The Filtered Excellence: June 20 BLM Edition #2: The Great Black Women Of Rock
In the wake of renewed calls to arrest the officers responsible for the death of Breonna Taylor – and that June is Black Music Month – I wanted to spotlight 10 Great Black Women who have made – and continue to make – an invaluable contribution to Rock n Roll. In some cases, specific albums are spotlighted. With others, a full overview. I hope you check out their work and enjoy it as countless others have throughout the years.
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Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Considered to be ‘The Godmother Of Rock n Roll’ and later ‘The Original Soul Sister’, Sister Rosetta Tharpe appealed to both gospel and secular audiences, fusing the sound of the church with rhythm and blues. An excellent guitarist, Tharpe’s phrasing and use of heavy distortion laid the groundwork for electric blues, and later, hard rock. Her 1944 hit ‘Strange Things Happening Every Day’, pushed gospel into the mainstream, hitting No 2 on the R&B chart, and is considered by many to be the first rock n roll record. Tharpe’s popularity was so strong that 25,000 people packed D.C.’s Griffith Stadium to see her marry her manager, Russell Morrison. When Tharpe passed away in 1973 at the age of 58, artists such as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash paid tribute, citing her a major influence. A 2018 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Inductee, Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s best work can be found on such as The Gospel Of The Blues, Shout Sister Shout, and The Authorized Sister Rosetta Tharpe Collection, all of which are available through all major streaming services.
Ruth Brown. Before Aretha was crowned ‘The Queen Of Soul’, the undisputed ‘Queen Of R&B was Ruth Brown. When she signed with the fledging Atlantic Records in 1948, label boss Ahmet Ertegun convinced Brown to switch from ballads to rhythm and blues The move changed both of their life arcs forever. ‘Teardrops From My Eyes’ stayed at No. 1 on the R&B chart for an astonishing 11 weeks. Four more No 1 hit singles followed: ‘5-10-15 Hours’, ‘(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean’, ‘Mambo Baby’ and ‘Oh What A Dream’. Between 1949 and 1955, Brown had an additional 16 Top 10 R&B Hits, and in 1957, two songs that crossed over to the pop charts: ‘Lucky Lips’ (written by Leiber & Stoller) and ‘This Little Girl’s Gone Rockin’, which was co-written by Bobby Darin. Brown’s chart dominance with Atlantic Records was so strong, the label became known as ‘The House That Ruth Built’. After spending the 1960s and early 70s raising a family, Ruth Brown made a dramatic return to the spotlight through a series of acting appearances on TV (Hello, Larry), film (Hairspray) and Broadway, winning a Tony Award for her role in the musical Black and Blue. Brown returned to recording with the Grammy-winning album Blues & Broadway and successful toured with Charles Brown and Bonnie Raitt. Brown’s presence was also felt off stage, as her battles for musicians rights and royalties led to the formation of The Rhythm And Blues Foundation. At the time of her death in 2006, Brown was still touring and had recently finished filming in John Sayles’ Honeydripper, which co-starred future star Gary Clark, Jr. A 1993 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Inductee, you can hear the full scope of 50’s output on Miss Rhythm – Greatest Hits & More, and her later work on Blues & Broadway, which are available now through all major streaming services.
Etta James. With a deep earthy voice that could sing R&B, Rock n Roll, Jazz, and Blues, Etta James shattered Chess Records’ glass ceiling with a string of hits that put the label onto the pop charts. Her first hit for the label, All I Can I Do Is Cry’, saw James fuse R&B with doo-wop. But it was the release of the string-laden ‘At Last’ that became her signature song, with future divas Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Beyonce and Christina Aguilera all taking a stab at matching the beauty of the original. ‘Something’s Got A Hold On Me’, ‘Tell Mama’ and the blues classic ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ put James alongside such greats as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Solomon Burke as soul pioneers. After drug addiction and legal troubles slowed her career down in later 60s and 70s, James made a startling comeback with a series of albums that saw her become an early champion of Randy Newman (God’s Song), The Eagles (Take It To The Limit) and Alice Cooper (Only Women Bleed). Amazingly, James didn’t win a Grammy until 1995, for Mystery Lady: Songs Of Billie Holiday. She would later receive a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. A member of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, the best album that covers every facet of Etta James’ incredible career is Heart & Soul: A Retrospective, which is available now through all major streaming services.
Lady Soul by Aretha Franklin. There’s plenty of great Aretha Franklin albums to chose from, but none captured her at her peak better than 1968’s Lady Soul. Produced by Jerry Wexler and engineered by Tom Dowd, the album kicks off with the atomic ‘Chain Of Fools’ and concludes with the operatic heartbreaker ‘Ain’t No Way’ (written by her sister Carolyn). This is the Atlantic machine at full throttle, asserting itself as the premier label for R&B and Soul. Aretha transforms Goffin & King’s (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman into an anthem for the ages while showing with ‘Good To Me As I Am To You’ (with Eric Clapton on loan from Cream playing lead guitar) she makes a case for being the greatest blues singer to ever grace the mic. This is the album that showed that in terms of great singers, there’s Aretha Franklin and then there was everybody else. Lady Soul is available now through Amazon, Apple Music and all major streaming services.
Tina Turner. The Tina Turner narrative is often shaped by the extraordinary comeback she made in the 1980’s and 90s in the wake of her abusive relationship with former husband Ike Turner. But to only look her career through that prism would be selling her talent – and her 60s and 70s output – short. As Ike Turner quickly found out, Tina Turner could sing anything: gut bucket R&B (‘A Fool In Love’), proto-funk (‘Bold Soul Sister’), full on funk (‘I Wanna Take You Higher); aching soul ballads, (‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’), blues (‘I Smell Trouble’), rock n roll (‘Honky Tonk Women’), D.I.Y (‘Nutbush City Limits), and, of course, majestic pop (‘River Deep, Mountain High’). It was no wonder that when she found her a second wind as a solo artist, Turner had the pick of rock royalty eager to work with her (David Bowie, Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Phil Collins). Private Dancer was a late career triumph, showing off Turner’s full vocal range with songs that rightfully put her as world class artist. This album, along with Bold Sister Sister: The Best Of The Blue Thumb Recordings, and 2015 collection, The Best Of Ike & Tina Turner shows all of her musical incarnations. They are available now through Amazon, Apple Music and all major streaming services.
Betty Davis – Betty Davis. In the Miles Davis canon, Betty Davis serves as the vital link in his transformation from bop icon to fusion pioneer. During their brief marriage, it was Betty Davis who introduced Miles to the music of Sly & The Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix (both of whom she knew), and got him out of suits and more into the wild fashions of the day. After her split from Miles, Davis re-located to Los Angeles to focus on a music career. Anchored by a virtual who’s who of the Bay Area music scene – Larry Graham and Gregg Errico of Sly & The Family Stone, Neal Schon, The Pointer Sisters, Merle Sanders and Sylvester – Davis’s self titled 1973 album is a funk-rock tour de force with songs that ooze with attitude and sensuality. Songs such as ‘Game Is My Middle Name’, ‘Your Man My Man’, and ‘If I’m In Luck I Might Get Picked Up’ displayed a sexual boldness and confidence that predated artists such as Grace Jones, Madonna, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj by decades. It was the launch point of a brief, but highly influential run whose impact is still being felt today. The self-titled album by Betty Davis is available now through all major streaming services.
Nona Hendryx. Patti LaBelle may have been the face and main vocalist, but its driving force behind the scenes was Nona Hendryx. When the group shifted away from the classic girl group sound into a mix of glam and funk, Hendryx emerged as their chief songwriter, touching on themes ranging from sexual frankness to highly charged political commentary. This successful formula found them opening for Laura Nyro, The Who and The Rolling Stones in the mid 70s. Anchored by the #1 hit, ‘Lady Marmalade’ (which, ironically Hendryx didn’t write), Nightbirds became LaBelle’s signature album. But it was Hendryx’s ‘Space Children’ and the title track showed why the group became the first Black vocal group to perform at The Metropolitan Opera House. After LaBelle’s break up in 1976, Hendryx released her first solo album and became an in-demand session and touring vocalist – most notably with Talking Heads as moved from art-punk to full on funk. In 1985, she co-wrote the Grammy-nominated ‘Rock This House’ with old touring mate Keith Richards and was a featured vocalist on the protest song ‘Sun City’, by Artists United Against Apartheid. For her next album, 1987’s Female Trouble, Hendryx collaborated with some of music’s heaviest hitters – Prince, Mavis Staples, Peter Gabriel, George Clinton, among others – and scored her biggest hit as a solo artist, ‘Why Should I Cry?’. Since then, Hendryx continues to write, record and collaborate on a number of projects, contribute to a number of tribute albums (most recently on The World Of Captain Beefheart), and is universally respected by our best musicians around the world. To capture her best work within LaBelle, seek out Nightbirds, Phoenix and Chameleon. Female Trouble, Nona and her self titled album represent her strongest solo work. All are available now through all major streaming services.
Me Myself, I by Joan Armatrading. A dynamic musician and singer-songwriter, Joan Armatrading had already made herself a formidable presence in her native Britain and in the States, releasing five critically and commercially acclaimed albums, and becoming first Black British female artists to enjoy international success. But as the 1970s gave way to the 80s, the singer-songwriter era was eclipsed by New Wave, post punk, and pop. For her 6th studio album, Armatrading doesn’t just embraces elements of these idioms, she takes ownership of them. Teaming up with Brill Building songwriter turned producer RIchard Gotthehrer (Blondie, Go Gos), Armatrading finds the perfect balance of retaining the raw emotions behind each song, with the right amount of musical muscle to round it out. It’s Joan Armatrading shifting into another creative gear, hitting a peak on a career that has now spanned nearly 50 years. Me Myself, I by Joan Armatrading is available now through Amazon, Apple Music and all major streaming services.
Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman. In 1988, the music landscape was flooded with boomer rock, hair metal and video friendly pop. So the odds that an acoustic driven album featuring songs with socio-political underpinnings would find a mass appeal audience were between slim and none. But Tracy Chapman’s debut album was so potent and powerful that it’s success (6 million copies sold in the U.S. and 20 million worldwide) could not be denied. ‘Fast Car’, – a devastating account of a homeless couple’s dream of breaking free of the cycle of poverty – struck a deep chord with audiences living on the other side of The American Dream. The defiance mixed with fragile hope can also be found in the anthemic ‘Talking ‘Bout A Revolution’ and ‘Why. Both sound like they were written last week. are just as potent today as it was back in Chapman’s explorations of fractured relationships – ‘Baby Can I Hold You’ and ‘For My Lover’ – still pack an emotional punch. There’s a reason why propel who feel disenfranchised keep returning to the album: It’s timeless. Tracy Chapman’s self-titled album is available now through Amazon, Apple Music, and all streaming outlets.
Brittany Howard. Over the last ten years, Brittany Howard has already made two instant classic albums with Alabama Shakes (the Southern fried soul-rock Boys & Girls and the tripped out experimental, mind blowing Sound & Color); made guitar driven rebel rock with Thunderbitch; and brought it all back to the garden with the chilled roots music band Bermuda Triangle. Last year she stunned fans yet again with the release of her first solo album, Jaime, which featured everything from Prince-inspired jams, fractured gospel, politically charged anthems and operatic shoegaze. While fans wait to see if she will stay solo or reconvene with Alabama Shakes, one thing is certain: Brittany Howard is a musical force to be reckoned with. Alabama Shakes, Thunderbitch, Bermuda Triangle and her solo album Jaime are available now through all major streaming services.
Want more excellence? Read last week’s the filtered excellence.
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