Today is the ninth day of Black History Month. Over the course of the month, I’ll spend some time paying tribute to Black artists across a wide and diverse array of genres and styles. My hope is that these posts should serve as an important reminder that the Black experience is the American experience, that Black culture is American culture — and importantly, Black lives and Black art matter. You can’t love Black art and Black artists without giving a shit about Black people.
This month won’t be a comprehensive study of Black music. It’ll be more idiosyncratic because — well, JOVM after all. Now, if you’ve been following this site, you may recall that so far I’ve paid tribute to:
- Chaka Khan
- Reverend Al Green
- The Whispers
- Rick James
- Aretha Franklin
- Sylvester
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe
- Chuck Berry
- Donna Summer
- Janet Jackson
- Prince
- The Isley Brothers
- James Brown
- Whitney Houston
- Bob Marley whose birthday was also on February 6
- Syl Johnson, who we lost earlier this week
- Louis Armstrong
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Roy Ayers
- Queen Latifah
- Mary J. Blige
Let’s show some love to the great B.B. King. I had the pleasure of catching him twice and I gotta tell y’all, that hearing him sing and play is this lifelong atheist’s version of heaven.
