Betty Wright was an American composer and singer.
She rose to fame in the 1970s with hits such as “Clean Up Woman” (1971) , “Shoorah! Shoorah!” (1974) and “Tonight Is the Night” (1974).
Born in Miami, she was married to King Sporty and was part of the Henry Stone, TK Records and Peter Brown circle. She was the vocalist for the latter’s “Dance with Me” (1978) single.
Her voice and the sound of the seventies material is similar to that of personal favorite Loleatta Holloway
Little Richard was an American composer and singer best-known for shouting “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!” at the beginning of the song “Tutti Frutti” (1955).
Without Little Richard, no Prince.
And without Little Richard no “Be-Bop-A-Lula”, “Diddy Wah Diddy”, “Da Doo Ron Ron” and ” Do Wah Diddy Diddy”.
But without “Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay”, no Little Richard.
The boom comes first. The cycle continues.
Over at Tumblr I posted the Paladin 1969 edition of Nick Cohn’s book Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom.
Sweet Pea Atkinson was an American singer best known for his vocal contributions to the releases of the band Was (Not Was) (I like their “Wheel Me Out”).
His solo singles include “Dance or Die” (1982) which was played at the Paradise Garage.
Hamilton Bohannon was an American musician best known for the disco hit “Let’s Start the Dance” (1978).
Other compositions of note include “I Remember” (1981, the basis for “From: Disco To: Disco”, 1996), “Me and the Gang” (1978, the basis for “Get Get Down”, 1999), “Truck Stop” (1974), “South African Man” (1975) and “The Beat (Part 2)” (1979).
His instrumentals have a mesmerizing repetitiveness and a lack of violins which went down well with the people who liked to dance but were not into the kitsch of disco.
Eddie Cooley was an American songwriter best known for co-writing “Fever” (1956).
That song has become a pop standard and is best known in the Peggy Lee rendition.
However, I I give you the version of The Cramps from their debut album Songs the Lord Taught Us (1980).
After all, as I explained before, I like all roads to lead to Rome, and The Cramps are central to my archive.
Andy González was an American musician and bassist.
In my book he is noted for his contribution to the oddball Latin jazz album Concepts in Unity (1975) by Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino which I discovered in the 1990s when I was collecting releases by Salsoul Records.
Onaje Allan Gumbs was an American pianist, best-known for having played with the fine fleur of American jazz.
As I prefer all roads to lead to Rome, and Rome is my book, the death of Onaje Allan Gumbs must inevitably lead to Strata-East Records, more specifically to Charles Sullivan’s album Genesis (1974) on which mister Gumbs played piano.
Hal Willner was an American music producer and facilitator.
In my book Willner is primarily noted for his album Dead City Radio (1990), a spoken word album of William S. Burroughs recitations.
I cannot remember if it was Gus Van Sant’s video “A Thanksgiving Prayer” (1991) or his film Drugstore Cowboy (1989) which visually introduced me to Burroughs.
Today, I learn that “A Thanksgiving Prayer” was a promotional video to Dead City Radio.
In the documentary Words of Advice: William S. Burroughs on the Road (2007) there is an interview with Willner on the making of Dead City Radio at 1:07:40 and the recording of of a “Thanksgiving Prayer” is at 1:11:23, sadly without the Gus Van Sant footage.
Vaughan Mason was an American musician and producer.
His claims to fame are “Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll” (1979) and “Break 4 Love” (1988).
Bill Withers was an American singer-songwriter known for songs such as “Lean on Me”, “Use Me” and “Ain’t No Sunshine”.
I give you “Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?” (1972) because it’s one of the best adultery songs ever with the unforgettable opening lines:
A man we passed just tried to stare me down
And when I looked at you
You looked at the ground
While researching this death, I came across a rather smart piece of music criticism by the American author Robert Christgau (born 1942):
“Withers sang for a black nouveau middle class that didn’t yet understand how precarious its status was. Warm, raunchy, secular, common, he never strove for Ashford & Simpson-style sophistication, which hardly rendered him immune to the temptations of sudden wealth—cross-class attraction is what gives ‘Use Me’ its kick. He didn’t accept that there had to be winners and losers, that fellowship was a luxury the newly successful couldn’t afford.