| December 22nd, 2004 05:37 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Blues Singer-Guitarist Son Seals Dies at 62
By Chris Morris
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Blues singer-guitarist Son Seals, one of the most distinctive voices to emerge in the genre during the 1970s, died Monday in Chicago of complications from diabetes. He was 62.
Seals helped establish Chicago-based Alligator Records as the era's premier blues label with a run of albums featuring his tough songs, brooding vocals and spikey guitar work. He won three W.C. Handy Blues Awards, and received a Grammy Award nomination in 1980 for his work on the live compilation "Blues Deluxe."
Born in Osceola, Ark., Seals learned guitar from his father, a former minstrel show performer and juke joint operator. He initially established himself professionally as a drummer, working with guitarist Earl Hooker and appearing behind Albert King on the 1968 Stax album "Live Wire/Blues Power."
Seals moved to Chicago in 1971 and began fronting his own groups on the city's South Side. Signed to Alligator, he made an immediate impression with his impassioned 1973 debut "The Son Seals Blues Band." After the release of its 1977 sequel "Midnight Son," the New York Times called Seals "the most exciting young blues guitarist and singer in years."
Seals had a tempestuous relationship with Alligator and its founder-owner Bruce Iglauer, who also managed him; he departed the label in the mid-'80s, but returned to the fold in the '90s. His last album "Lettin' Go" was cut for Telarc in 2000.
He toured widely, despite the loss of a leg to diabetes. Late in his career he opened several shows for the jam band Phish, who covered his song "Funky Bitch."
Seals is survived by his sister Katherine Sims and 14 children.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter |
| December 22nd, 2004 10:22 AM |
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| polksalad69 |
Thank you for posting this. Son was the first real blues artist I discovered. I remember walking into BLUES ETC not knowing who was playing. Son was up there on fire (Live and Burning). Damn, I even rented a bus after my wedding reception to take guests up to Palatine to see him. He never was the same after he got shot back in '97 and left Chicago. I hadn't seen him in several years but always held out hope I would again.
RIP Frank "Son" Seals. |
| December 22nd, 2004 10:37 AM |
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| PolkSalad |
Blues guitarist, singer Frank 'Son' Seals dies at 62
December 22, 2004
BY JEFF JOHNSON Staff Reporter
Frank "Son" Seals played the blues with intensity. He lived them with a vengeance.
The gruff-voiced, hard-edged Chicago blues guitarist-vocalist, who looked like a grizzly bear and reminded good friends of a teddy bear with his sly, self-deprecating humor, died Monday at age 62 of complications of diabetes.
Mr. Seals' last 10 years were marked by misfortunes.
His left leg was amputated below the knee in 1999 because of diabetes. He was hospitalized frequently for the disease in the last two years, and had taken insulin since the 1970s. Two years before the amputation, he was shot in the jaw by an ex-wife as he slept, forcing months of reconstructive surgery. More recently his motor home was destroyed by fire after a show in Miami, and his custom-made guitar was stolen.
"The guy faced the most unbelievably life-shattering experiences, and you never heard him complain about it," said Dan Rabinovitz, a trumpet player in Mr. Seals' band from 1990-97 and a former Cook County assistant state's attorney now practicing law in Boston.
Started professionally at 12
"Son came from a background where once you took the bandstand, the only thing that mattered was the music," Rabinovitz said. "No matter what else was going on in his life or the lives of anyone else in the group, that was the priority. That tradition was passed on from Albert King and Earl Hooker and the others he shared the bandstand with over the years."
As the youngest of Jim Seals' 13 children, Frank Seals learned about the blues firsthand at his daddy's juke joint in Osceola, Ark. He was called "Little Son" in his hometown to distinguish him from "Son," his dad. Mr. Seals began playing professionally at age 12, first on the drums and soon after on guitar. While still in his teens, he toured as a drummer with Hooker and later with King, one of his primary influences.
By the time he moved to Chicago in 1971, Mr. Seals had mastered many of King's guitar riffs. He took over Hound Dog Taylor's regular gigs at the Expressway Lounge on the South Side when Taylor's debut album for Chicago's Alligator Records took off and Taylor hit the road.
Alligator went on to record "The Son Seals Blues Band" in 1973 and seven other Seals albums, as well as a 2002 "Deluxe Edition" compilation. He left the label for Telarc in 2000, when he recorded "Lettin' Go," his last studio album.
'It came from his heart'
Mr. Seals played guitar "like his life depended on it," said Bruce Iglauer, Alligator founder and president. "Part of it was his sheer intensity. He didn't really play the guitar, he attacked it. And that's the way he approached his vocals, too. He didn't ask you to listen, he bullied you into it."
Iglauer recalled that Mr. Seals was little-known to blues audiences when he arrived in Chicago. "When I first saw him, he was just playing little South Side joints," he said. He was one of those 50 cents or a dollar [cover charge] guys. He was playing with a borrowed guitar and amp. He recorded the first album for Alligator on a Norma, the Montgomery Ward's guitar brand, and he did the second on a Slivertone from Sears."
Mr. Seals went on to help reshape the Chicago blues, expanding on the traditional Mississippi Delta roots by incorporating hard-rock elements. His raw, "all kill, no fill" style, as Iglauer describes it, found favor with a fan base that was increasingly white and based on the North Side.
"Nobody could send a roomful of people over the edge in the midnight hour with a guitar like he could," Rabinovitz said. "When he wanted to throw down, nobody could touch him."
Mr. Seals' son Rodney, with whom he was living at the time of his death, said his father's health had been declining for some time, but he never lost his passion for the blues.
"Anybody who knew my dad and followed his career of 40 years knew blues was like a second life to him," Seals said. "I just believe that he felt every song he sung. It came from his heart. To be true to what you do, you've got to speak what you feel. That's what he did."
Mr. Seals leaves a sister, Katherine Sims of Chicago, and 14 children, none of whom has followed the family blues tradition professionally.
Funeral arrangements are set for 11 a.m. Monday at the Alonzo Davis Funeral Home. 305 E. 16th St., Chicago Heights. Visitation is 2-5 p.m. Sunday.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-nws-xseals22.html
[Edited by PolkSalad] |
| December 22nd, 2004 12:52 PM |
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| glencar |
I just saw a poster of him the otehr day at a ski lodge in the Pokes. I didn't realize he was quite that old. |
| December 22nd, 2004 12:57 PM |
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| jb |
I alwasy likes Seals and Crofts as a kid...summer breeze, makes me feel fine.... |
| December 22nd, 2004 01:00 PM |
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| glencar |
Those guys were not very bluesy. |
| December 22nd, 2004 01:01 PM |
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| jpenn11 |
Are there any videos of his performances? |
| December 22nd, 2004 01:05 PM |
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| jb |
quote:
glencar wrote:
I just saw a poster of him the otehr day at a ski lodge in the Pokes. I didn't realize he was quite that old.
dIAMOND gIRL WASN'T BLUESY? |
| December 22nd, 2004 01:10 PM |
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| T&A |
Son was one the original Alligator label artists in the early seventies (along with HD Taylor). My problem with his playing is that he over-relied on a couple of tricks - grew a little tiresome. Still, sad to hear the news - RIP Son. |
| December 22nd, 2004 01:14 PM |
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| jb |
quote:
T&A wrote:
Son was one the original Alligator label artists in the early seventies (along with HD Taylor). My problem with his playing is that he over-relied on a couple of tricks - grew a little tiresome. Still, sad to hear the news - RIP Son.
RIP SEALS.... |
| December 22nd, 2004 01:29 PM |
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| polksalad69 |
quote:
jpenn11 wrote:
Are there any videos of his performances?
Dunno about videos but I'm still looking for audio boots of him between 1993 - 1997. Can't seem to find any w/Dan and Red in the band. Speaking of Red, anyone know his whereabouts?
He did an instructional video a few years back.
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| December 22nd, 2004 01:31 PM |
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| jb |
Ride calypso was great..but I think that was the late John Denver... |
| December 22nd, 2004 01:38 PM |
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| PolkSalad |
quote:
T&A wrote:
Son was one the original Alligator label artists in the early seventies (along with HD Taylor). My problem with his playing is that he over-relied on a couple of tricks - grew a little tiresome. Still, sad to hear the news - RIP Son.
so true. I was hoping he'd change the arrangements of the songs after he got rid of the horns. even w/Studebaker John on harp he played the same songs w/the same arrangements. oh well... |
| December 22nd, 2004 03:06 PM |
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| jb |
The Pina Colada song had a lot of soul... |
| December 22nd, 2004 03:08 PM |
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| Joey |
quote:
jb wrote:
The Pina Colada song had a lot of soul...
" Escape (The Pina Colada Song) "
( By Rupert Holmes / Tony Santos )
" I was tired of my lady, we'd been together too long.
Like a worn-out recording, of a favorite song.
So while she lay there sleeping, I read the paper in bed.
And in the personals column, there was this letter I read:
"If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
If you're not into yoga, if you have half-a-brain.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
I'm the Baby Steelie you've looked for, write to me, and escape."
I didn't think about my lady, I know that sounds kind of mean.
But me and my old lady, had fallen into the same old dull routine.
So I wrote to the paper, took out a personal ad.
And though I'm nobody's poet, I thought it wasn't half-bad.
"Yes, I like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
I'm not much into health food, I am into champagne.
I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon, and cut through all this red tape.
At a bar called O'Malley's, where we'll plan our escape."
So I waited with high hopes, then she walked in the place.
I knew her smile in an instant, I knew the curve of her face.
It was my own lovely lady, and she said, "Oh, it's you."
And we laughed for a moment, and I said, "I never knew"..
"That you liked Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
And the feel of the ocean, and the taste of champagne.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
You're the Baby Steelie that I've looked for, come with me, and escape."
"If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
And the feel of the ocean, and the taste of champagne.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
You're the Baby Steelie that I've looked for, come with me, and escape."
[Edited by Joey] |
| December 22nd, 2004 03:18 PM |
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| jb |
Tony Santos...nobody does it better!!! |
| December 22nd, 2004 03:33 PM |
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| glencar |
Carly Simone? |
| December 22nd, 2004 03:35 PM |
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| jb |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Carly Simone?
She is one the heiress' to the Simon and Shuster publishing empire.....a jewish princess who recorded you're so vain with Mick jagger of the once legendary Rolling Stones. |
| December 22nd, 2004 03:36 PM |
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| glencar |
Well, duh... |
| December 22nd, 2004 03:38 PM |
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| jb |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Well, duh...
Many have opined the song was about Warren Betty or even jagger, but I believe it was written in reference to Hugh Hefner. |
| December 22nd, 2004 03:45 PM |
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| glencar |
No, she ahs stated that the letters A & E are in the subject's name. Hef doesn't have an A. |
| December 22nd, 2004 03:55 PM |
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| jb |
"James Taylor" |
| December 22nd, 2004 03:59 PM |
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| telecaster |
Good to know that Sun left the same amount of kids (13)
that Old Dirty Bastard (ODB) left when he died two weeks ago at age 32. 13 kids apiece
Refreshing
gypsy you better get that emergency room ready for some free medical care |
| December 22nd, 2004 04:10 PM |
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| Joey |
quote:
jb wrote:
Many have opined the song was about Warren Betty or even jagger, but I believe it was written in reference to Hugh Hefner.
no , written in reference to Johnny Carson ! |
| December 23rd, 2004 11:19 PM |
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| jpenn11 |
After some searching, I found some official and possibly other videos are available:
W/ Olu Dara + Sandra Wright Band. Live At The Discover Jazz Festival 'Burlington Lamont' (USA TV) 06/06/02
(Pro-Shot) Burlington Jazz Festival (PBS TV) 06/06/02
W/ Elvin Bishop + Mighty Joe Young. PBS Soundstage Chicago Illinois 1974
Lonesome Pine Special 1988
Legends Chicago IL 06/94
On Stone Blues Chicago
Live Chicago Blues Jam 1994 [prob. official, but with another band on the disc]
'On My Knees' (Brilliant Blues Band)
[Edited by jpenn11] |
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