Mourners belt out blues to honor Koko Taylor

Hundreds of mourners honored the memory of late blues legend Koko Taylor at her funeral by singing her signature song "Wang Dang Doodle" and remembering why she was known as the "Queen of the Blues."

A diverse crowd of blues fans and musicians -- young and old, black and white -- got to their feet and sang Friday evening at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters on Chicago's South Side.

"We just wanted one more act, but God chose to pull her off the stage," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "The curtain has been called."

The services came one day after a musical tribute to Taylor attended by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, blues legend Buddy Guy, Delores Scott and Vance Kelly.

Friends and fellow musicians who couldn't make Friday's services sent letters, including B.B. King, Mavis Staples and Lonnie Brooks.

"She was an inspiration to everyone whose life she touched," King said in his letter.

Taylor, the daughter of sharecroppers, said during a 1990 interview that King and others nurtured her love of the blues during her childhood in Tennessee.

"I used to listen to the radio, and when I was about 18 years old, B.B. King was a disc jockey and he had a radio program, 15 minutes a day, over in West Memphis, Arkansas and he would play the blues," she said. "I would hear different records and things by Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, Sonnyboy Williams and all these people, you know, which I just loved."

Friends remembered Taylor as reserved but with a strong presence.

"She was a shy, modest woman, but she stood up and sang with such power and such soul," said Bruce Iglauer, owner of Alligator Records and Taylor's manager.

Taylor's daughter, Joyce "Cookie" Threatt, remembered her mother as a best friend.

"My mother has a new manager now," Threatt told the crowd. "There's a new song she has to sing."

Friday also marked the beginning of the Chicago Blues Festival. The event's Web site featured photos of Taylor performing along a note that read, "A voice that will be missed; a presence that will never be gone."

Taylor moved to Chicago at age 18 with her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert "Pops" Taylor, in search for work. He would later be her manager.

While Taylor didn't have widespread mainstream success, her career spanned more than five decades and she was beloved by blues aficionados. Her work included the best-selling song "Wang Dang Doodle" and tunes such as "What Kind of Man is This" and "I Got What It Takes."

"For over 50 years and countless clubs, she belted out the blues," said Terry Chess, whose family owned Chess Records, where Taylor started her career. "Koko Taylor truly earned her title queen of the blues."

Taylor made numerous national television appearances, was the subject of a PBS documentary and had a small part in director David Lynch's "Wild at Heart." She earned seven Grammy nominations and won in 1984.

Taylor last performed on May 7 in Memphis, Tenn., at the Blues Music Awards. She died June 3 at age 80 shortly after having surgery because of gastrointestinal bleeding.

"Blues is my life," Taylor once said. "It's a true feeling that comes from the heart, not something that just comes out of my mouth. Blues is what I love, and blues is what I always do."