Koko Taylor Gone

The great Koko Taylor is dead at the age of 80. Her last performance was at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis four weeks ago. "She was of the same generation as Muddy [Waters] and [Howlin'] Wolf, she had those [Mississippi] Delta roots," said Koko's long-time manager and producer Bruce Iglauer. "Even though she had been living in Chicago since the '50s, her music was still deeply rooted in the South. She had that rhythmic sense, that sense of where you lay the words and how the band locks in around the singer, that intensity of people who have lived that life."