Lucille Bogan, Little Willie John, Johnnie Taylor, Otis Blackwell, and Mary Katherine Aldin To Be Inducted Into The Blues Hall Of Fame

MEMPHIS, TN (CelebrityAccess) — The Blues Basis introduced the inductees for the forty second class of the Blues Corridor of Fame, together with Lucille Bogan, Little Willie John, Johnnie Taylor, Otis Blackwell, and Mary Katherine Aldin.

The 2022 inductees embody over greater than 70 years of music, beginning with Lucille Bogan within the Twenties & Nineteen Thirties, Little Willie John within the Nineteen Fifties & Sixties, and Johnnie Taylor who recorded for greater than 40 years from the Nineteen Fifties via the Nineteen Nineties.

Bogan, who additionally recorded beneath the stage title Bessie Jackson, is considered one of many ‘massive three’ of early feminine blues artists, together with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Her first recordings had been Vaudeville requirements for Okeh Data however later moved to Paramount the place she started recording identifiable blues music, beginning with “Candy Petunia” in 1927. She rapidly gained a fame for the controversial subject material of her music, with songs centered on matters similar to alcohol, intercourse, and prostitution. Her music has been extensively lined by different blues greats, together with B.B. King, “Sony Boy” Williamson, Memphis Minnie, Jimmy Rodgers, and others.

Little Willie John, a blues, soul, gospel, and R&B singer who rose to prominence within the Nineteen Fifties and Sixties, charted with hits similar to “All Across the World” (1955), “Want Your Love So Dangerous” (1956), “Discuss to Me, Discuss to Me” (1958), “Go away My Kitten Alone” (1960), “Sleep” (1960), and his number-one R&B hit “Fever” (1956). Nevertheless, his profession was lower brief after he was despatched to jail in 1964 for the deadly stabbing of Kendall Roundtree and died there of pneumonia 5 years later.

Songwriter, pianist, and singer Otis Blackwell recorded for RCA Victor however is finest recognized in the present day for his songwriting chops, penning among the greatest hits recorded by Elvis Presley, together with “Don’t Be Merciless,” “All Shook Up,” and “Return To Sender.” He’s additionally credited as writing “Breathless” and “Nice Balls of Hearth” for Jerry Lee Lewis in addition to the Little Willie John/Peggy Lee hit, “Fever.

Johnnie Taylor was a recording artist who carried out all kinds of genres, from blues, rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel to pop, doo-wop, and disco, recording his first hit in 1963 with “Child, We’ve Acquired Love.” His different hits embody, “Who’s Making Love,” “Disco Girl,” and “I Consider in You (You Consider in Me).” He was additionally a radio DJ, taking part in R&B and soul music on Dallas radio station KKDA, the place he was billed as “The Wailer, Johnnie Taylor.”

Famous people DJ and blues historian Mary Katherine Aldin started his profession in public radio in 1976 internet hosting and engineering a Sunday night time blues present, “Preaching the Blues,” on the Los Angeles radio station KPFK. She additionally hosted the people and bluegrass centered “Alive and Choosing,” on neighborhood radio station KCSN for a few years, later migrating the exhibits to KPFK after KCSN transitioned to a classical format. Along with her on-air advocacy, Aldin served because the compiler or annotator of blues and people reissue albums for quite a few labels, together with Rhino, Vanguard, MCA/Chess, and Columbia, amongst others and earned a Grammy for the liner notes to The Chess Field by Muddy Waters. As effectively, she held editorial positions at Dwelling Blues, Blues & Rhythm, and others and secured publishing rights for artists at Folklore Productions. She was inducted into the Folks DJ Corridor of Fame in 2018 and continues to be broadcasting for KPFK’s “Roots Music & Past.”

The brand new inductees can be honored throughout a ceremony on Could 4th on the Halloran Centre in Memphis, Tennessee. A cocktail reception honoring the BHOF Inductees and Blues Music Awards nominees will start at 5:30 p.m., with the formal inductions commencing at 6:30 p.m. within the Halloran Theater.

The Blues Corridor of Fame induction ceremony will happen in Blues Music Awards and Worldwide Blues Problem week, this yr.

The Blues Basis’s 2022 Blues Corridor of Fame Inductees

Performers:
Lucille Bogan
Little Willie John
Johnnie Taylor

People – Enterprise, Manufacturing, Media, Tutorial:
Mary Katherine Aldin
Otis Blackwell

Basic of Blues Literature:
Purple River Blues: The Blues Custom within the Southeast by Bruce Bastin (College of Illinois Press, 1986)

Basic of Blues Recording – Album:
Bo Diddley – Bo Diddley (Chess/Checker Data, 1958)

Classics of Blues Recording – Single or Album Monitor:
“Eyesight to the Blind” – Sonny Boy Williamson II (Trumpet, 1951)
“Farther Up the Highway” – Bobby “Blue” Bland (Duke, 1957)
“Good Rocking Tonight” – Roy Brown (DeLuxe, 1947)
“Rock Me Child” B.B. King (Kent, c. 1964)
“Rollin’ and Tumblin’ “ – Child Face Leroy Trio (Parkway, 1950)