Soko Richardson
Encyclopedia
Soko Richardson was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

. His career spanned almost fifty years, during which he performed and recorded with seminal groups including John Mayall
John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years...

's Bluesbreakers and the The Ike & Tina Turner Revue
Ike Turner
Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...

. He is perhaps best known for his innovative arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

 of the Ike
Ike Turner
Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...

 and Tina
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...

 version of the Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....

 song, "Proud Mary".

Biography

Born in New Iberia, Louisiana
New Iberia, Louisiana
New Iberia is a city in and the parish seat of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, United States, 30 miles southeast of Lafayette. In 1900, 6,815 people lived in New Iberia; in 1910, 7,499; and in 1940, 13,747...

, Richardson began his musical career at the age of 16, when he left home to tour the South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

 with local bands. Shortly thereafter Ike Turner
Ike Turner
Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...

, upon hearing Richardson play in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, hired him to play with his band, Kings of Rhythm, and then later with The Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Richardson worked with Turner for the next ten years. In March 1971 Richardson's arrangement of the Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....

 song, "Proud Mary" reached number four on the pop charts, and number five on the R&B charts. The song became a signature song for Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...

, and won the band a Grammy for "Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Group."

In 1971, Richardson joined John Mayall
John Mayall
John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years...

's Bluesbreakers, with whom he would tour and record for the next decade, playing with many of the diverse artists to whom Mayall gave a start.

In the mid 1980s, Richardson joined Albert Collins
Albert Collins
Albert Collins was an American electric blues guitarist and singer whose recording career began in the 1960s in Houston and whose fame eventually took him to stages across the US, Europe, Japan and Australia...

 and the Icebreakers, and became an influential member of the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 Blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...

 scene. He helped earn the Icebreakers the WC Handy Award as Blues Band of The Year in
1985.

Over the years Richardson recorded with many other artists, including Pee Wee Crayton
Pee Wee Crayton
Connie Curtis Crayton , known as Pee Wee Crayton, was an American R&B and blues guitarist and singer.-Career:...

, Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack
Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...

 and English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 Terry Reid
Terry Reid
Terry Reid is an English rock vocalist and guitarist. He has performed with high profile musicians, as a supporting act, a session musician, and sideman.- History :...

, with whom he was recording an album at the time of his death. Though limited by health problems in later years, he continued to perform and record, and sit in on jam session
Jam session
Jam sessions are often used by musicians to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one...

s with friends. He played his last gig a few weeks before his death, at a club with Reid.

Richardson died in the early hours of January 29, 2004, in his home in Los Angeles, from complications of
diabetes
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...

. He was 64.

With Ike & Tina Turner

  • 1966 - River Deep - Mountain High - Ike & Tina Turner
    Ike & Tina Turner
    Ike & Tina Turner were an American rock & roll and soul duo, made of the husband-and-wife team of Ike Turner and Tina Turner in the 1960s and 1970s. Spanning sixteen years together as a recording group, the duo's repertoire included rock & roll, soul, blues and funk...

  • 1969 - A Black Man's Soul - Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm (Pompeii Records)
  • 1971 - What You Hear is What You Get - Ike & Tina Turner (EMI) live
  • 1991 - Proud Mary, the Best of Ike & Tina Turner (Capitol)

With John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers

  • 1974 - The Latest Edition (Polydor)
  • 1975 - New Year, New Band, New Company (ABC - One Way)
  • 1975 - Notice to Appear (ABC - One Way)
  • 1976 - Banquet in Blues (ABC - One Way)
  • 1977 - A Hard Core Package (ABC - One Way)
  • 1978 - Last of the British Blues (ABC - OneWay) live
  • 1982 - Road Show Blues (DJM)

Various others

  • 1992 - Guitars That Rule the World - Various Artists (Metal Blade)
  • 1994 - Chess Rhythm & Roll - Various (Chess)
  • 2003 - Anthology - Bobby Womack
    Bobby Womack
    Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...

     (The Right Stuff)

External links

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