Darren Ross Agency Presents:
10 INDIGENOUS ARTISTS WHO ARE FOREVER A PART OF MUSIC HISTORY
1: CHARLIE PATTON
2: MILDRED BAILEY
3: LINK WRAY
4: JIM PEPPER
5: ROBBIE ROBERTSON
6: REDBONE
7: JESSE ED DAVIS
8: BUFFY ST MARIE
9: INDIGENOUS
10: CRYSTAL SHAWANDA
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1: CHARLIE PATTON born around 1891 in Hinds County, Mississippi. Part of his ancestry comes from his Cherokee Grandmother. He is Widely known as the “Grandfather of the Delta Blues” and is considered one of the earliest and most important musicians of the twentieth century. He made nearly 70 recordings between 1929 & 1934 and influenced Howlin Wolf. Patton was inducted into The Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. The Mississippi Blues Trail placed its first historical marker on Patton's grave in Holly Ridge, Mississippi, in recognition of his legendary status as a bluesman and his importance in the development of the blues in Mississippi.
2: MILDRED BAILEY born February 27 1907 Mildred Bailey was a Native American jazz singer during the 1930s, known as "The Queen of Swing”. She grew up on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in Idaho. She had 18 TOP 20 Hit Singles in the US from 1936-1939. In 1989, Bailey was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame and was followed by her induction to The Jazz at Lincoln Center Hall of Fame in New York City.
3: LINK WRAY born May 2 1929 in Dunn, North Carolina & was from the Shawnee Nation. Wray served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War (1950–53). His first Hit Song “Rumble” in 1959 popularized the power chord which led to the the emergence of punk & heavy rock. He had 3 Top 100 US Chart Hits and Rolling Stone Magazine placed him at #45 on the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He was nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 & 2017.
4: JIM PEPPER born June 18 1941 in Salem, Oregon and had Kaw & Muscogee Creek Heritage . In the late 60’s Pepper became a Pioneer of Fusion Jazz. His Band The Free Spirits is credited with being the first to combine Jazz & Rock. He also achieved much more notoriety when he began to compose using Jazz and Native American elements, Most notably was “Witchi Tai To” which he performed with Everything is Everything peaked at #69 on The USA Billboard Hot 100 and is the only Billboard Hit to feature a Native American Chant. Pepper was granted a Lifetime Musical Achievement Award by First Americans in the Arts in 1999 and was inducted into the Native American Hall of Fame in 2000.
5: BUFFY ST MARIE born February 20 1941, Buffy St Marie is a pioneer and activist for Indigenous people. Buffy was born on the Piapot Reserve in Sask Canada. She was abandoned as a child and was adopted a MikMaq couple. In 1962 Buffy started out touring and performing and was part of the folk scene that included Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Her debut album “It’s My Way” was released in 1964. She was named Billboards Magazines Best new Artist while her protest songs created controversy at the time. Her first Top 40 hit “Mister Can’t You See” came in 1972. In 1982 cowrote her biggest hit “Up where we belong” for the film “An Officer and a Gentleman” and it received an academy award for best original song. In 2015 she released Power in The blood which garnered her a Polaris Prize. Buffy was elected into the JUNO Hall of Fame in 1995. Recieved the order of Canada in 1997, star on the walk of fame in 1998 Inducted into the Canadian country music hall of fame in 2009 and has 5 JUNO awards.
6: ROBBIE ROBERTSON born July 5th 1943, Robbie Robertson has Cayuga & Mohawk heritage and it is noted that Robbie was mentored in music by his family at on The Six Nations of The Grand River Reservation near Toronto, ON, Canada in particular is older cousin Herb Myke. He grow up mostly in Toronto. Robertson first got traction in music while working with Ronnie Hawkins and was credited with co writing 2 songs with Hawkins. Now developing into a guitar virtuoso after learning under Roy Buchanon. He became good friends with The Hawks drummer Levin Helm, The Hawks in 1964 when they ventured out on their own. In 1965 they met Bob Dylan, where Robbie and Levon Helm both performed with Bob Dylan at a few prominent shows at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Bob Dylan & The Hawks began touring with Robertson writing many songs for Dylan until 1968 when they released the debut album from The Band “Music from Big Pink” which included the hit “The Weight”, which hit the Billboard Charts #63 but reached higher when covered by Aretha Franklin & also by The Supremes. The Band played Woodstock in 1969 & and also released their second album The Band which was mostly written by Robbie and he also engineered most of the album. The album hit #9 on the USA Billboard Pop Charts and stayed in the top 40 for 24 weeks. In 1970 The Band was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, the first time a North American Rock Band was featured. Robbie went onto a long career scoring music for Martin Scorsese and working and producing artists. In 1994 The Band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
7: JESSE ED DAVIS born September 21 1944, Jesse Ed Davis was a native american guitarist born in Norman Oklahoma and was part Comanche, Seminole and Muscogee heriatge. Davis began his musical career in 1950 and by 1960 was touring with Conway Twitty. After meeting Levon Helm he was introduced to studio session work, eventually joining the group Taj Mahal. He played guitar and piano on the bands first 4 albums and toured with The Rolling Stones. In 1971 he released his solo album that featured Eric Clapton. Through the years he worked with Bob Dylan, Albert King, George Harrison, Rod Stewart, Steve Miller, Willie Nelson, BB King, Johnny lee hooker, John Lennon & Leonard Cohen. Davis died at the age of 43 and was post humorously inducted into the oklahoma jazz hall of fame and The Native American Music Hall of Fame.
8: REDBONE was a Native American Rock band originating in the 70’s with brothers Pat and Lolly Vegas. Born In California the brothers moved to LA in 1959 and played for 10 years as Pat & Lolly Vegas and played on records for Tina Turner, Sonny & Cher, James Brown, Little Richard and Elvis. The term Redbone is a cajun word for mixed raced person as they were proud to be Yaqui, Shoshone and Mexican in heritage. In 1967 they wrote their first Top 30 Hit “Niki Hoeky” recorded by PJ Proby. Pat Vegas also wrote songs for Aretha Franklin. Jimi Hendrix encouraged the brothers to form an all native rock group and Redbone was born in 1969 and their debut album released in 1970. There biggest hit came off of that album, “Come and Get Your Love” peaked at #5 on the Billboard Top 100 and stayed on the charts for 24 weeks. In 1973 Redbone released “We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee”, recalling the massacre of the Lakota Sioux by the 7th Calvary regiment in 1890. The album reached #1 in the Netherlands. Redbone was inducted into the Native American Hall of Fame in 2008 and the NY Smithsonian in 2013.
9: INDIGENOUS is a native american blues rock band formed in the late 1990’s. The band originally consisted of two brothers Mato and Pte (peh-tay) along with their sister Wanbdi and their cousin horse. The family was raised on the Nakota Nation in south dakota. The band released their debut album in 1998 “Things We Do”. The track now that your gone peaked at #22 on the Billboards Mainstream Rock Chart and amazon.com named them the blues artists of the year and were featured on Conan O’Brien and toured with BB Kings Blues Festival tour. Their next release The Circle was #3 on Billboards Top Blues Albums Chart in 2000.
10: CRYSTAL SHAWANDA born July 26 1983, Crystal Shawanda is a Native Blues artist and was born in Wikwemiking First Nation on Manitoulin Island in Ontario Canada. Shawanda moved to Nashville very early as a teenager and released her debut album Dawn of a New Day in 2008 and was featured on CMT’s TV Series “Living The Dream”. The album entered the Canadian country albums chart at #2 and Billboards Top Country Albums chart at #16 becoming the highest charted album from an Indigenous artist in the soundscan era. Shawanda Toured with Reba Macintyre, Brad Paisley & Dierks Bentley and her first single You Can Let Go peaked at #21 on the Hot Country Songs Charts. In 2009 Shawanda left RCA and started her own label New Sun Records. In 2010 she released Beautiful Day and performed at the Macy Day Parade. Shawanda has 7 - Top 40 Songs on Canada’s Country Charts and won a CCMA for Female Artist of The Year in 2009 and a Canadian Radio Music Award Best New Country Artist. She won her first JUNO in 2003.