Jamesetta Hawkins, better known as Etta James, the powerful, earthy blues singer who helped lay the foundations of rock and rhythm & blues with her pioneering work in the 1950s and 60s, passed away this morning in Riverside, California after a long battle with chronic leukemia. “This is a tremendous loss for the family, her friends and fans around the world,” longtime friend and manager, Lupe De Leon told CNN. “She was a true original who could sing it all — her music defied category.” James was 73.

Most noted for her recordings on the famous Chess records in the 1960s, James had just released The Dreamer–which she described as her final album–this past November. Though recognized with six Grammys and inductions into numerous Halls of Fame, James was most recognizable to younger music fans because of Beyoncé Knowles portrayal of her in the 2008 Cadillac Records (Beyoncé also famously sang James’ signature hit “At Last” for President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama at the first inaugural ball of their tenure in the White House). The Dreamer–which features covers of essential songs by artists ranging from Guns n’ Roses to Otis Redding is available on amazon now.

spotted at Newsday

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As we mentioned in our RIP post, the impact Dwight Arrington (sometimes spelled Errington) Myers –AKA Heavy D–had on our current musical landscape cannot be measured just by the sales or views garnered by his own records, but must also account for his king-making moves behind the scenes. He  happened to mentor some cats named Puffy and Biggie (you heard of ‘em) but true Heavy connoisseurs know that that besides being the Overweight Lover the Jamaica-born Myers was also the Big Belly Gorgon. Appropriately, one of his biggest contributions to rap was his pioneering role in fusing hip-hop and reggae in the early 90s–not only in his own patois-inflected songs but also in putting on dancehall star Super Cat.

In the latest installment of his Heds and Dreds column, LargeUp editor Jesse Serwer breaks it all down for us, running through 8 classic Big Belly Gorgon tunes and collaborations—and throwing in some rap history bonus material like this 1992 Yo! MTV Raps clip of Heavy messing about on the 1200s just before Cat launches into an improvised version of “Ghetto Red Hot” (above). Get the rest of Heavy’s backchat catalog–from “Mood For Love” to “Queen Majesty” with the full Heds & Dreds tribute at LU.

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Legendary Motown songwriter–and star in his own right–Nick Ashford passed away Monday at the age of 70. As one half of the R&B duo Ashford & Simpson, not only did he lend his voice to huge hits like “Solid As A Rock,” but also his lyrics to many Motown classics for other artists, often writing material for with his wife & partner Valerie Simpson that became huge successes for duets from the likes of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, including the immortal sides “You’re All I Need to Get By” (recognizable to rap fans from Method Man and Mary J. Blige‘s remake) and “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing.”

In an eerily parallel story, rock n’ roll songwriter Jerry Lieber, who as part of the Lieber & Stroller songrwiting team wrote or co-wrote such rhythm n blues oldies as “Jailhouse Rock”; “Hound Dog”; “Yakety Yak” and “On Broadway” also passed away. Our own Questlove summed up the emotion of the moment best when he tweeted last night:” two masters of lyricals passed away today…these 2 men wrote the sndtrk of your lives.” To see what he’s talking about, watch Ms. Diana Ross live rendition of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” below:

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One of the great talents of her generation, musician Amy Winehouse was found dead by ambulance crews called to her home in the Camden section of London this morning. Though there has been wide speculation that Winehouse succumbed to a drug overdose after a long and public battle with addiction, the official cause of death will not be known until after an autopsy is performed in the next few days. The young singer’s death (she was only 27 years old) has already prompted an outpouring of sympathy from friends and collaborators as well a lot of recaps of her brief but brilliant career and her personal troubles.

Like some legendary rockstars who came before her, Winehouse’s oversized personality and a self-destructive streak that matched her creative energies seemed to invite morbid speculation long before her actual death and it has not gone unnoticed that when it came her passing placed her in the infamous “27 Forever club” who’s membership includes Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain.

Somewhat obscured in all the tabloid appearances of recent years was Winehouse’s immense musical contribution. Although fans had been waiting for a follow up to the Grammy-winning Back to Black since 2006, there were plans as recently as last year for Winehouse’s participation in a ‘supergroup’ with Questlove and Raphael Saadiq and it is unrecorded sessions like these which may be the biggest blow to music fans–and close collaborators, who got the chance to see the the real Amy Winehouse shine in the studio, rather than watching her public persona wither and fade.

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Last week, tragedy struck once again right here in Brooklyn when a few teenagers thought it was a good idea to start shooting into a crowd at Brighton beach. The shootout left 5 people hit, one of which, 16 year old Tysha Jones, was fatally struck. Tysha also happened to be a friend of Donny Goines, so he put out this song, “One By One (Tysha Jones)” in her memory. R.I.P. Tysha… stop the violence, people.

>>>Download

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Today marks a year to the day that Keith Elam aka Guru passed away. This Thursday his life will be celebrated with Revive Da Live Big Band’s tribute to Guru/Jazzmatazz at LPR. Masta Ace, Lord Finesse, Jeru The Damaja, and DJ Logic will be among the night’s special performers. Tickets are still on sale, but OKP is offering up a free pair to the 5th reader to email okayplayercontest@gmail.com (winner will be notified by tomorrow night). If you’re in NYC you’re definitely going to want to be in the building for this. As a bonus, head over to The Revivalist for an exclusive interview with ?uestlove and Pierce Freelon on Guru’s legacy.

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Late last night we received word that Nathaniel Dwayne Hale aka Nate Dogg has passed away at the age of 41. Details on the health of the former Death Row and Doggstyle Records crooner have been sketchy since his first stroke six years ago. One thing is for certain though, from his breakthrough guest spot on “Regulate” all the way to the present day you’d be hard pressed to find a better feature than Nate Dogg to supply his signature style G-Funk on your hook or outro. Here are some words from ?uestlove on Nate: “is wishing a peaceful journey to Nate Dogg. a rare velvet controlled singer in a genre in which showing off and rushing to “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (or now which i think is not singing at tall) is the norm. don’t sleep folks. this was a serious loss for singers in contemporary music.” We hope Nate went out in peace, he will be missed. I added some of my favorite Nate Dogg appearances after the jump, feel free to add to the list, I’m sure I missed plenty.

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R.I.P. BI.G. 14 years ago today Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G. met an untimely death. He would be 38 years old, and more than likely still would have a choke hold on the rap game right now. I still remember being 10 years old and running to the store to buy Ready To Die right when it dropped. All I listened to was hardcore ish, so I was in the early stages of my Wu-Tang standom at the time. When I looked at the tracklisting and saw that dude had a song with Method Man, it blew my mind. I must have played “The What” 20 times back to back before I could even get to the rest of the album. I use to see clips like the one above and get mad as hell that I was too young to get in the club and see dude live myself. Gone but never forgotten – what’s your earliest Biggie memory?

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Our jazz channel The Revivalist just launched a great piece on the late Keith Elam aka Guru. Guru’s ties to the jazz world are fairly obvious with his Jazzmatazz series and the many jazz inspired Preemo beats he rocked over in the Gangstarr days. “In 2008, Revive Da Live did a show with G.U.R.U. and trumpeter Roy Hargrove. Above is the interview footage from this show, never released until now.” This vid gives a great candid look at Guru and Roy backstage showing mutual admiration for each other’s work. Check out The Revivalist for more on Guru’s deep roots in the jazz game. R.I.P.

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Here in NYC, J Dilla month really kicked off in a major way this past Friday at the 5th edition of Donuts Are Forever at Santos Party House. Everyone got a chance to spend the night dancing and celebrating the life of J Dilla. Today, on the date of James ‘J Dilla’ Yancey’s birth, we get a closer look at his life, influence, and music by those who knew him best, with J Dilla: Still Shinning. The trailer sparked some conversation topics that are still being discussed, now lets take some time out to see the full project from Brian ‘B. Kyle’ Atkins. BKyle describes this as more of a remembrance piece than a documentary, the vid starts on the day of Dilla’s funeral service (2/10/06) and gives us exclusive interviews with his close friends and family, unseen photos, and rare concert footage. Powerful stuff right here. Gone but never forgotten, Dilla shines on (Rest In Power).

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