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  • LIFE

    A woman in a man's world

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 19/07/2022

    » US R&B legend Big Mama Thornton is one of the forgotten "originators", to use Dr John's term for Professor Longhair, of rock'n'roll. The late Alabama native, who died almost exactly 38 years ago on July 25, 1984, recorded the first version of Leiber and Stoller's Hound Dog in 1952. After the record was released in 1953, it reached the top spot on Billboard's Rhythm & Blues Records Chart and sold 2 million copies. It was her biggest hit, but it paled in comparison to young Elvis Presley's version, which sold more than 10 million copies and helped propel Presley to global fame.

  • LIFE

    Adventure in new lands

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 26/04/2022

    » British-Sudanese writer Jamal Mahjoub's latest novel The Fugitives is a delightful tale of a fictional Sudanese dance band, the Kamanga Kings, and how the son of one of the founders, an English teacher called Rushdy, reforms the band and goes on a raucous road trip to play their music in the US.

  • LIFE

    The true king of rock 'n' roll

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 31/10/2017

    » "They call, they call me the Fat Man cause I weigh two hundred pounds. All the girls they love me, Cause I know my way around. I was standing, standing on the corner Of Rampart and Canal, Watching those Creole gals …"

  • LIFE

    A world-music classic returns

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 24/05/2016

    » The Malian singer Oumou Sangare burst onto the West African music scene when she released her first album, Moussolou, on cassette in 1990. I was living in Tokyo at the time and African friends told me about a new singer rapidly rising to fame on the back of an album that had already sold a quarter of a million copies. A kind soul bought me the cassette from a trip to Mali so that I could review it for the Japanese newspaper I was writing for. I still have the original.

  • LIFE

    The Wild Sound of New Orleans

    Life, John Clewley, Published on 26/08/2014

    » Piano master, producer and arranger, composer and songwriter Allen Toussaint has done more than most to promote the musical legacy of New Orleans. With his partner Marshall Sehorn, he set up the Sansu label which brought the focus back to the city after musicians moved away in the 1960s, and proceeded to write and record hundreds of songs for such artists as Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Lee Dorsey and Ernie K-Doe. Later, he developed the New Orleans funk sound with the Meters, Dr. John and the Wild Tchoupitoulas, while rock'n'roll and pop stars from the Rolling Stones to The Searchers, The Hollies, Robert Palmer and even The Who covered his songs. He's also had a stellar solo career as well.

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