Lionel Richie - All Night Long

Lionel Brockman Richie (born June 20, 1949), is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who has sold (solo or as group member) more than 100 million records. In recent years, Richie has become a phenomenon in various Arab states, and has performed in Morocco, Dubai, Qatar and Libya. ABC News said, "Grown Iraqi men get misty-eyed by the mere mention of his name. 'I love Lionel Richie,' they say. They can sing entire Lionel Richie songs. According to Richie, he was told that Iraqi civilians were playing "All Night Long" the night U.S. tanks invaded Baghdad. Richie was against the war, but says he could see a day when he would come and perform in Baghdad. Richie helped to raise over $3.1 million for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Richie's grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 80s, but survived and lived until she was 104 years old. He stated that she was his enduring symbol of hope and his reason for becoming a breast cancer activist.

I hope everyone enjoyed February and my tribute to Black History Month. I learned quite a bit and hope you all did as well. Tomorrow we will get beck to the usual format. Don't forget to vote in the February poll..this is the last day!

www.lionelrichie.com

Smelly Dog

Herbie Hancock - Chameleon

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet", Hancock helped redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section, and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound. He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers and funk. Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success among pop audiences. His music embraces elements of funk and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz. In his jazz improvisation, he possesses a unique creative blend of jazz, blues, and modern classical music, with harmonic stylings much like the styles of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.
In 1969, Hancock composed the soundtrack for the Bill Cosby animated children's television show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Titled Fat Albert Rotunda, the album was mainly an R&B-influenced album with strong jazz overtones. One of the jazzier songs on the record, "Tell Me A Bedtime Story", was later re-worked as a more electronic sounding song for the Quincy Jones album, Sounds...and Stuff Like That. Hancock became fascinated with accumulating musical gadgets and toys. Together with the profound influence of Davis's Bitches Brew, this fascination would culminate in a series of albums in which electronic instruments are coupled with acoustic instruments. His 2007 tribute album River: The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, only the second jazz album ever to win the award after Getz/Gilberto in 1965. As a member of Soka Gakkai, Hancock is an adherent of the Nichiren school of Mahayana Buddhism. This is a live performance of one of my favorites "Chameleon. Sit back and enjoy this everlasting jam on your lazy Sunday!

www.herbiehancock.com/home.php

Smelly Dog

Peter Tosh - Steppin' Razor

Winston Hubert McIntosh (1944-1987), aka Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician who was a major member of the musical band The Wailers (1963-1974), and who afterward had a successful solo career as well as being a promoter of Rastafari. Peter Tosh was born in Petersfield, Jamaica with a father and mother too young to care for him properly. He was raised by his aunt and was nicknamed 'Stepping Razor'. He began to sing and learn guitar at an early age, his inspiration coming from American radio. At some point after his end with the Wailers, Tosh developed an interest in unicycles and knitting; he became an accomplished unicycle rider, being able to ride forwards and backwards and hop. He often amused his audiences by riding onto the stage on his unicycle for his shows.

During 1987, Tosh seemed to be having a career revival. On September 11th, 1987, just after Tosh had returned to his home in Jamaica, a three-man gang came to his house demanding money. Tosh replied that he did not have any with him but the gang did not believe him. They stayed at his residence for several hours in an attempt to extort money from Tosh. During this time, many of Tosh's friends came to his house to greet him because of his return to Jamaica. As people arrived, the gunmen became more and more frustrated, especially the director of the gang, Dennis 'Leppo' Lobban, a man whom Tosh had previously befriended and tried to help find work after a long jail sentence. Tosh said he did not have any money in the house, after which Lobban put a gun to Tosh's head and shot twice, killing him. The other gunmen began shooting, wounding several other people and also killing disc jockey Jeff "Free I" Dixon. Leppo surrendered to the authorities. He was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted in 1995 and he remains in prison.

http://rastas-home.tripod.com/petertosh.htm

Smelly Dog

Mississippi Fred McDowell - Goin Down to the River

Fred McDowell (1904-1972) known by his stage name; Mississippi Fred McDowell, was a blues singer and guitar player in the North Mississippi style. McDowell was born in Rossville, TN, near Memphis. His parents, who were farmers, died when McDowell was a youth. He started playing guitar at the age of 14 and played at dances around Rossville. Wanting a change from plowing fields, he moved to Memphis in 1926. Initially he played slide guitar using a pocket knife and then a slide made from a beef rib bone, later switching to a glass slide for its clearer sound. While commonly lumped together with Delta Blues singers, McDowell actually may be considered the first of the bluesmen from the 'North Mississippi' region. Fred died of cancer in 1972. On August 6, 1993 a memorial was placed on his grave site by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund. The memorial with McDowell's portrait upon it was paid for by Bonnie Raitt. The memorial stone was a replacement for an inaccurate and damaged marker (McDowell's name was misspelled) and the original stone was subsequently donated by McDowell's family to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, MS.

http://www.myspace.com/mississippifredmcdowell

Smelly Dog

Ray Charles - What'd I Say

Ray Charles Robinson (1930–2004), better known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings. Ray was the son of Aretha Williams, a sharecropper, and Bailey Robinson, a railroad repair man, mechanic and handyman. When Ray was an infant, his family moved from Albany, GA, where he was born, to the poor black community on the western side of Greenville, FL. Charles started to lose his sight at the age of five. He went completely blind by the age of seven, apparently due to glaucoma. He attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine from 1937 to 1945, where he developed his musical talent. During this time he performed on WFOY radio in St. Augustine. His father died when he was 10 and his mother died five years after. Charles was married twice and fathered 12 children with nine different women. He gave each of his children $1 million (tax-free) in 2002 at a family luncheon. Chess was a hobby of his, using a special board with holes for the pieces and raised squares. Also in 2002, he played American Grandmaster and former U. S. Champion Larry Evans. Evans won but some analysts believe Ray Charles resigned prematurely. Charles died on June 10, 2004 of liver cancer at his home in Beverly Hills, CA, surrounded by family and friends. He was 73 years old.

In honoring Charles, Billy Joel noted: "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley. I don't know if Ray was the architect of rock & roll, but he was certainly the first guy to do a lot of things . . . Who the hell ever put so many styles together and made it work?"

http://www.raycharles.com

Smelly Dog

U Roy - Soul Rebel

Ewart Beckford aka U-Roy was born in Jones Town, Jamaica in 1942. He is a Jamaican musician, also known as The Originator. He is best known as a pioneer of toasting (talking or chanting, usually in a monotone melody, over a rhythm or beat by a deejay). U-Roy's musical career began in 1961 when he began deejaying at various sound systems. Calling himself, “your ace from outer space”, U-Roy revolutionized the musical style of reggae in 1969. Even though U-Roy was not the first microphone artist, he was the first to gain recognition through recording this style. This style of vocals was a major influence on the early rap scene (Disco/Electro/Break Beat) and the later American hip-hop movement. Considered one of Jamaica's first Deejay stars, "U-Roy raised the art of toasting to new heights. He didn't just spit a few phrases here and there, he rode the riddim from the starting gate to the last furlong". U-Roy's legacy is one of the corner-stones in the history of rap music. He is a pioneer of a style of vocal delivery that is now found in the music of many cultures all over the world.

www.u-roy.20m.com

Smelly Dog

Bill Withers - Use Me

William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. (born July 4, 1938) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Withers was born the youngest of thirteen children in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. Raised in nearby Beckley, West Virginia, Withers was thirteen years old when his father died. He enlisted with the United States Navy at age eighteen and served for nine years, during which time he became interested in singing and writing songs. Soon after his discharge from the Navy in 1970, he relocated to Los Angeles for a musical career. Withers worked as an assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around and performing in clubs at night. Withers married actress Denise Nicholas in 1973, during her stint as the main actress of the popular sitcom, Room 222. The couple did not have any children and divorced the next year. During the professional semi-hiatus which began in the late 1970s, Withers concentrated more on personal matters than professional recording. In 1976, he married Marcia Johnson and they had two children, Todd and Kori. Marcia eventually assumed the direct management of his Beverly Hills-based publishing companies, in which his children also became involved as they became adults. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands".

www.billwithers.com

Smelly Dog

Nina Simone - Backlash Blues

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (1933-2003), also known by her stage name Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. Simone aspired to become a classical pianist while working in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, soul, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop. Nina was born in Tryon, NC and was the 6th of 8 children in a very poor family. She began playing the piano at age three, but it wasn't until she was 12 when she played her first classical recital. Simone's bearing and stage presence earned her the title "High Priestess of Soul". She was a piano player, singer and performer, "separately and simultaneously". On stage, Simone moved from gospel to blues, jazz and folk, to numbers with European classical styling, and Bach-style counterpoint fugues. She incorporated monologues and dialogues with the audience into the program, and often used silence as a musical element. Simone had a reputation in the music industry for her volatility. In 1995, she shot and wounded her neighbor's son with a pneumatic pistol after his laughter disturbed her concentration. She also fired a gun at a record company executive whom she accused of stealing royalties. Simone took medication for her condition from the mid-1960s on. All this was only known to a small group of intimates, and kept out of public view for many years, until the biography Break Down And Let It All Out was released in 2004. After battling breast cancer for many years, she passed away in her sleep at her home in France. Today would have been her 78th birthday.

www.myspace.com/ninasimone

Smelly Dog


*Only 7 Days Left to Vote in the February Poll!

Stevie Wonder - Superstition

Stevland Hardaway Judkins was born May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, MI. He later changed his name to Stevland Hardaway Morris, but is best known by his stage name Stevie Wonder. He is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist. Blind since shortly after birth, Wonder signed with Motown Records' Tamla label at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day. In August of 1973, Wonder was in a serious automobile accident while on tour in North Carolina, when the car in which he was riding rear-ended a flatbed truck, sliding under the back of the truck and causing the bed of the truck to crash through the car's windshield, striking Wonder in the head. This left him in a coma for four days and resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell and a temporary loss of sense of taste. It wasn't until March of the next year that Stevie was fully recovered and performing again. A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards (the most ever won by a solo artist) as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also won an Academy Award for Best Song, and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Songwriters halls of fame.

http://www.steviewonder.net/

Smelly Dog

Tupac Shakur - California Love

Tupac Amaru Shakur (1971-1996), known by his stage names 2Pac (or simply Pac) and Makaveli, was an American rapper. Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on the East Harlem section of Manhattan in New York City. He was named after Túpac Amaru II, a Peruvian revolutionary who led an indigenous uprising against Spain and was subsequently executed. Shakur began his career as a roadie and backup dancer for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground. His professional entertainment career began in the early 1990s, when he debuted his rapping skills (for Digital Underground) in a vocal turn in "Same Song" from the soundtrack to the 1991 film Nothing but Trouble. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. In addition to his career as a top-selling rap artist, he was a promising actor, and a social activist. Most of Tupac's songs are about growing up amid violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, other social problems, and conflicts with other rappers during the East Coast – West Coast hip hop rivalry. Tupac had many legal issues throughout his life, but that didn't stop from his success. While serving a prison sentence he released Me Against the World, and is the only artist to ever have a number one album on the Billboard 200 while in prison. In September 1996, Shakur was shot four times in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada. He was taken to the University Medical Center, where he died of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.

Shakur's music and philosophy is rooted in many American, African-American, and World entities, including the Black Panther Party, Black nationalism, egalitarianism, and liberty. Shakur was a voracious reader. He was inspired by a wide variety of writers, including William Shakespeare, Niccolò Machiavelli, Donald Goines, Sun Tzu, Kurt Vonnegut, Mikhail Bakunin, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Khalil Gibran. Shakur's hit song "Dear Mama" is one of 25 songs that was added to the National Recording Registry in 2010. The Library of Congress has called "Dear Mama" "a moving and eloquent homage to both the murdered rapper's own mother and all mothers struggling to maintain a family in the face of addiction, poverty and societal indifference."

www.tasf.org

Smelly Dog

MC Hammer - Pray

Stanley Kirk Burrell aka MC Hammer was born on March 30, 1962 in Oakland, CA. He is an American rapper, entertainer, business entrepreneur, dancer and actor. He was commercially most popular during the late 1980s until the mid-1990s. Remembered for a rapid rise to fame before losing the majority of his fortune, Hammer is also known for his hit records, including "U Can't Touch This", flamboyant dance techniques and trademark Hammer pants. Hammer's superstar-status made him a household name and pop icon. He has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, demonstrating hip hop's potential for mass market success.
Burrell also became a preacher during the late 1990s, was a television show host and dance judge, is a record label CEO, and as of 2008 works as a co-creator of a dance website called DanceJam, while still performing concerts at music venues and assisting with other social media, ministry and outreach functions. In addition, he was executive producer of his own reality show called Hammertime which aired on the A&E Network during the summer of 2009.
M.C. Hammer is considered a "forefather" and innovator of pop rap, and is the first hip hop artist to achieve diamond status for an album. Hammer was later considered a sell-out rapper due in part to over-exposure and as a result of him having a grittier image as the landscape of rap changed. Nonetheless, BET ranked Hammer as the #7 "Best Dancer Of All Time". Vibe's "The Best Rapper Ever Tournament" declared him the 17th favorite of all-time during the first round. This is the video for his release "Pray" off of his 3rd album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em.

www.mchammer.com

www.mchammer.blogspot.com

Smelly Dog

*Sorry About the Late Post, Forgot to Push the Publish Post Button!

John Lee Hooker - Hobo Blues

John Lee Hooker (1917-2001) was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist, born near Clarksdale, MS. He is considered to be one of the last links to the blues of the deep South. He was raised by a sharecropping family that home-schooled all eleven children, John being the youngest. Hooker's guitar playing is very closely aligned with piano boogie woogie. Even though John lived in Detroit during much of his career, he is associated with the Chicago blues scene as much as he is with the Delta blues community. John was also illiterate but that had no effect with his prolific lyricism. He has over a hundred albums in his discography and was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991; not to mention a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He fell ill after his return from a tour of Europe in 2001 and died shortly thereafter at the age of 83. This is one of my favorite bluesman and really wish I would have gotten a chance to see him live before his death. This is John performing his 1948 single "Hobo Blues." Check out Live at Soledad Prison and Cafe Au Go-Go for some fantastic listening material.

http://www.johnleehooker.com/

Smelly Dog

Nat King Cole - It's Only a Paper Moon

Nathaniel Adams Coles (1919-1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres. He was one of the first black Americans to host a television variety show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death. His variety television show ran for about a year, and he himself pulled the plug. Many of the acts associated with the show worked for free to keep costs down.
In 1948, Cole purchased a house in the all-white Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Ku Klux Klan, still active in Los Angeles well into the 1950s, responded by placing a burning cross on his front lawn. Members of the property-owners association told Cole they did not want any undesirables moving in. Cole retorted, "Neither do I. And if I see anybody undesirable coming in here, I'll be the first to complain."
Cole was a heavy smoker of Kool menthol cigarettes, believing that smoking up to three packs a day gave his voice the rich sound it had (Cole would smoke several cigarettes in rapid succession before a recording for this very purpose). The many years of smoking caught up with him, resulting in his death from lung cancer on February 15, 1965, at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, CA. Cole was 45. This is him performing "It's Only a Paper Moon". The song was written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and Billy Rose. It was initially written for an unsuccessful Broadway play called The Great Magoo.

www.nat-king-cole.org

Smelly Dog

Ella Fitzgerald - Summertime

Ella Jane Fitzgerald (1917-1996), also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist. With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. Over a recording career that lasted 59 years, she was the winner of 13 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Art by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush. Fitzgerald was also notoriously shy. Already visually impaired by the effects of diabetes, Fitzgerald had both her legs amputated in 1993. In 1996 she died of the disease in Beverly Hills, CA at the age of 79. She is interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, CA. The career history and archival material from Ella's long career are housed in the Archives Center at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History while her personal music arrangements are at The Library of Congress. Her extensive cookbook collection was donated to the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University while her published sheet music collection is at the Schoenberg Library at UCLA. This is her performing "Summertime", an aria from Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess.

www.ellafitzgerald.com

Smelly Dog

Marvin Gaye - Let's Get it On

Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. (1939-1984) was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a four-octave vocal range, better known as Marvin Gaye. Starting as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late fifties, he ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960 signing with the Tamla Records subsidiary of Motown Records. After starting off as a session drummer, Gaye ranked as the label's top-selling solo artist during the sixties.
On April 1, 1984, Gaye's father fatally shot him after an argument that started after his parents squabbled over misplaced business documents. Gaye attempted to intervene, and was killed by his father using a gun that Marvin Jr. had given him four months before. Marvin Gaye would have turned 45 the next day.
He was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Gaye at number 6 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time, and he ranked at number 18 on 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!

Smelly Dog

Jimi Hendrix - Red House

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix, born Johnny Allen Hendrix (1942–1970), was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is widely considered to be the greatest electric guitarist in musical history, and one of the most influential musicians of his era across a range of genres. As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. He was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic phasing effects for rock recording. Hendrix was influenced by blues artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King and Elmore James; rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, as well as by funk and some modern jazz. Jimi got his big break early in 1966 at the Cheetah Club on Broadway at 53rd Street. Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, befriended Hendrix and recommended him to Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and later, producer Seymour Stein. Neither man took a liking to Hendrix's music, and they both passed. She then referred Hendrix to Chas Chandler, who was ending his tenure as bassist in The Animals and looking for talent to manage and produce. Chandler liked the song "Hey Joe" and was convinced he could create a hit single with the right artist. Chas is responsible for changing "Jimmy" to "Jimi" and forming the band The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Early on September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix died in London. According to his current girlfriend (Monika Dannemann), Hendrix, had taken nine of her prescribed Vesperax sleeping pills (unknown to her at the time). The normal medical dose was half a tablet, but Hendrix was unfamiliar with this very strong German brand. According to surgeon John Bannister, the doctor who initially attended to him, Hendrix had asphyxiated in his own vomit, mainly red wine which had filled his airways, as an autopsy later confirmed. There is much mystery surrounding his death due to contradictions with Dannemann's changing stories. There has also been allegations that he might have been murdered by his manager Mike Jeffery. Jimi is also a part of the 27 club, a group including iconic 1960s rock stars who suffered drug-related deaths at the age of 27 within a two year period, leaving legacies in death that have eclipsed the popularity and influence they experienced during their lifetimes. Kurt Cobain was later added to this list, also dying at the age of 27. Sit back for a nice and long version of "Red House" this Sunday afternoon. This song is off of his 1966 release Are You Experienced.

www.jimihendrix.com

Smelly Dog

Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry was born on October 18, 1926 in St. Louis, MO to a middle class family. He is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and considered one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive. His lyrics focused on teen life and consumerism all while utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music. While still a high school student he served a prison sentence for armed robbery between 1944 and 1947. After his release he settled into a married life and took work at an auto assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, he was performing in the evenings with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Chess Records. With Chess he recorded "Maybellene" — Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red" — which sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart. Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986, with the comment that he "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." This is his classic "Johnny B. Goode" off his 1959 release Chuck Berry Is on Top.

www.chuckberry.com

Smelly Dog

Thelonious Monk - Blue Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917–1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer considered one of the giants of American music. Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire. He was born in Rocky Mount, NC to Thelonious and Barbara Monk. Monk is the second most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed over 1,000 songs while Monk only wrote about 70. Often regarded as a founder of bebop, Monk's playing later evolved away from that style. Monk's manner was idiosyncratic. Visually, he was renowned for his distinctive style in suits, hats and sunglasses. He was also noted for the fact that at times, while the other musicians in the band continued playing, he would stop, stand up from the keyboard and dance for a few moments before returning to the piano. Monk had disappeared from the scene by the mid-1970s, and made only a small number of appearances during the final decade of his life. Much of his quirkiness was attributed to a possible mental illness. No reports or diagnoses were ever publicized, but Monk would often become excited for two or three days, pace for days after that, after which he would withdraw and stop speaking. Monk's son, T. S. Monk, says that his father sometimes did not recognize him, and he reports that Monk was hospitalized on several occasions due to an unspecified mental illness that worsened in the late 1960s. As his health declined, Monk's last six years were spent as a guest in the New Jersey home of his long-standing patron and friend, Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, who had also nursed Charlie Parker during his final illness. Monk didn't play the piano during this time, even though one was present in his room, and he spoke to few visitors. He died of a stroke on February 17th, 1982, and is buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, NY. This is "Blue Monk" from his 1957 release Thelonious Monk Trio.

www.monkinstitute.org

Smelly Dog

Roberta Flack - First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Roberta Flack was born on February 10th, 1937 (Happy Birthday!) in Black Mountain, NC. She is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is notable for jazz, soul, R&B, and folk elements in her music. Roberta is best known for her 3 #1 hits "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," "Killing Me Softly with His Song," and "Feel Like Makin Love." While in her teens she excelled at the classic piano and was awarded a full scholarship at Howard University. Enrolling when she was only 15 made her one of the youngest students to ever attend the school. Before beginning work on her graduate studies in music her father suddenly died. She was forced to move back to Farmville, NC and take a job teaching music and English. This only put a temporary hold on her career. In early 1969, Flack managed to record her debut album with Atlantic Records in just about 10 hours. A lesser known fact is that she and U2 are the only 2 artists to ever win Grammy Record of the Year Award in back to back years. This is her performing one of her many #1 hits "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."

http://www.robertaflack.com/

Smelly Dog

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Michael Joseph Jackson (1958–2009) was an American recording artist, dancer, singer-songwriter, musician and philanthropist. He was born in Gary, IN to Joe Jackson and Katherine Scruse. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in the mid-1960s, and began his solo career in 1971.

Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him one of the most-awarded recording artist in the history of music. He was also a notable humanitarian and philanthropist, donating and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for beneficial causes and supporting more than 39 charities.

Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief. The news spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down and crash from user overload. Both TMZ and the Los Angeles Times suffered outages. Google initially believed that the input from millions of people searching for "Michael Jackson" meant that the search engine was under attack. Twitter reported a crash, as did Wikipedia on the day of his death. The Wikimedia Foundation reported nearly a million visitors to Jackson's biography within one hour, probably the most visitors in a one-hour period to any article in Wikipedia's history. AOL Instant Messenger collapsed for 40 minutes. AOL called it a "seminal moment in internet history", adding, "We've never seen anything like it in terms of scope or depth."

If you ever come across the movie Moonwalker, check it out. Joe Pesci plays a tarantula obsessed villian, and MJ turns into a gigantic robot at the end of the movie. Long Live The King!

www.michaeljackson.com

Smelly Dog

Dizzy Gillespie - St. Louis Blues

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917-1993) was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise." Dizzy was born in Cheraw, SC, the youngest of 9 children. His father passed away when he was only 10 years old. It was at age twelve when he taught himself how to play the trombone and the trumpet. He had always dreamed of being a jazz musician, and he was well on his way. He even turned down a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute so he could start his music career. Along with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. Bebop was known as the first modern jazz style. However, it was unpopular in the beginning and was not viewed as positively as swing music. Bebop was seen as an outgrowth from swing and not as a revolution. The inspiration for his iconic bent trumpet came about in two different scenarios. One was that before a performance someone sat on his trumpet, causing it to bend. The other relation has to do with Dizzy getting the idea from a trumpet player in England. This trumpeteer had trouble with his vision and torqued the instrument to better read music while playing. Whatever the reason, it stuck with him, and he used a professionally manufactured one from 1954 until the end of his career. Gillespie passed away from pancreatic cancer in 1992, and is buried in Queens, NY. This is him on The Muppets Show performing "St. Louis Blues," a song composed by W.C. Handy in 1914.

www.dizzygillespie.org

Smelly Dog

B.B. King - How Blue Can You Get

Riley B. King aka B.B. King was born on September 26th, 1925 in Itta Bena, MS. He is an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter accalaimed for his expressive singing and guitar playing. It was at age 12 that King purchased his first guitar for $15. When he turned 21 (1946), King set off with his cousin Bukka White en route to Memphis, TN. It wasn't long before King left Tennessee and headed back to Mississippi to better prepare himself for the next visit. The year 1948 proved to be his best move to getting a start in the business. He worked at KWEM radio station in West Memphis, AR eventually acquiring his nickname and meeting T-Bone Walker for the first time. B.B. is a liscensed private pilot and has flown himself to many of his gigs. It was in 1995 that his manager and his insurance company asked him to fly with another liscensed pilot. His favorite singer is Frank Sinatra and he named his guitar Lucille. He has been named the #3 greatest guitar player of all time by Rolling Stone, and over his 52 year career, has played in excess of 15,000 performances. This video is from his younger years performing "How Blue Can You Get" at Sing Sing Prison.

http://www.bbking.com/

http://www.bbkingmuseum.org/

Smelly Dog

Bob Marley - Redemption Song

Nesta Robert "Bob" Marley (1945-1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician known for his politically fueled music. Bob Marley is considered the world's first Third World pop superstar. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for The Wailers (1964-1974) and Bob Marley & The Wailers (1974-1981). He was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica to Norval Sinclair Marley and Cedella Booker. His father passed away from a heart attack when Bob was only 10. This in part with other factors proved a struggle on his own racial identity. Marley was a busy man in the sack having possibly 13 children, two which are not recognized on his website. He was a devout follower of the Rastafari movement and in accordance was a vegetarian. At the start of his 1977 European tour he injured his toe while playing soccer and later that year was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma, but continued on with the tour. Despite the seriousness of his illness, Bob chose the controversial Issels Treatment to combat his cancer. This treatment is considered "dubious" by the American Cancer Society and consists of things such as removing teeth with metal fillings, and cutting out substances such as caffiene and alcohol. This proved fatal as the cancer spread to his lungs and brain. He passed away at the University of Miami Hospital on May 11th 1981 (age 36). This is Bob performing "Redemption Song" which is off his final studio album Uprising. It is said to be about him coming to terms with his own mortality. Today would have been his 66th birthday, Happy Birthday Bob!

"I'm Not Perfect Nor Do I Live My Life To Be, But Before You Decide To Point Your Fingers At How I Live My Life, Make Sure Your Hands Are Clean."

www.bobmarley.com

Smelly Dog

Howlin Wolf - Smokestack Lightning

Chester Arthur Burnett (1910-1976) aka Howlin Wolf, was an American blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. He was born in White Station, MS near West Point and bounced around living with different family members until age 13 when he joined his father's large family. Nicknames other than Howlin Wolf were Big Foot Chester and Bull Crow both based on his massive size. Unlike many other blues musicians, after he left his impoverished childhood to begin a music career, he was always financially successful. The Wolf was so financially successful that he was not only able to offer his band members a good salary but also health insurance. All of this helped him have his pick of band members, keeping his band one of the best around. He was never extravagant with his money either. It was in 1970 that he was involved in an automobile accident that severely damaged his kidneys. He passed away from complications of kidney disease at the VA Hospital in Hines, IL in 1976. His gravestone was allegedly purchased by Eric Clapton and has engravings of a guitar and a harmonica. This is him performing one of his classic originals, "Smoketack Lightning."

www.howlinwolf.com

Smelly Dog

James Brown - Get Up Offa That Thing

James Joseph Brown (1933-2006) was an American singer and songwriter. He was born in Augusta, GA and raised by Mattie Brown. James' birth certificate had his first and middle name reversed and he also changed his last name from Gardner to Brown. The change of his last name came from the lady that raised him. If that wasn't enough Brown had a Jr. removed from his name as well, and this is how the ever colorful and most times outlandish James Brown came to be. Brown has had many legal troubles, including some marital issues and spending time in prison. Through all of this, Brown kept an arduous and busy schedule, maintaining that he was, in fact, the hardest working man in show business. James passed away early Christmas morning 2006 from congestive heart failure due to complications from pneunmonia. He is buried at a temporary site at his daughter's (Deanna Thomas Brown) home until a public mausoleum is built for him. He truly was the definiton of a "frontman" and could cut the rug with viscious style. His backing band The JB's/J.B.s, were a fantastic ensemble as well, I would recommend listening to some of their stuff. Now gettup offa that thing and do a lil James Brown..you'll feel better!

http://www.newfunkradio.com/

Smelly Dog

*Posts will continue during the weekends for the entire month of February

Louis Armstrong - Mack the Knife

Louis Daniel Armstrong (1901-1971), nicknamed "Satchmo" or "Pops" was an American jazz trumpeter and singer. He was born and raised in New Orleans, LA by a very poor family. Armstrong was a colorful person, embellishing many early childhood stories. This embellishment is found with his nicknames as no one really knows how they came about. Also, he was stated as saying that his birthday was July 4th, 1900, when in fact he was born in 1901. Louis was known to purge throughout his life using such laxatives as Pluto Water and Swiss Kriss. He was very concerned about his health and bodily functions; so much, that he advocated the use of these products to friends. This could have definitely been in correlation with his love of food. Armstrong died shortly after a heart attack in 1971, and is buried in Queens, NY. This song is "Mack the Knife" that was originally composed by Kurt Weill in 1928.

Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross-over," whose skin-color was secondary to his amazing talent in an America that was severely racially divided. It allowed him socially-acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a person of color.

www.redhotjazz.com/louie.html

Red Beans and Ricely Yours,
Smelly Dog

Willie Dixon - Bassology

William James "Willie" Dixon (1915-1992) was an American bluesman, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was born in Vicksburg, MS and raised by his mother Daisy. Dixon was first introduced to the blues as a teenager while serving time on different prison farms throughout Mississippi. After traveling to Chicago in 1936, Dixon became a boxer, and managed to win the Illinois State Golden Glove Heavyweight Championship in 1937. He soon quit after the win, getting into an argument with his manager over being cheated out of money. He signed with the Chess label around 1948, but in 1951 was a full time employee with them as a talent scout, producer, session musician, and staff songwriter. Dixon is responsible for a handful of blues songs including "Little Red Rooster", "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Spoonful", "Back Door Man", "Wang Dang Doodle", and "I Just Want to Make Love to You." Willie died of heart failure in Burbank, CA in 1992. He was inducted posthumously in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. This is him and Sunnyland Slim on piano playing "Bassology."

http://www.willie-dixon.com/

Smelly Dog

Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Workin'

McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters (1913-1983), was an American blues musician, often considered the Father of Modern Chicago Blues. He was born in Issaquena County, MS and raised by his Grandmother Della Grant. His birthplace and birth year are often disputed among historians. Muddy himself stated that he was born in Rolling Fork, MS in 1915. His mother died 3 years after his birth. He started playing the harmonica as a child and picked up the guitar around age seventeen. He is known best for his thick and heavy voice that fit perfectly with his firm personality. He picked up the nickname "Muddy" at an early age due to his fondness for playing in the mud. He had great success throughout his career, but was put on the backshelf by the Chess label for the better part of 20 years. He returned to the studio and recorded a London Sessions in 1972 with Rory Gallagher (Taste), Steve Winwood (Blind Faith/Traffic), Rick Grech (Blind Faith/Traffic/Gram Parsons), and Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix Experience/The Who), but their playing wasn't up to his standards. He also helped Chuck Berry get a recording contract. This blues legend died in his sleep at his home in Westmont, IL in 1983. This tune is "Got My Mojo Working" written by Preston Foster and first recorded by Ann Cole in 1956.

http://www.muddywaters.com/

Smelly Dog

*The results are in from the January poll "Most Memorable Death of 2010" and the results were less than statistical. Mark Linkous who received no votes was from the band Sparklehorse. He sadly took his own life by shooting himself in the heart at age 47.