Zora Young

Last updated
Zora Young
Zora Young09.JPG
Young in 1982
Background information
Birth nameZora Young
Born (1948-01-21) January 21, 1948 (age 75)
West Point, Mississippi, United States
Genres Blues
Occupation(s) Musician, singer
Instrument(s) Vocals
Years activeLate 1960s–present
Labels Delmark
Deluge
Airway
Website ZoraYoungMusic.com
Young in 2007 Zora-young.jpg
Young in 2007

Zora Young (born January 21, 1948, West Point, Mississippi, United States) [1] is an American blues singer. She is distantly related to Howlin' Wolf. [2]

Young's family moved to Chicago when she was seven. She began singing gospel music at the Greater Harvest Baptist Church. [1] As an adult she began singing blues and R&B. Over the course of her career, she has performed with Junior Wells, Jimmy Dawkins, Bobby Rush, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Professor Eddie Lusk, and B. B. King. Among those she has collaborated with on record are Willie Dixon, Sunnyland Slim, Mississippi Heat, Paul DeLay, and Maurice John Vaughn. [1]

In 1982, she toured Europe with Bonnie Lee and Big Time Sarah, billed as "Blues with the Girls", and recorded an album in Paris. She was later cast in the role of Bessie Smith in the stage show The Heart of the Blues. By 1991 she had recorded the album Travelin' Light , with the Canadian guitarist Colin Linden. [2]

Young has toured Europe more than thirty times and has made appearances in Turkey and Taiwan. She was the featured performer at the Chicago Blues Festival six times. [1]

In 2014, she was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the category 'Traditional Blues Female' (known as the Koko Taylor Award). [3] Her latest album, Friday Night (2016), featured Little Mike and the Tornadoes. [4]

Discography

Related Research Articles

Eddie Taylor was an American electric blues guitarist and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Dawkins</span> American blues musician

James Henry “Jimmy” Dawkins was an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He is generally considered to have been a practitioner of the "West Side sound" of Chicago blues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byther Smith</span> American blues musician (1932–2021)

Byther Claude Earl John Smith was an American blues musician who worked with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Otis Rush and Junior Wells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. B. Hutto</span> American blues musician

Joseph Benjamin Hutto was an American blues musician. He was influenced by Elmore James and became known for his slide guitar playing and declamatory style of singing. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame two years after his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lurrie Bell</span> American blues guitarist and singer

Lurrie Bell is an American blues guitarist and singer. His father was renowned blues harmonica player Carey Bell.

Sarah Streeter, better known by her stage name Big Time Sarah, was an American blues singer.

Mississippi Heat is an American blues band based in Chicago, led by harmonica player Pierre Lacocque. Formed in 1991, the band has toured in the United States, Canada, and Europe, with occasional performances in South America and North Africa.

Bonnie Lee was an American Chicago blues singer known as "The Sweetheart of the Blues". She is best remembered for her lengthy working relationships with Sunnyland Slim and Willie Kent. David Whiteis, who interviewed Lee in researching his book Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories, stated, "she was one of the last of her genre, the big-voiced woman blues singer fronting a Chicago band."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deitra Farr</span> American singer-songwriter

Deitra Farr is an American blues, soul and gospel singer-songwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Saydak</span> American pianist and singer-songwriter

Ken Saydak is an American Chicago blues pianist and singer-songwriter. In a long career, he has played as a sideman with Lonnie Brooks, Mighty Joe Young, Johnny Winter and Dave Specter. Saydak has released three albums under his own name since 1999. Billboard once described him as "a gripping frontman".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delmark Records</span> American record label

Delmark Records is an American jazz and blues independent record label. It was founded in 1958 as Delmar Records and is based in Chicago, Illinois. The label originated in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1953 when then owner, and founder, Bob Koester released a recording of the Windy City Six, a traditional jazz group, under the Delmar imprint.

Karen Lynn Carroll was an American singer. She was born to Mack Carroll and Alberta Simmons Carroll.

Aron Burton was an American electric and Chicago blues singer, bass guitarist and songwriter. In a long career as a sideman he played with Freddie King, Albert Collins and Junior Wells and released a number of solo albums, including Good Blues to You. His recorded work was nominated four times for a Blues Music Award in the category Blues Instrumentalist—Bass.

Bob Stroger is an American electric blues bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has worked with many blues musicians, including Eddie King, Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Eddy Clearwater, Sunnyland Slim, Louisiana Red, Buster Benton, Homesick James, Mississippi Heat, Snooky Pryor, Odie Payne, Fred Below, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, and Billy Davenport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronzo Cannon</span> American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter

Toronzo Cannon is an American electric blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He grew up on the South Side of Chicago near the Robert Taylor Homes and Theresa's Lounge where he heard blues artists including Buddy Guy and Junior Wells.

Eddie James Lusk, Jr. known professionally as Professor Eddie Lusk was an American Chicago blues musician. An ordained minister, Lusk carved out a successful career in the blues and variously worked with Luther Allison, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Johnson, Koko Taylor, Phil Guy, Jimmy Dawkins, Sunnyland Slim, Michael Coleman, Fenton Robinson, Syl Johnson, and Otis Rush.

Travelin' Light is an album by the American musician Zora Young. Young supported the album by playing shows with her band, the Blues Posse.

Demetria M. Taylor is an American Chicago blues singer and songwriter. Her father was Eddie Taylor, a fellow Chicago blues musician. Her step-brother Larry Taylor is a blues drummer and vocalist, and her brother Eddie Taylor Jr. was also a Chicago blues musician prior to his death in 2019, at the age of 46. Taylor's mother, Vera (Leevera), was the niece of the bluesmen Eddie "Guitar" Burns and Jimmy Burns, and maintained an intermittent career as a singer until her death in 1999.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Linda Seida (1948-01-21). "Zora Young | Biography & History". AllMusic . Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  2. 1 2 Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 195. ISBN   1-85868-255-X.
  3. "2014 Blues Music Awards Nominees and Winners". Blues.about.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-22. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  4. "Friday Night - Zora Young". Store.cdbaby.com. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  5. "Zora Young | Album Discography". AllMusic. 1948-01-21. Retrieved 2016-10-05.