The Bluff City has been the catalyst for many musical legends, one of which we celebrate today as on this day in 1928 a woman who would become known as the “Queen of the Blues” was born on a sharecropper’s farm just outside Memphis.
Originally born Cora Walton, Koko Taylor was bitten by the music bug at an early age, finding inspiration from WDIA DJs in Memphis, as well as from such local legends as Memphis Minnie, whose hit song, “When The Levee Breaks,” would inspire the Led Zeppelin magnum opus by the same name.
Koko and her eventual husband, Robert “Pops” Taylor, would make their way in 1952 from the Bluff City to the Windy City with, in Koko’s words, nothing more than “thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz Crackers.”
From these meagre beginnings, however, Koko would go on to became an acclaimed Blues musician in her own right and shared the stage with such industry titans as Muddy Waters and B.B. King.
And Koko was not limited to performing in just Blues clubs, as her career saw her make guest appearances everywhere from Late Night With David Letterman to the award-winning kids show Arthur (where she starred as herself in bear form).
Koko Taylor would eventually pass away on June 3, 2009 at the age of 80, but her legacy as one of the winningest Blues musicians has rightfully earned her the moniker of “Queen of the Blues.”
