I can still see the late-1980s blues scene in Mishawaka, Indiana when Koko Taylor would bring her show to the Center Street Blues Café.  The place would be packed with high anticipation, as all in attendance knew something special was about to occur.  Taylor and her always-stellar bands had a history of thrilling the small Midwestern city’s blues population with performances that drove home the fact that Taylor was a tour-de-force, and that big city Chicago blues was like nothing else.  By the time the evenings were over, those who witnessed the proceedings were as drained as the performers.

It is with these fine memories that I now feel compelled to provide a brief profile of the life of Koko Taylor.

Like many blues artists, Cora Walton, the blues woman who came to be known as Koko Taylor, was born to sharecropping parents on a farm in late September, 1928 in Bartlett, Tennessee, a town in Shelby County, an area in the state’s far southwestern region, roughly 14 miles northeast of Memphis. 

There were six children in her family, and Koko is said to have acquired her nickname because of her intense love of anything chocolate.  However, by the time she was 11 years of age, Koko’s parents had both passed on.  Obviously, this presented a complete upheaval in the lives of her and her siblings, and they were pressed to manual labor, to pick cotton, specifically, to carry on.

After the grueling days of labor, Koko and her family members listened to the radio, especially the blues being offered by WDIA 1070-AM out of Memphis, whose DJs at that time included the singer, dancer, and comedian Rufus Thomas, and B.B. King, the man the world would eventually come to revere as “The King Of The Blues.”  Thus, early in Koko’s childhood, a passionate love of music was formed.  Through the magic of the radio airwaves, Koko heard “The Empress Of The Blues”, Bessie Smith, sing her songs of life’s experiences, along with the offerings of a myriad of other blues artists.

Life on a rural patch of land was no doubt isolated and tough, with the children said to have slept on wooden pallets on the floor, having no running water or electricity, yet the exposure to music saw Koko and her siblings began to gleefully express themselves via their own voices and homemade instruments.  Simple joys in the U.S. South often had to be fashioned from whatever was available, and one’s imagination and initiative.

At the age of 24, Koko’s life was about to drastically change.  She had fallen in love with a man named Robert Taylor (a man who later came to be known to Koko and many others as “Pops”), and she left her Tennessee home and traveled northward with him to Chicago.  Koko would later acknowledge that when she and Pops made the trek to Chicago, they were virtually penniless.  At the time of their move, Koko had been singing for quite a while, and her love of music, blues specifically, had greatly increased.

In Chicago, Pops and Koko needed employment, and each found jobs.  Robert established himself as a packing company employee, while Koko turned to domestic work, cleaning homes as her job.  With each of the Taylors (they were now married) working day jobs, their evenings were free, and because of Koko’s love of singing and her undeniable powerful voice and significant talent, the couple frequently spent their free time out-and-about on Chicago’s very vibrant blues scene, as the number of joints offering blues on any given night of the week was almost innumerable.  The sheer magnitude of top-tier blues artists in Chicago offered Koko and Pops eye- and ear-opening experiences.

While spending their off hours in the blues joints, Koko was recognized as someone who may possibly have a good voice, and she was finally called to sit-in with various artists and groups, with the boost from Pops to support her in doing so.

As both Pops and Koko continued working their day jobs, Koko’s vocal style and delivery made waves on the blues circuit.  Something was happening.  A new voice was in town making itself known, from a female no less within a very male-ruled musical genre.  Suddenly, Koko was sought out to perform as a special guest among Chicago’s blues corps.  She was making waves.

In 1962, ten years after Pops and Koko came to Chicago, none other than Chess Records’ songwriter and producer, Willie Dixon (he himself, as we all know, also a formidable bass player and recording artist) witnessed Koko singing in a Chicago blues club.  Dixon was astounded by what he heard, and he made it his mission to get Koko a recording opportunity.  Indeed, Dixon was able to do so at Chess Records, in a move that saw him produce her blues offerings, including a number of singles and a couple of full-length LPs, Koko Taylor (#LPS 1532) and Basic Soul (#CH 50018), both on the Chess label.  On these LPs, Koko was seeing backing by some of Chicago’s best bluesmen including Mighty Joe Young, Lafayette Leake, Clifton James, Sunnyland Slim, Fred Below, Buddy Guy, Johnny Shines, Walter Horton, Jack Myers, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Gene Barge, and others.  It can only be supposed to having been a dream for Koko to receive the musical support of these highly-regarded artists.

But Dixon would also forever become more deeply ingrained with Koko via his songwriting prowess, as he scripted what arguably became her greatest and most enduring blues song, “Wang Dang Doodle.”  The 1965 release on Chess’ Checker subsidiary (#1135) would go on to sell in excess of one million copies.  Again, it forever was Koko’s signature tune.  Koko’s singles while with the Chess stable were primarily released on the Checker label, except for one.

Koko was now being recognized as a rising artist.  She saw a 1974 LP release on the French Black And Blue label entitled Southside Lady (#33.505) that reprised certain work from her Chess label Koko Taylor album.

Still working her day job and making music at night, Koko stayed with Chess right up until it was sold in 1969.  She did see a single released on the Yambo Records imprint (#107) under the “Ko Ko Taylor” name using Mighty Joe Young’s band.

There was on single release on the Chess label in 1972 after the label was sold (#6145 018).

However, in a 1975 move by Alligator Records’ founder and visionary, Bruce Iglauer, Koko Taylor signed with the label in an action that forever solidified her distinguished stature as the eventual and forever “Queen Of The Blues.” 

1975’s I Got What It Takes, with Taylor surrounded by the likes of Mighty Joe Young, Abb Locke, Sammy Lawhorn, and others signaled the beginning of an amazing series of releases on Alligator Records.  The collection went on to collect a GRAMMY Award nomination, and announced to the world outside of Chicago that she was a blues force to be reckoned with.

How about this run!  Following I Got What It Takes, Taylor recorded eight more highly-acclaimed collections for Alligator Records (she also appeared on various compilation), including:

• The Earthshaker
• From The Heart Of A Woman
• Queen Of The Blues
• Live From Chicago – An Audience With The Queen
• Jump For Joy
• Force Of Nature
• Royal Blue
• Old School

The uniformly strong nature of Koko’s recordings, and the backing musicians utilized, resulted in a broad series of GRAMMY Award nominations and one win for her (detailed below). 

Koko and her always top-tier bands were constantly in demand, as she toured everywhere the blues was presented, and she was a huge fan favorite on stage in her shimmering gowns, coiffed hair, and confident and authoritative singing style, with her musicians often decked-out in matching Koko Taylor shirts.  She ran a tight band; always.  She comported herself both elegantly and, conversely, mightily on stage in a genre historically dominated by men.  Whether she was belting out a raucous party tune such “Beer Bottle Boogie” or “Hey Bartender,” a deeply crooning and moving song like “I’d Rather Go Blind,” or standing tall with an affirming “I’m A Woman,” Koko was able to draw her fans close and hold them firmly in her grip. It didn’t matter if the venue was a sizeable concert auditorium or a small neighborhood bar, Koko always held court and mesmerized.  Simply, Koko dominated the category of contemporary female blues artists.

Unfortunately, in 1989, Pops Taylor passed away, though Koko did again marry to a man named Hays Harris.  Yet another unlucky circumstance occurred when Koko was involved in a vehicle wreck; I believe the year was 1990.  However, she was able to come back physically after the accident.

Even in her later years when Koko was living outside of Chicago in a suburb, she was still performing a double-digit amount of shows annually.

Koko’s great influence on generations of female blues artists is testament to her wealth of talent, with Valerie Wellington, Shemekia Copeland, Susan Tedeschi, Janis Joplin, and Bonnie Raitt, among many others who cite her as a driver in their music careers.

Due to her larger-than-life persona, Koko was also in demand on television on many shows, in films, and also had the extreme honor of having a 1993 day named for her in Chicago.  Such was her reach and the love people and fans everywhere had for her.

Below is a breakdown of Koko’s GRAMMY Award nominations and win:

• 1975 – Nomination – Best Ethnic Or Traditional Recording – I Got What It Takes (album)
• 1981 – Nominations – Best Ethnic Or Traditional Recording – From The Heart Of A Woman (album) and Best Ethnic Or Traditional Recording – Blues Deluxe (album)
• 1984 – Win – Best Traditional Blues Recording – Blues Explosion (with others) (album)
• 1985 – Nomination – Best Traditional Blues Recording – Queen Of The Blues (album)
• 1987 – Nomination – Best Traditional Blues Recording – Live From Chicago – An Audience With The Queen (album)
• 1989 – Nomination – Best Contemporary Blues Recording – “Wang Dang Doodle” (track)
• 1990 – Nomination – Best Contemporary Blues Recording – Jump For Joy (album)
• 1994 – Nomination – Best Contemporary Blues Album – Force Of Nature (album)
• 2000 – Nomination – Best Contemporary Blues Album – Royal Blue (album)
• 2007 – Nomination – Best Traditional Blues Album – Old School (album)

Koko was also inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame in 1997, earned a NEA National Heritage Fellowship in 2004, won a 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Blues Foundation, and won cumulative double-digit Handy Awards and Blues Music Awards.

Also, Koko’s original recording of “Wang Dang Doodle” was added to the United States National Recording Registry in 2023.  Plus, a “Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female)” Blues Music Award is bestowed annually.

Koko passed away in early June, 2009 from the after effects of surgery.  Her rise from small town Memphis girl to sharing stages with the elite of the blues and other greats of the music world, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, members of Led Zeppelin, and so many others stands in tribute to her sheer will to indisputably become perhaps the best contemporary female blues musician ever.

I harken back for one last Koko memory.  At the original site of Blue Chicago in the great city, both Koko and blues belter Valerie Wellington played a show together.  It wasn’t so much as a “passing the torch” type of affair; rather, it was an acknowledgment that the power of female blues performers in the city was alive and on full display.  What a fine blues memory, indeed.