10 years ago I was in Melbourne and stumbled into this amazing little vintage clothes shop in a basement somewhere in the central city. Flicking through the stock, it was such a relief to finally find a place that sold music T-shirts beyond the usual suspects of Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, Metallica and the Rolling…
Tag: Aretha Franklin
When Aretha Franklin Covered A Song By An Unknown Singer/Songwriter Named Elton John
With Aretha Franklin turning 75 on Saturday and Elton John 70, it makes sense to honour them with the song that has unified these two giants of popular music for almost 50 years. The year was 1970 and a little known 23-year old English lad – real name Reginald Kenneth Dwight – had just had…
Aretha Franklin Brings The House Down – And Obama To Tears – At Kennedy Centre Honours
Aretha Franklin at the Kennedy Centre Honours 2015. It’s all about the clutch purse. Aretha Franklin is so relaxed about delivering this ridiculously brilliant performance that she casually walks out to the piano with her purse. She plops it down, starts playing and blows everyone away. I can’t think of the last time a living…
Jimi Hendrix’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’ + 5 More Of The Greatest Cover Versions Ever
Jimi Hendrix. This weekend marked 45 years since the death of Jimi Hendrix so with him and his colossal take on Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower in mind, here’s a list of five of my all-time favourite cover songs. I played All Along The Watchtower (featured at the bottom of this article) on my radio show…
RIP Ben E. King & Hot Chocolate’s Errol Brown – An Aretha Franklin Cover + What ‘Emma’ Is Really About
Errol Brown. A belated RIP to two soul stars who’ve recently passed away. Other than their time of departure from this world, both the American Ben E. King (76) and the Brit (by way of Jamaica) Errol Brown (71) were also linked by being disproportionately known for solitary songs. The serious and the slightly silly,…
The Last Great Soul Man – Bobby Womack – Dies Aged 70: His 5 Most Essential Songs
Bobby Womack. The self-described “last great soul man” is no more – Bobby Womack has died at the age of 70 having suffered from diabetes, colon cancer and the early stages of alzheimer’s in recent years. From his early days in the church, to leading the gospel group The Valentinos, to being Sam Cooke’s guitarist,…
