Blues vocalist and guitarist Fenton Robinson died on this day in 1997 at age 62. Robinson is best known for his oft-covered Somebody Loan me A Dime one of two minor hit singles he released in the sixties. He somehow signed with the Nashville record company Seventy-7 Records in the early 70s and the company didn`t have a clue to what Robinson was about, and released two truly horrible albums. Fenton was not even allowed to play guitar on the terribly unsubtle, Rock-slanted albums. Robinson fared much better when he signed with Alligator in 1974 and released Somebody Loan Me A Dime which was the benchmark of his career. He followed with the somewhat dissapointing I Hear Some Blues Downstairs and rebounded with Nightlight. His last recording was for the Dutch Black magic label entitled Special Road that has been re-released by Evidence. Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States, Robinson left his home at the age of 18 to move to Memphis, Tennessee where he recorded his first single Tennessee Woman in 1957.[2] He settled in Chicago in 1962.[2] He recorded his signature song, Somebody Loan Me a Dime, in 1967 on the Palos label, the nationwide distribution of which was aborted by a freak snow storm hitting the Windy City. Covered by Boz Scaggs in 1969, the song was misattributed, resulting in legal battles. It has since become a blues standard, being part of the repertoire of one out of every two blues artists, according to 1997s Encyclopedia of Blues.[3] Robinson re-recorded the song for the critically acclaimed album Somebody Loan Me a Dime in 1974, the first of three he would produce under the Alligator Records label.[4][5] Robinson was nominated for a Grammy Award for the second, 1977s I Hear Some Blues Downstairs.[4] In the 1970s he was arrested and imprisoned for involuntary manslaughter in connection with a car accident. Paroled after nine months, he continued playing in Chicago clubs and later taught guitar. Robinson died of complications from brain cancer,[1] in Rockford, Illinois. Robinsons signature song, Somebody Loan Me A Dime can be heard in The Blues Brothers on the radio when Jake (John Belushi) is being transported and paroled.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 12:42:37 +0000
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