Black Entertainment : Fontella Bass

cherryblossom

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Feb 28, 2009
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Fontella Bass (born July 3, 1940, St. Louis, Missouri)

Happy 70th Birthday!


... Bass was the daughter of gospel vocalist Martha Bass, a longtime member of the renowned Clara Ward Singers. ...

...By 16, Bass was the house pianist at the St. Louis nightspot the Showbar, and in 1961 she joined local blues great Little Milton Campbell, later marrying the band's trumpeter, fledgling jazz titan Lester Bowie....

...in 1990 she teamed with her mother and brother David Peaston for a gospel LP, Promises: A Family Portrait of Faith. Bass continued her return to spiritual music with the 1995 Nonesuch release No Ways Tired, touring Europe regularly in the years leading up to the 2001 appearance of her follow-up outing, Travellin', a collaboration with the Voices of St. Louis gospel choir issued on the Canadian indie Justin Time.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:czeq97l7krdt~T1
 
1965:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXSocE_M1G4


....'The record came out, and my name was not on the sleeve [as co-writer]. And when I asked about it, [the people at the record company] told me, 'Don't worry, we're gonna change that.' But they never did." As a result, the only songwriting royalty Bass received for the song was $11,000. In 1991, however, she won a lawsuit to reclaim performance royalties when credit card company American Express and their advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather failed to obtain Bass's approval to use "Rescue Me" in a commercial. At that point, according to Newsweek's Karen Schomer, "She was broke, tired and cold; the only heat in her house came from the gas stove in the kitchen." Schomer quoted Bass: "I said, 'I need to see a sign to continue on.' And all of a sudden on the TV I heard … 'Rescue Me.'" Bass reportedly received a settlement in excess of $50,000, as well as punitive damages....

http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/bass-fontella-biography
 

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