Page 66 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2018

Daughters of the Blues
Daughters of the Blues

By Lynn Orman Weiss
From “Mojo Working” to “Bright Lights, Big City,” the
daughters of blues legends bring seeds of songs from their
legendary fathers to stages around the world. Those that don’t
carry a tune are carrying on their fathers’ legacies through the
foundations they have created in their names. From the deep
south to Memphis, Detroit, Texas, Chicago and L.A., these
bluesmen came up the hard way.
If you are born into a blues family, you are part of an elite
royalty. These women of the great blues masters are deeply
rooted to the family tree. They have brothers, sisters, half-
siblings they know and some they have never met. Yet, they
are the ones to carry on their fathers’ names. Their fathers’
influences are vast, pedigrees impeccable and their music can
be heard around the world – on stages, radio stations, online
platforms, commercials and big screens – but the place they
remember hearing the music the most was in their homes and Shemekia Copeland, age 11, with her dad Johnny Copeland at the Cotton Club in
in their hearts. Harlem. Photo by John Hahn, courtesy of Shemekia Copeland

Shirley King / B.B. King Shemekia Copeland / Johnny Clyde Copeland
Shirley King is the eldest daughter of blues legend B.B. King Shemekia Copeland, a three-time Grammy nominee and
and the only one of his children to grow up with the King family. multiple Blues Music Award winner, began singing on stage
At 13 years old, Shirley met her role model Etta James. Like with her father, Texas blues legend, Johnny Clyde Copeland,
Etta, Shirley has an undeniable stage presence and charisma. at just eight years old in Harlem’s famed Cotton Club. Born
She belts out “The Thrill Is Gone” with her own banter, and into the blues, Shemekia’s incomparable voice and songs have
moves on stage like a young shake dancer (most people knew earned her the title “The New Queen of The Blues.”
her as “Shirley King, the Body Queen” back in the day). At 16, Shemekia joined her father on tours after he was
Today she has earned her title of “Daughter of the Blues.” diagnosed with a degenerative heart condition. Soon enough,
Shirley’s new book, Love is King, tells her story and shares Shemekia was opening, and sometimes even stealing, her
her voice of triumph. Shirley’s story reflects on the pain of a father’s shows. Eventually, though, it became clear to Shemekia
father who was always on the road. When asked if the blues who was helping whom.
is sad music, she quips, “I want people to laugh. It’s a total “Dad wanted me to think I was helping him out by opening
show, not just singing. My dad’s songs were ballads. Maybe his shows when he was sick, but really he was doing it all for
they had some sad lyrics, but they me. He would go out and do gigs so I would get known. He
were exciting too. He always put went out of his way to get me that exposure,” she recalls.
a punchline in there like, ‘Nobody Shemekia stepped out of her father’s shadow in 1998 with
loved me but my mother, but she her groundbreaking debut album, Turn the Heat Up!, recorded
might be jivin’, too.’” when she was only 18. Since that time, she has been bringing
Shirley King belts it out on stage her tireless, soulful voice to stages worldwide, often including his
internationally and pays homage signature songs such as “Ghetto Child,” “Also Circumstances,”
to the man who the world called “Pie in The Sky” and “Devil’s Hand.” Shemekia is now a multi-
a true American Ambassador of award-winning artist and just last year, Johnny Copeland was
the Blues, but to Shirley, he is just, inducted into the 2017 class of the Blues Hall of Fame.
“Daddy,” and she is on a mission Every note she sings is in tribute to her dad. “I am proud
to keep his legacy alive and show to be Johnny Clyde Copeland’s daughter. My dad was very
the world that B.B. King’s thrill is wise and I carry him with me on stage every time I perform,”
Shirley King’s new book, she said. Her new album, to be released in May on Alligator
Love is King, contributes to here to stay! Records, features “Promised Myself,” in tribute to her dad.
preserving her father’s legacy

64 Blues Festival Guide 2018