg Oblivian of The Oblivians) was a constant creative force along with Rachel Nagy and Mary Ramirez, who were around from the group's genesis. In the summer of 2008, The Detroit Cobras went on tour in support of X on their 13x31 tour. For the summer of 2009, The Detroit Cobras headlined a tour with the Dex Romweber Duo in support. 

Rachel Nagy died of the 15th of January 2022.

Dolores Vargas

María Dolores Castellón Vargas, known artistically as Dolores Vargas "La Terremoto" (Barcelona, 16 May 1936-Valencia, 7 August 2016), was a Spanish flamenco and Catalan rumba singer. 

 

 

 

 

 

When she was young she moved to Madrid where The Calderón Theatre became her artistic cradle. With her brother Enrique (better known as El Príncipe Gitano) she sang her first songs: Penas de la gorriona, Málaga bella, among others. She came from a musical family, another of her brothers is the guitarist Juan José Castellón Vargas and she was a first cousin of the guitarist Sabicas. 

 

She participated in numerous special television shows, including A la española, directed by Valerio Lazarov for TVE in 1971. It was a musical show that also had as guests Lola Flores, Rosa Morena, El Príncipe Gitano, Maruja Garrido and Salvador Dalí, among others. The show was awarded a prize in New York by the " Association of Show Business Critics", after seeing a whole year of programming on the Spanish-speaking channels.

 

 

 

 

 

She reached popularity with songs such as Achilipú, A tu vera (which was later performed by Lola Flores, but was written for Dolores), Tío, tío, tío, tío, La Moto, Porom Pompero, La Piragua, Macarrones and Se va a Covadonga. La Terremoto is considered a very versatile flamenco artist, who also flirted with Catalan rumba.

 

She lived her last years in Chirivella (Valencia) where she died in the General Hospital of Valencia on the 7th of August 2016.

Tina Halladay - Sheer Mag

Christina Halladay is the lead singer of the American  rock band Sheer Mag. The band formed in 2014 in  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and they combine 1970s rock with the punk ethos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheer Mag's core members - Christina Halladay, Matt Palmer, and siblings Kyle and Hart Seely - all met while studying at SUNY Purchase. After graduating they all moved to Philadelphia and formed the band in 2014. They all moved into a house together, referring to their home as 'The Nuthouse', where they recorded their debut self-titled 7-inch EP later that year. It was released on their own label, Wilsons RC, in September 2014. Following its positive reception they went on their first full U.S. tour the next spring, with their EP finding a UK/EU release with London punk label Static Shock Records - a relationship that would continue for future releases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They released their second EP in April 2015, this time a co-release with Brooklyn label Katorga Works. In March 2016 they released a third 7-inch vinyl EP. In early 2017 Wilsons RC and Static Shock released a compilation LP covering all songs from their previous releases. On May 10, 2017, Sheer Mag released the title track off their first full-length record, Need to Feel Your Love, which came out 14 July. On June 19, 2019, they announced their second LP, A Distant Call would be released on August 23 the same year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The track "Expect the Bayonet" from Need to Feel Your Love served as the walkout track for Bernie Sanders at a comeback presidential campaign rally in Queens, New York during October 2019. The RollingStone politics podcast Useful Idiots uses the same track as its theme music.

Sylvie Vartan

Sylvie Vartan (born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a Armenian-Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography, and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV. With 50 million records and CD's sold worldwide and 2000 magazine covers she is considered a true icon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1961, her brother Eddie offered Sylvie the chance to record the song "Panne d'essence" with French rocker Frankie Jordan. The Decca Records EP was a surprise hit. Although she was not credited on the sleeve, "Panne d'essence" provided Vartan her first appearance on French television. After she finished high school, she was free to sign a contract with Decca Records to start recording her own EP; carrying the title song "Quand le film est triste", a cover of Sue Thompson's "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)", the EP was on sale by the beginning of December 1961.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was another hit, that served her first concert in Paris Olympia Hall on 12 December 1961. "Est-ce que tu le sais?", her version of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say", was quickly released. She opened for Vince Taylor at Paris Olympia for her second concert. In July she toured France with Gilbert Bécaud. In autumn 1962 she released her version of "The Loco-Motion" on EP and her first LP, Sylvie. Her next hit was "Tous mes copains", issued on EP in 1962. In 1963, Paul Anka offered her the song "I'm Watching You," which became her first international hit in Japan and Korea. She rounded out the year with four TV specials and becoming the darling of the teen magazine Salut les Copains. Six of her 31 songs released in 1962/1963 became Top-20 European hits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In late winter 1963, Vartan toured France with Johnny Hallyday and starred with him in the movie D'où viens-tu, Johnny?. At the year's end they traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to record an album with The Jordanaires. With the special treatment of vocalists, strings, and brass sections in the true Nashville style, these recordings were a great commercial success in France. The album Sylvie à Nashville included the hits "La plus belle pour aller danser" and "Si je chante" and three new songs in English (one featuring Paul Anka). Accompanied by the movie Cherchez l'idole, the EP with "La plus belle pour aller danser" became number one in France, sold over a million copies in Japan, was very successful in Korea and Spain, and was her first release in Italy. "Il n'a rien retrouvé" became another international hit that year. In January 1964, she appeared at the Paris Olympia as one of the support acts (which also included Trini Lopez) for The Beatles. She also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, Shindig!, Hullabaloo, and an international concert tour, including Canada, South America and Polynesia. In Tokyo she gave 13 concerts in 12 days.

 

 

 

In December 1964 Sylvie's brother Eddie hired two English songwriting session musicians, Tommy Brown on drums and Mick Jones on guitar, as they went to record in New York; they wrote her the hit "Cette lettre-là". On January 16, 1964, Sylvie performed with The Beatles, and opened their show at Olympia. Set in the smart design of the J.C. Averty Show, "Cette lettre-là" was the first of Sylvie Vartan's TV variety night performances. In 1966–67 she recorded more original hits. "Dis moi, que tu m'aimes" premiered on TV on 9 July 1967 was accompanied by a group of male dancers. "Le jour qui vient" was aired on the Dim dam dom program of the French Television 1 in color on 14 January 1968. "2'35 de bonheur" and "Comme un garçon" were other #1s in France, Italy, Belgium, Japan, or Korea. 

 

 

She sold millions of records on the RCA label, which made her its most prolific artist after Elvis Presley. Her most famous songs are "J'ai un probleme", "L'amour au Diapason" (73), "Parle moi de ta vie"(71), "Petit rainbow" (77), "Bye Bye Leroy Brown" (74), "Disco Queen" and "Nicolas" (79), and "Caro Mozart", an international hit in Italian (72). However, her annual world tours and Italian TV shows continued to include her biggest late-1960s hits. Yearly shows with Johnny Hallyday attracted full houses at the Olympia and the Palais des congrès de Paris throughout the 1960s and mid-1970s. In 2004, after a break in performances, she began recording and giving concerts of jazz ballads in francophone countries.

Bebe Buell

Beverle Lorence "Bebe" Buell (born July 14, 1953) is an American model and singer. She was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. The nurses in the hospital took to calling her "Baby Buell," which is where her nickname of "Bebe" originated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1981 Buell recorded a four-song EP on Rhino Records, produced by Rick Derringer and Ric Ocasek, with the Cars serving as her band on two tracks. The rock band the Power Station began in 1984 when John Taylor (Duran Duran) pulled some famous friends together to provide backing for another of Buell's musical efforts. She also formed the band the B-Sides in 1980; it disbanded in 1985.

 

 

 

 

 

In 1985 Buell started another band, The Gargoyles, and released a couple of singles. A few large record companies showed interest, but the Gargoyles disbanded in 1991. In 1997 Buell recorded a solo effort with producer Don Fleming and was released in 2000. She also performed around New York with the Bebe Buell Band and later with Boston musicians The Rudds and the Neighborhoods' drummer Johnny Lynch, forming a new band for a few shows that also included James Wallerstein. 

In May 2009 Buell released her first recording in ten years, the single "Air Kisses for the Masses". She then recorded a 12-song album that can be downloaded on iTunes or Amazon MP3. Buell played a series of live shows in the New York City area to promote the single. In September 2011 Buell released Hard Love, a rock album influenced by grunge and glam rock. It was produced by Wallerstein and Stephen DeAcutis. The 11-track record features original songs alongside covers of Gang of Four's "I Love a Man in Uniform" and "Baby Baby" by the Vibrators.

Cait O'Riordan

Caitlín "Cait" O'Riordan (born 4 January 1965) is a Nigerian-born British musician of Irish and Scottish descent. She played bass guitar for the Irish punk/folk band the Pogues from 1983 to 1986. She later played with Elvis Costello as well as several other projects. She uses the name Rocky O'Riordan for her Sirius-XM radio show, "The Rocky O'Riordan Show".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1982, she was invited by Shane MacGowan to join his newly forming band Pogue Mahone. She appeared on the group's first two albums, Red Roses for Me and Rum Sodomy & the Lash, the EP Poguetry in Motion, and several early singles, before leaving in 1986. Besides playing bass, she provided vocals for "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day" on Rum Sodomy & the Lash, and for "Haunted" on the soundtrack to Alex Cox's film Sid and Nancy. The Pogues' most commercially successful song, "Fairytale of New York" from If I Should Fall from Grace with God, was written as a duet for O'Riordan and MacGowan, but the band eventually recorded it with Kirsty MacColl singing the female part.

 

 

 

 

 

In 1983, she became the singer in Darryl Hunt's jazz band Pride of the Cross. Hunt had originally planned to ask Wendy May of the Boothill Foot Tappers to be the singer. When he told O'Riordan, she laughed at him and said she ought to do it. During her time with Pride of the Cross, she sang lead on their only single, "Tommy's Blue Valentine". She acted in the 1987 Alex Cox film, Straight to Hell, as the singing dancehall girl Slim McMahon, and also in the 1988 Frank Deasy film The Courier.

O'Riordan became involved with Elvis Costello in 1985, while he was producing the Pogues' album Rum Sodomy & the Las. Her former Pride of the Cross bandmate Darryl Hunt filled in for her on several shows during the Pogues' 1986 U.S. tour, and he replaced her permanently when she left later that year to join Costello on his King of America tour. She co-wrote the track "Lovable" from that album, and wrote, co-wrote, and appeared on songs on Costello's subsequent albums Blood & Chocolate, Spike and Mighty Like a Rose. In 2004, she joined Pogues' guitarist Phil Chevron's re-united band the Radiators; that year she toured with the Pogues for the first time in 18 years. She left the Radiators and was replaced in February 2006 by Jesse Booth, and went on to form a band of divorcées named PreNup with Hothouse Flowers guitarist Fiachna Ó Braonáin. In 2018 O'Riordan joined Pogues tin whistle player Spider Stacy to perform Pogues songs accompanied by Cajun music band Lost Bayou Ramblers under the name Poguetry. In February and March 2020 Poguetry played an eight date tour of the US.

Since 2020 O'Riordan has hosted a weekly radio show, "The Rocky O'Riordan Show" on U2-X Radio, an artist-branded channel which is part of SiriusXM.

Merry Clayton

Merry Clayton (born December 25, 1948) is an American soul and gospel singer and an actress. She provided a number of backing vocal tracks for major performing artists in the 1960s, most notably in her duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter". Clayton is featured in 20 Feet from Stardom, the Oscar-winning documentary about background singers and their contributions to the music industry. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clayton began her recording career in 1962, at the age of 14. She first sang on "Who Can I Count On?" as a duet with Bobby Darin, on his album You're the Reason I'm Living. In 1963, she recorded the first-released version of "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)", the same year that Betty Everett's version reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Early in her career, Clayton performed with Ray Charles (as one of the Raelettes).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clayton is best known for her 1969 duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter". Along with her frequent partner Clydie King, Clayton also sang backing vocals on Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". In 1970, Clayton recorded her own version of "Gimme Shelter", and it became the title track of her debut solo album, released that year. Her solo version peaked at No. 73 on the pop charts. Her version would be the first of five singles under her name to crack the Billboard Hot 100. That same year, she performed a live version of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" for the soundtrack for the Robert Altman film, Brewster McCloud, and also contributed vocals to Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg's film, Performance. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1971, she co-wrote the song "Sho' Nuff" about her mother. In 1972, she starred as the original Acid Queen in the first London production of The Who's Tommy. In 1973, she featured prominently on Ringo Starr's "Oh My My", which reached Billboard's Top 10 the following year. In the mid-1970s Clayton sang on The Blackbyrds' R&B hit "Rock Creek Park", and continued to release solo albums throughout the next decade, notching several minor R&B chart singles. Her soundtrack work continued into the 1980s, including "You're Always There When I Need You", the title track for the 1980 Get Smart film, The Nude Bomb, and the song "Yes" from Dirty Dancing, which hit No. 45 on the Hot 100. In the mid-1980s, Clayton was in the gospel group Brilliance, formed by Della Reese. The other members were O.C. Smith, Vermettya Royster, and Eric Strom. They released an album on Atlanta International Records in 1986.

 

 

Clayton was featured in the documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom (2013), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and went on to win the Oscar for best documentary at the 86th Academy Awards. 20 Feet from Stardom also won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Music Film, with the award being presented to the featured artists, in addition to the production crew for the film. In 2021, her solo album Beautiful Scars was released. Throughout her career as a backup singer, Clayton's singing can be heard on songs by Pearl Bailey, Phil Ochs, Burt Bacharach, Tom Jones, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, and on several tracks from Neil Young's debut album.