Country Kellum Dies

  Alphonso "Country" Kellum, who played guitar in the James Brown band, died March 24th at age 57. Kellum played in Brown's band form 1964 to 1970 and played on such records as "I Got You (I Feel Good)", Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", "Cold Sweat" and many others.

Richard Trice Dies

  Bluesman Richard Trice passed away on April 5th. Trice was associated with the Piedmont style of blues and influenced by Blind Boy Fuller. It was Fuller who took Trice and his brother Welly to New York where cut a lone 78 in 1937. He made a handful of recordings for Savoy in the 1940s as "Little Boy Fuller." Trice later turned from blues to gospel, performing mostly at churches.

Diamond Teeth Mary Dies

  Blues singer Mary Smith McClain, better known to
fans as "Diamond Teeth Mary," died April 4th. She was believed to have been 97 or 98. She went from singing at carnivals with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels to the Chicago Blues Festival, New York City's Carnegie Hall and Europe. She sang with such music greats as B.B. King, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. McClain, who once had diamonds set in her teeth, was considered the world's oldest-performing true blues musician, appearing at local clubs until two weeks ago.

King Ernest Dies

  Ernest Baker died in a car accident on March 4. Blues and R&B vocalist, also known as King Ernest, first played in Chicago with blues guitarist Byther Smith's band during the 1960s. He became popular as a local soul artist with a strong, expressive voice and a great live show -- he was at one point considered a dancer rivaling James Brown and Jackie Wilson), and worked with Tyrone Davis and Syl Johnson. He recorded with a number of labels, but never achieved national success. He cut his first full length record, King of Hearts  in 1997 for Evidence Records. Earnest had just completed his new CD project, soon to be released on Fat Possum Record label.

Blues GRAMMY Winners Announced

  The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences has announced its GRAMMY Award winners.  Best Traditional Blues Album went to B.B. King's Blues on the Bayou. Best Contemporary Blues Album went to Robert Cray's Take Your Shoes Off.

Screamin Jay Hawkins Dies

  Screamin' Jay Hawkins, famous for performing his trademark voodoo-inspired blues lying in a coffin, has died in Paris aged 70. Hawkins, who scored his biggest hit in the 1950s with his hollering rendition of  "I Put A Spell On You," died in a hospital after suffering a hemorrhage following an operation on an intestinal obstruction. Hawkins went on to cult fame with hits like "Constipation Blues'' and in later life found a second career as a movie actor after director Jim Jarmusch hired him to star in "Mystery Train'' in 1989. "I came into this world black, naked and ugly. And no matter how much I accumulate here, it's a short journey. I will go out of this world black, naked and ugly. So I enjoy life,'' he told one interviewer.

Musicblitz And Taj Mahal  Launch Bluesblitz Website

  To celebrate February's Black History Month and the profound influence of the blues on American music and culture, MusicBlitz, in collaboration with Grammy Award-winning blues artist and noted musicologist Taj Mahal, unveiled BluesBlitz. This blues-oriented Web community is available online at  http://www.musicblitz.com. Blues fans can find free new recordings and Internet-exclusive downloads from prominent blues artists. Additionally, the Web site features an exclusive streaming video workshop on the history of the blues, presented by Taj Mahal. 

21st Annual Handy Awards Announced

  The Blues Foundation today announced the nominees for the 21st Annual W.C. Handy Blues Awards, the highest honor bestowed upon artists in the Blues industry. The awards will be presented on Thursday May 25, 2000 at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee, and will be followed by a two-day Blues Festival on Beale Street, "the home of the Blues". 

Wade Walton Dies

  Wade Walton, who mixed a career as a blues musician with work as a barber, died January 10th at a St. Louis hospital. Walton was 77. During his music career, he shared the stage with  blues celebrities such as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Ike Turner. In 1958 Walton recorded ''The Blues of Wade Walton: Shake 'em on Down.'' The album was widely distributed in Europe and earned him international attention. Walton was regular performer at the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel
Festival.

Singer Curtis Mayfield Dies

  Composer and songwriter Curtis Mayfield, whose work
introduced a social conscience into black music at the height of the civil rights movement and who continued to make music for a decade after an accident left him paralyzed, died Sunday Dec. 26. He was 57.

  Mayfield's string of 1960s hits included "People Get Ready," "Talking About My Baby," and "Keep On Pushing." While other black singers stuck to love songs and dance tunes, Mayfield
pushed the boundaries of rhythm and blues in the mid-1960s by singing of black pride and gritty urban landscapes - paving the way for funk and rap artists for decades to come.

Bobby Marchan Dies

  Bobby Marchan, one of New Orleans' most colorful
rhythm and blues artists, died Dec. 5 after a lengthy illness. Mr. Marchan, whose given name was Oscar James Gibson, was 69.
 
   Marchan's biggest hit, "There Is Something on Your Mind," was a No. 1 rhythm and blues single in 1960. As a member of Huey Smith and the Clowns, he sang on the hits "Don't You Just Know  It," "You Don't Know Yockomo," and "Havin' A          Good Time."
 

Early Wright Passes Away

  Pioneering radio personality Early Wright, whose nightly "Soul Man'' broadcast spanned more than a half-century and drew national media attention to his hometown's blues and gospel heritage, passed away. He was age 84 and had suffered a heart attack Nov. 8. In 1947, Wright became the first black disc jockey in Mississippi when he went to work at Clarksdale's WROX Radio. Until his retirement in 1998, he hosted one of America's longest continuous-running radio shows and
interviewed many celebrities, including Elvis Presley, Muddy
Waters, B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner and Charley Pride.

Johnny "Big Moose" Walker Dies

  Chicago blues pianist/organist Johnny "Big Moose" Walker has passed away, in Chicago. Walker cut little under his own name but was a much in demand session player working with Earl Hooker, Otis Rush and Jr. Wells to name a few. 

Doug Sahm Dies

  Doug Sahm, leader of the Sir Douglas Quintet and one of the principals of the Grammy-winning Texas Tornados, was found dead Thursday in Taos, N.M.. He was 58.

  Sir Douglas Quintet started charting hits in 1965 with the song "She's About A Mover." He later recorded with Bob Dylan and Dr. John.

  The Texas Tornados were formed in 1989 with Sahm, Augie Meyers, vocalist and guitarist Freddy Fender and accordionist Flaco Jimenez. They won a 1991 Grammy for their first album.

  "He left his mark in the world," said Meyers, Sahm's musical partner for 35 years. `"The good Lord wanted to hear some Quintet and they weren't playing enough on the radio, I guess.'"

Keeping The Blues Alive Awards Announced

  The Blues Foundation, in Memphis, TN, the the prestigious institution responsible for the WC Handy Awards has announced the "Keeping the Blues Alive Awards." The awards are the highest attainable honor for non-performers in the Blues industry. Click here for the list of winners.