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Koko's blues soul lives on -- in more ways than one
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This past Wednesday, on June 3rd, the undisputed Queen of The Blues, "Koko" Taylor, 
died at age 80 in Chicago due to complications from a surgery for gastrointestinal issues. Only days before the surgery, Koko won her 29th Blues Music Award as the Traditional Female Blues Artist of the Year.
Koko Taylor was not only a remarkable blues singer with raw talent until the very end of her life, she was one powerful woman who forged her way into a world dominated by men. Over the course of her almost 50-year career, she received just about every award the blues world has to offer and more. She received Grammy nominations for seven of her last eight Alligator albums and won a Grammy in 1984 for the album Blues Explosion on Atlantic Records. In 2004 she was presented with the National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. She actually holds 25 Blues Music Awards, more than any other blues artist, male or female. In 1998, Chicago Magazine named her "Chicagoan of the Year," and Koko was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame. The Boston Globe said about her, "There are many kings of the blues, but only one queen. Koko's voice is still capable of pinning a listener to the back wall."
Koko's beginnings were humble. "I come from a poor family," Koko recalls. "A very poor family. I was raised up on what they call a sharecropper's farm," from Tennessee. She and her soon-bo-be husband, the late Robert "Pops" Taylor, arrived in Chicago looking for work, "with only 35 cents and a box of Ritz crackers" in their pockets 56 years ago. The couple settled on the city's South Side, the cradle of Chicago blues. Koko found work cleaning houses for families in the ritzy northern suburbs. At night and on the weekends, Koko and Pops would visit the blues clubs on the South and West Sides where they would hear the up and coming blues musicians. Thanks in part ot Pops encouragement, Koko was soon regularly rubbing shoulders with many of the legendary blues artists.
Taylor's lucky break came in 1963 when after a fiery performance, songwriter and arranger Willie Dixon approached her. To Koko's surprise, Dixon told her "My God, I never heard a woman sing the blues like you sing the blues. There are lots of men singing the blues today, but not enough women. That's what the world needs today, a woman with a voice like yours to sing the blues." By 1966, Dixon had recorded Koko's music in a way that she became firmly established as the world's number one female blues talent.
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It's not easy being a woman and succeeding in the male-dominated world of the blues, but Koko Taylor has done just that. She's taken her blues singing from the tiny clubs on Chicago's South Side to major festivals and even all around the world. She's appeared on national televesion and was even selected to be the subject of a PBS documentary. Through good times and bad, through her own personal hardships, too, Koko has remained a vibrant force in the blues. "It's a challenge," Koko said; "it's tough being out here doing what I'm doing in what they call a man's world. It's not every woman that can hang in there and do what I am doing."
Although Koko's amazing and powerful physical life is now ended, her blues soul and spirit live on among us. Sometimes, we can feel like "it's all over" when someone dies. However, we can be happy for the one who got to move on into the next realm, as their new and amazing adventure is just beginning. Koko -- who got her name through the love of chocolate, by the way! -- is the lucky one. She's graduated from this earthly existence and its challenges; and her soul now gets to experience who she truly is through her homegoing. She will continue to be connected to all those who appreciated and enjoyed her life, her music, and her persevering spirit through her powerful singing and spirit that live on.
May Koko live on as an inspiration to all women (and men, too), especially those who are striving to become heard and honored in this changing world. Deep courage and peace to all, Dancing heart~~~
P.S. For wake, visitation, and funeral services for later this week in Chicago, visit Koko's website.
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