Recent from talks
Ellen McIlwaine
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Ellen McIlwaine
Ellen McIlwaine (October 1, 1945 – June 23, 2021) was an American-born singer-songwriter and musician best known for her career as a solo singer, songwriter and slide guitarist.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, McIlwaine was adopted by missionaries and raised in Kobe, Japan, giving her exposure to multiple languages and cultures. She attended the Canadian Academy school in Kobe, graduating in 1963. Her first experience in music was playing Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Professor Longhair songs on piano that she heard on Japanese radio. On moving back to the United States she bought a guitar, beginning a stage career in Atlanta, Georgia in the mid-1960s.[citation needed]
In 1966, McIlwaine had a stint in New York City's Greenwich Village where she opened every night at the Cafe Au Go Go, playing with Jimi Hendrix, and opening for Muddy Waters, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and Big Joe Williams.[citation needed] She returned to Atlanta to form the band Fear Itself, a psychedelic blues rock band.
After recording one album with Fear Itself, McIlwaine went solo, recording two albums for Polydor, Honky Tonk Angel (1972) and We the People (1973), the latter featuring a hit single, "I Don't Want to Play". Those albums, and most of her work since, have featured McIlwaine's approach to acoustic slide guitar.[citation needed] This was followed by The Real Ellen McIlwaine, recorded for the independent Canadian label Kot'ai, which featured two of her 'signature' songs, her slide guitar version of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" and "The Secret In This Lady's Heart".
As a female vocalist who is known for her acoustic and electric slide guitar, her music tends to be classified in the folk sections of record stores, despite her strong roots in blues, gospel soul and rock music, and her cover versions of songs by Isaac Hayes, Stevie Wonder, Jack Bruce, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Winwood and Browning Bryant. McIlwaine met Hendrix in New York in 1966, briefly played with him and wrote "Underground River" about him.[citation needed] She was an ardent fan of Jack Bruce and recorded a version of a song by Bruce and his lyricist Pete Brown on each of her first four solo albums - notably songs from Bruce's first solo album Songs for a Tailor, as well as songs associated with Bruce (such as "Born Under A Bad Sign"). This culminated in her collaboration with Bruce himself on her fourth solo album, Everybody Needs It (1982), which won the NAIRD Indie Award.
By the mid-1970s, McIlwaine's songs "Sliding", "We the People" and "Losing You" were included on the compilation album, The Guitar Album.
McIlwaine's album The Real Ellen McIlwaine, was recorded in Montreal in 1975 for the Kotai label, and included the Stevie Wonder song "Higher Ground". Her intro later appeared on David Holmes' Essential Mix (1997).
McIlwaine gained a cult following in Australia thanks to exposure of her music on the Sydney-based AM public rock radio station 2JJ (now Triple-J). In 1980 she made her first tour of Australia, after being spotted by the Australian singer-guitarist Margret RoadKnight, who was one of the co-promoters of the tour. She returned to Australia in 1984, and during this tour was the last performer to appear at Sydney's historic Regent Theatre prior to its closure and subsequent demolition.[citation needed]
Hub AI
Ellen McIlwaine AI simulator
(@Ellen McIlwaine_simulator)
Ellen McIlwaine
Ellen McIlwaine (October 1, 1945 – June 23, 2021) was an American-born singer-songwriter and musician best known for her career as a solo singer, songwriter and slide guitarist.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, McIlwaine was adopted by missionaries and raised in Kobe, Japan, giving her exposure to multiple languages and cultures. She attended the Canadian Academy school in Kobe, graduating in 1963. Her first experience in music was playing Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Professor Longhair songs on piano that she heard on Japanese radio. On moving back to the United States she bought a guitar, beginning a stage career in Atlanta, Georgia in the mid-1960s.[citation needed]
In 1966, McIlwaine had a stint in New York City's Greenwich Village where she opened every night at the Cafe Au Go Go, playing with Jimi Hendrix, and opening for Muddy Waters, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and Big Joe Williams.[citation needed] She returned to Atlanta to form the band Fear Itself, a psychedelic blues rock band.
After recording one album with Fear Itself, McIlwaine went solo, recording two albums for Polydor, Honky Tonk Angel (1972) and We the People (1973), the latter featuring a hit single, "I Don't Want to Play". Those albums, and most of her work since, have featured McIlwaine's approach to acoustic slide guitar.[citation needed] This was followed by The Real Ellen McIlwaine, recorded for the independent Canadian label Kot'ai, which featured two of her 'signature' songs, her slide guitar version of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" and "The Secret In This Lady's Heart".
As a female vocalist who is known for her acoustic and electric slide guitar, her music tends to be classified in the folk sections of record stores, despite her strong roots in blues, gospel soul and rock music, and her cover versions of songs by Isaac Hayes, Stevie Wonder, Jack Bruce, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Winwood and Browning Bryant. McIlwaine met Hendrix in New York in 1966, briefly played with him and wrote "Underground River" about him.[citation needed] She was an ardent fan of Jack Bruce and recorded a version of a song by Bruce and his lyricist Pete Brown on each of her first four solo albums - notably songs from Bruce's first solo album Songs for a Tailor, as well as songs associated with Bruce (such as "Born Under A Bad Sign"). This culminated in her collaboration with Bruce himself on her fourth solo album, Everybody Needs It (1982), which won the NAIRD Indie Award.
By the mid-1970s, McIlwaine's songs "Sliding", "We the People" and "Losing You" were included on the compilation album, The Guitar Album.
McIlwaine's album The Real Ellen McIlwaine, was recorded in Montreal in 1975 for the Kotai label, and included the Stevie Wonder song "Higher Ground". Her intro later appeared on David Holmes' Essential Mix (1997).
McIlwaine gained a cult following in Australia thanks to exposure of her music on the Sydney-based AM public rock radio station 2JJ (now Triple-J). In 1980 she made her first tour of Australia, after being spotted by the Australian singer-guitarist Margret RoadKnight, who was one of the co-promoters of the tour. She returned to Australia in 1984, and during this tour was the last performer to appear at Sydney's historic Regent Theatre prior to its closure and subsequent demolition.[citation needed]