Billy joe royal obituary full#
Billy joe royal obituary professional#

She also headlined Nashville’s Spring Blues Festival that year.

She starred at the Nashville Blues Awards in 2009, and this event was a benefit for the Marion James Musicians Aid Society. The Tennessee Jazz & Blues Society presented her in concert at Belle Meade Plantation in 2007. Also in 2005, James began a long string of appearances at the Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar in Printer’s Alley. The CD’s jacket photo was a shot of James on stage with her band at a 1971 show. A year later, “That’s My Man” was reissued on Night Train to Nashville Volume Two. In 2004, she was featured at Franklin’s Jazz, Blues & Heritage Festival. She celebrated the album’s release with a Music City Roots broadcast from The Factory in Franklin. It featured such stellar sidemen as Jack Pearson, Bob Babbitt, Reese Wynans, Beegie Adair, Denis Solee and George Tidwell. This evolved into the Marion James Musicians Aid Society, a charity to help down-and-out performers.Įssence was issued as her second CD in 2003. She launched an annual event called The Musicians Reunion Benefit. She appeared at the 1997 Nashville Music Awards at the Ryman Auditorium, singing “Every Night of the Week” with Tracy Nelson and co-presenting the R&B awards with Ted Jarrett. She temporarily retired in the 1980s, but staged a comeback with the 1994 CD Marion James & The Hypnotics. Armed with her debut hit, she continued to perform throughout the 1970s. Marion James began her recording career with the 1966 single “That’s My Man”/”Give Me Your Love.” This was on the Nashville R&B label Excello Records. Her fiery performances at venues such as these brought her first nickname/billing: “House Rockin’ James.” Printer’s Alley also hosted African-American acts at its Jolly Roger club.

In the 1960s, the city’s Jefferson Street area boasted a plethora of R&B nightspots, including Club Baron, New Era, Brown’s Dinner Club, Sugar Hill, Club Del Morocco, Club Stealaway and Maceo’s. Among James’s early band members were guitarist Jimi Hendrix and bass player Billy Cox, both of whom later rose to rock stardom in the Band of Gypsies. She began performing in Nashville nightclubs in the early 1960s. She also attended African-American vaudeville shows. James married horn arranger and trumpeter James “Buzzard” Stuart, who worked on her recordings as well as with such blues stars as Junior Parker and Bobby Blue Bland.

Billy joe royal obituary professional#

Her mother was a church pianist, her sister sang with gospel’s Clara Ward Singers, an uncle was a guitarist and several of her cousins became professional musicians.Īs a girl, she sang in church and learned blues music by listening to her mother’s record collection. Marion Agness James was a Nashville native who was born into a musical family. Known as “Nashville’s Queen of the Blues,” James died on Thursday, Dec. Music City has lost one of its R&B mainstays with the death of singer, songwriter and philanthropist Marion James. 28.īackroad Anthem visited the MusicRow offices in October to preview new music. The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s office in Oklahoma City has also determined the cause of death for Morland as drowning and exposure to freezing temperatures. Strickland and friend Chase Morland had gone duck hunting at Kaw Lake during last week’s winter storm. I will praise you, Amen.” she posted on Twitter. Thank you Lord for leading us to him today. Strickland’s wife Helen also confirmed that Strickland’s body had been found.

Billy joe royal obituary full#

The office told 40/29 News that it could take four to eight weeks for a full autopsy to be released. Strickland’s body was recovered along the shoreline of Kaw Lake, north of where the boat capsized. Photo: Backroad Anthem TwitterĪccording to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the body of Backroad Anthem singer Craig Strickland has been found, reports 40/29 News.

Pictured (L-R): Craig Strickland and Chase Morland.