Today is the fourteenth day of Black History Month. I tend to use this time as a way to remind readers – and everyone else of a couple of important facts:
- You can’t love Black artists and their work, and not see them as people
- Black lives — and Black art matters
- Black culture is American culture
So as we go through the month, I’m going to talk about a collection of Black artists. It’ll be fairly comprehensive and eclectic list — although it won’t be a complete list.
So far I’ve mentioned the following artists:
- Patti LaBelle
- Rick James
- John Lee Hooker
- Janet Jackson
- Aretha Franklin
- Chaka Khan
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe
- Curtis Mayfield
- Bob Marley
- J. Dilla
- De La Soul
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Dionne Warwick
- Grace Jones
- Whitney Houston
- Louis Armstrong
- A Tribe Called Quest
So while we must celebrate Black History Month today, we also have to celebrate Maceo Parker‘s 80th birthday. Parker has worked with James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic and Prince — and is probably best known for his role as a prominent soloist on some of the funkiest and most beloved albums known to man, including James Brown’s smash hits in the 60s and Parliament Funkadelic’s smash hits in the 70s.
If you’ve been conscious since at least the 60s, you know Parker’s work — and guaranteed you’ve danced to it at a party at some point.
So let’s wish Maceo a very happy 80th! May there be many, many, many more!