2001 Keeping The Blues Alive Awards Announced

 Seventeen dedicated Blues enthusiasts have been singled out to receive The Blues Foundation's 2001 Keeping The Blues Alive Award. The Awards will be presented at a February 3, 2001 ceremony in Memphis, Tennessee as a highlight of the BluesFirst Convention weekend. The KBA Awards are given each year to individuals and organizations that have contributed to the growth and vitality of the Blues industry. To view the complete list of winners click here.

Sonny Kenner Dies

 Kansas City Guitarist Sonny Kenner died January 23. He was 67. During a career that included appearances at the famed Apollo Theatre in Harlem, international jazz festivals and several years as a session player in Los Angeles, Kenner played with a dizzying array of names from the worlds of jazz, blues and pop. Among the artists Kenner shared stages or studio time with were Louis Armstrong, Jay McShann, Charlie Parker, Charles Brown, John Lee Hooker, Hank Ballard, Joe Pass, Jimmy Witherspoon and Johnnie Taylor.

Jack McDuff Dies

 World famous Hammond B-3 player Jack McDuff died on January 23. McDuff was recovering from a series of strokes and died of an apparent heart attack. He was 74. McDuff's recording and performing career spanned more than 40 years and included stops at the most famous labels of jazz, beginning with Prestige in 1960 and culminating with an as yet unreleased effort on his current label, Concord Jazz. Alternately known as Brother Jack McDuff and later Capn' Jack McDuff, he was considered one of the funkiest and most soulful of the famous B-3 organists.

2001 Handy Award Nominees Announced

 The Blues Foundation today announced the nominees for the 22nd Annual W.C. Handy Blues Awards, the highest honor bestowed upon artists in the Blues industry. The awards will be presented on Thursday, May 24, 2001 at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee, and will be followed by two-days of Blues music on Beale Street. To view the complete list of nominees click here.

James Carr Dies

 James Carr, the 1960s soul singer who recorded the original version of the much-covered "The Dark End of the Street", died of cancer January 7th in a Memphis nursing home. He was 58. Considered to be among the very greatest of "deep" Southern male soul singers, James Carr had a succession of R&B hits on the Memphis Goldwax label. Although animated on record, Carr would freeze up onstage. And when his Memphis label, Goldwax, disappeared in 1969, so did Carr. Carr cut a comeback record in 1994 but was unable to resuscitate his career.

Blues GRAMMY Nominees Announced

 The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences has announced its GRAMMY Award nominees for the Best Traditional Blues Album and Best Contemporary Blues Album of 2000. The 43nd Annual GRAMMY Awards Show will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 21. To view the complete list of nominees click here.

 "Pop" Staples Dies

 Roebuck "Pops" Staples, patriarch of the gospel and rhythm-and-blues group the Staple Singers, died Tuesday. He was 84. He and his group gained fame in the 1960s by singing music that urged social and religious change. He was known for both his songwriting and his guitar playing, in which he fused gospel with the blues.

Tommy Bankhead Dies

 Tommy Bankhead, for more than 50 years a premier messenger of the blues in St. Louis, died Dec. 16, 2000 of respiratory failure. He was 69. From his mid-teens to early adulthood, Mr. Bankhead developed musically under the tutelage of and association with Sonny Boy Williamson, Bobby Bland, Joe Willie Wilkins, Howling Wolf, Raymond Hill, Boyd Gilmore and others. He moved to St. Louis in 1949. In the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Bankhead was recognized as a major figure on the St. Louis blues scene along with Albert King, Ike Turner, James DeShay, Little Milton and Oliver Sain. Mr. Bankhead's recording credits, while limited, included a 1983 album called Please Mr. Foreman, and in 1999 he released Message To St. Louis on the Fedora label.

Johnnie Johnson Sues Chuck Berry Over Royalties

 Musician and songwriter Johnnie Johnson has filed a multi-count lawsuit against Berry, alleging he has neglected to ever pay Johnson for what he claims are significant contributions to Berry's career. Johnson's lawsuit, filed Wednesday (Nov. 29) in St. Louis Federal District Court, asks for "Johnson's rightful share of monies realized from numerous Johnson/Berry-composed songs, for which Johnson never received proper credit or royalties," according to court papers. Johnson alleges in the suit, which otherwise seeks unspecified damages, that he helped Berry create a new musical genre by assisting in the composition of such rock standards as "Roll Over Beethoven," "No Particular Place To Go," "Rock and Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and many more.

Little Mack Simmons Dies

  Malcolm "Little Mack" Simmons passed away on Tuesday October 24th at his home in Chicago of cancer. Harmonica Player Little Mack Simmons was a stalwart of the Chicago blues scene cutting sides for numerous local labels in the 50's and 60's like Bea & Baby, CJ, Chess, Palos and others. In the 70's and early 80's he released sides under his own P.M. Simmons label. During the 80's Simmons disappeared off the scene making a comeback in the 90's with a pair of fine records for the Electro-Fi label. Simmons had been playing regularly at Rosa's Blues Lounge in Chicago until recently.

Supreme Court Backs Musicians

  The Supreme Court refused to free a record company from having to pay damages to a group of Texas blues musicians for unauthorized use of their names and photographs. In the early 1990s, Roy C. Ames, a music producer specializing in Texas blues, licensed Collectibles Records of Ardmore, Pa., to sell recordings by a group of Houston-area blues musicians and to use their names and photographs. After a trial, the musicians were awarded $1,800 from Collectibles for copyright infringement and $27,000 for misuse of their names and likenesses. Ames, who was not involved in Tuesday's appeal, was ordered to pay $122,500. The musicians include Leonard Brown, Walter Price, Pete Mayes, James Nelson and Joe Hughes.

Saunders King Dies

  Blues guitarist Saunders Samuel King, whose 1942 hit "S.K. Blues" brought him instant fame died at his Oakland home September 7th at age 91. While most fans may think first of T-Bone Walker as the first electric bluesman, Mr. King's first electrified recording predates Walker's debut on that instrument. Mr. King retired from professional music in 1961 and returned to the church of his youth.

R.H. Harris Dies

  R.H. Harris, a gospel pioneer and the last surviving member of the original Soul Stirrers, died September 3rd. He was 84. Harris joined the group in 1931, two months before the band changed its name to the Five Soul Stirrers.