Cicero Blake

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Cicero Blake (* 20th February 1938 in Jackson , Mississippi ) is an American Soul - singer .

Life

In the early 1950s , Cicero Blake moved with his family to Chicago 's West Side, where he sang in the church choir . While still in high school , he became a member of the doo-wop band The Golden Tones in 1952 , which later became the Kool Gents . After his military service he was part of the Sonny Thompson Revue from 1959 to 1962 . Since 1961, he published a large number of singles on smaller record labels of Chicago Souls as Renee , Success or Brainstorm , none of which the music charts reached. Around 1970 he also recorded two songs for the major label Brunswick Records , You Got Me Walking and A Woman Needs To Be Loved . However, both remained unreleased for about 20 years until they appeared on various soul samplers .

When the heyday of classic soul music slowly came to an end in the late 1970s , Blake shifted to the soul-blues style, which was particularly popular in the southern United States. During this time, his first national hit, Dip My Dipper , came out, which he released in 1978 under the name Corey Blake . In the 1980s he established himself at blues festivals and the radio market in the southern states. Since then he has regularly released new albums on various labels, still in the style of soul. However, they also have elements of contemporary styles such as contemporary R&B .

The album Cicero was released in 2013 and a greatest hits album in 2015.

Discography (selection)

Singles (with year of publication, label and catalog number)

  • See What Tomorrow Brings / Don't Do This To Me, 1962 (Success 107)
  • Should I Go / Could This Be Love, 1962 (Renee 506)
  • Soul Of Pain / Take It From Me, 1964 (Renee 106)
  • You're Gonna Be Sorry / Sad Feeling, 1964 (Renee 109)
  • You're Gonna Be Sorry / Sad Feeling, 1964 (Mar-V-Lus 6004)
  • Step By Step / If I Had My Way, 1966 (Brainstorm 119)
  • Loving You Woman Is Everything / Shing-A-Ling, 1967 (Brainstorm 123)
  • Face The Case / Here Comes The Heartache, 1968 (Tower 454)
  • Bad, But Beautiful Bag / Don't Wait Until Tomorrow, 1969 (Tower 494)
  • A Woman Needs To Be Loved, ca.1970 (Brunswick [then unpublished])
  • You Got Me Walking, ca.1970 (Brunswick [then unpublished])
  • Dip My Dipper / Be Good To Me, 1978 (Rainbow's End 1001 as Corey Blake )

Albums

  • Too Hip To Be Happy (Valley Vue 1988)
  • Just One Of Those Things (Valley Vue 1993)
  • Wives Night Out (Ace 1996)
  • Stand By Me (Ace 1998)
  • Ain't Nothing Wrong (Mardi Gras 2003)
  • Here Comes The Heartache: The Soul Years (Grapevine 2004)
  • It's You I Need (Hep 'Me 2008)
  • I'm Satisfied (CDS 2010)
  • Cicero (CDS 2013)
  • Greatest Hits (CDS 2015)

literature

  • Robert Pruter: Blake, Cicero . In: Edward Komara (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Blues . Routledge, New York 2004, ISBN 978-1-135-95832-9 , pp. 97-98 ( online [accessed May 15, 2015]).
  • Robert Pruter: The Cicero Blake Story . Gold mine, 1981.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert Pruter: Blake, Cicero . In: Edward Komara (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Blues . Routledge, New York 2004, ISBN 978-1-135-95832-9 , pp. 97 ( online [accessed May 15, 2015]).
  2. ↑ Singles discography on www.soulfulkindamusic.net. Retrieved May 15, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Album discography on www.soulbluesmusic.com. Retrieved May 15, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Blake, Cicero
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blake, Corey (artist name occasionally used)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American soul singer
DATE OF BIRTH February 20, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Jackson, Mississippi , USA