Grammy Award-Winning Blues Singer. She was called "Queen of the Blues". Born Cora Walton, she was raised in Memphis, and moved to Chicago with her husband in 1952. In the late 1950s, she began singing in various Chicago area blues clubs...this led to her being spotted by Willie Dixon in 1962, and to her first recording contract. In 1965, she had her first major hit, a cover of Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle". From the late 1960s on she toured nationally. Over her career, Taylor recorded about a dozen albums, and garnered seven Grammy nominations, winning in 1985 for "Best Traditional Blues Album". She was to earn 25 W.C. Handy Awards in differing blues categories, received the Howlin' Wolf Award in 1996, and was named to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1997. Taylor appeared in several movies, including "Blues Brothers 2000", and ran a blues club in Chicago from 1994 until 1999. Her final performance came on May 7, 2009 at the Blues Music Awards; she died of surgical complications.
Grammy Award-Winning Blues Singer. She was called "Queen of the Blues". Born Cora Walton, she was raised in Memphis, and moved to Chicago with her husband in 1952. In the late 1950s, she began singing in various Chicago area blues clubs...this led to her being spotted by Willie Dixon in 1962, and to her first recording contract. In 1965, she had her first major hit, a cover of Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle". From the late 1960s on she toured nationally. Over her career, Taylor recorded about a dozen albums, and garnered seven Grammy nominations, winning in 1985 for "Best Traditional Blues Album". She was to earn 25 W.C. Handy Awards in differing blues categories, received the Howlin' Wolf Award in 1996, and was named to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1997. Taylor appeared in several movies, including "Blues Brothers 2000", and ran a blues club in Chicago from 1994 until 1999. Her final performance came on May 7, 2009 at the Blues Music Awards; she died of surgical complications.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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