Terrence O. Callier, known as Terry Callier (May 24, 1945 – October 28, 2012)
Terry Callier
Passes Over the Weekend
Renowned musician, composer, and artist Terry Callier passed away at the age of 67 yesterday 10/28/12.
The singer and guitarist began early on performing with Doo-Wop groups growing up in the North Side of Chicago with the likes of Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler among others. While writing and recording his own music, Callier also began touring with Gil Scott-Heron and George Benson. He was known for blending jazz with folk and soul for a unique style that produced songs like ”I Don’t Want to See Myself (Without You)” and ”You Goin’ Miss Your Candyman.” He later went on to collaborate with bands like Massive Attack and the Red Hot Organization (with whom he recorded a Duke Ellington Tribute). Read more over at Stereogum.
Callier will be missed for his wonderful music. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
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<p>Terry Callier live from the movie "Vulcanology" from Vittorio Ferrara on Vimeo.</p>
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Terry Callier,
Jazz-Folk Troubadour,
Dead at 67
by Marc Schneider, N.Y. | October 29, 2012
Influential but overlooked jazz-folk singer Terry Callier died Saturday at a Chicago hospital after a lengthy battle with throat cancer. He was 67.
Described by the Chicago Sun-Times as a "man of many moods, a musician of varied colors," Callier fused jazz, soul, folk and a bit of funk throughout a 50-year career.
Signed to Chess Records as a teen, Callier cut his debut single, "Look at Me Now," in 1962, but a full album did not emerge until 1968 when "The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier" was released to little notice. He was prolific in the 1970s, releasing a trio of acclaimed (but ignored) albums that inspired the term "jazz-folk," "Occasional Rain" (1972), "What Color Is Love" (1973) and "I Just Can't Help Myself" (1974).
He resurfaced in 1978 with Elektra, releasing "Fire on Ice" and "Turn You to Love" a year later. The latter contained the minor hit "Sign of the Times," which cracked the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 1979 at No. 78.
In the early 1980s Callier put his music career on hold, becoming a computer programmer while focusing on raising his daughter. "When I got custody of my daughter I had to give up music to raise her properly, she needed me and the music business just didn't seem like a viable option at that point," he said, according to BBC News.
It was during this hiatus that a self-funded 1983 single by Callier, called "I Don't Want to See Myself (Without You)," became a major hit on the British nightclub circuit. The uptempo song, with its shades of funk and disco, led to numerous concerts on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 1997, Callier contributed to singer-songwriter Beth Orton's "Best Bit EP" and two years later sang on her BRIT Awards-winning album "Central Reservation." On Twitter, Orton paid tribute by pointing fans to a video of her and Callier performing the Tim Buckley classic, "Dolphins."
"This was one of the best nights of my life. Such a privilege and joy - RIP dear Terry Callier," she noted.
Callier also sang vocals on Massive Attack's 2006 single, "Live With Me."
Callier's record label Mr. Bongo, which released six of his albums from 2001 to 2009, said on its website that a memorial in London will be announced.
"He was by far the most moving performer I have ever seen and could make a crowded room fall silent with a breath," the label's Jane Dudworth said. "The guaranteed queue of love-struck women after the gigs was a testament to his charm."
>via: http://www.billboard.com/news/terry-callier-jazz-folk-troubadour-dead-1007993....story
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Chicago singing legend
Terry Callier dies
We are sad to report of the death of Terry Callier, a singer and songwriter who was a legend in the Chicago area and built a following around the world. He was 67 years old.
Callier was born in the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, and was raised in the Cabrini–Green housing area. He learned piano, was a childhood friend of Curtis Mayfield, Major Lance and Jerry Butler, and began singing in doo-wop groups in his teens. In 1962 he took an audition at Chess Records, where he recorded his debut single, "Look at Me Now". At the same time as attending college, he then began performing in folk clubs and coffee houses in Chicago, becoming strongly influenced by the music of John Coltrane He met Samuel Charters of Prestige Records in 1964, and the following year they recorded his debut album. Charters then took the tapes away with him into the Mexican desert, and the album was eventually released in 1968 asThe New Folk Sound of Terry Callier. Two of Callier's songs, "Spin, Spin, Spin" and "It's About Time", were recorded by the psychedelic rock bandH. P. Lovecraft in 1968, as part of their H. P. Lovecraft II album. H. P. Lovecraft featured fellow Chicago folk club stalwart George Edwards, who would go on to co-produce several tracks for Callier in 1969.
He continued to perform in Chicago, and in 1970 joined the Chicago Songwriters Workshop set up by Jerry Butler. He wrote material for Chess and its subsidiary Cadet label, including The Dells' 1972 hit "The Love We Had Stays on My Mind", as a result of which he won his own recording contract with Cadet as a singer-songwriter. Three critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful albums followed, produced by Charles Stepney in a style which critics termed "jazz-folk" - Occasional Rain (1972), What Color Is Love (1973), and I Just Can't Help Myself (1974). He also toured with George Benson,Gil Scott-Heron and others. However, Callier was then dropped by Cadet, and the Songwriters Workshop closed in 1976. The following year, he signed a new contract with Elektra Records, releasing the albums Fire On Ice (1977) and Turn You to Love (1978). The opening track of the latter album, "Sign Of The Times", was used as the theme tune of radio DJ Frankie Crocker and became Callier's only US chart success, reaching # 78 on the R&B chart in 1979 and prompting his appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival
Callier continued to perform and tour until 1983, when he retired from music to take classes in computer programming, landing a job at the University of Chicago and returning to college during the evenings to pursue a degree in sociology. He re-emerged from obscurity in the late 1980s, when British DJs discovered his old recordings and began to play his songs in clubs. Acid Jazz Records head Eddie Piller reissued a little-known Callier recording from 1983, "I Don't Want to See Myself (Without You)", and brought him to play clubs in Britain. From 1991 he began to make regular trips to play gigs during his vacation time from work.
In 1994 Urban Species released their debut album Listen, the title track containing a sample of the bass line and guitar riff from Callier's 1973 recording "You Goin' Miss Your Candyman". In the late 1990s Callier began his comeback to recorded music, collaborating with Urban Species on their 1997 EP Religion and Politics and contributed to Beth Orton's Best Bit EP in 1997 before releasing the album Timepeace in 1998, which won the United Nations' Time For Peace award for outstanding artistic achievement contributing to world peace. His colleagues at the University of Chicago did not know of Callier's life as a musician, but after the award the news of his work as a musician became widely known and subsequently led to his dismissal by the University.
As well as touring internationally, Callier continued his recording career, releasing five albums after Timepeace, including Lifetime (1999), Alive (2001), Speak Your Peace (2002) and Lookin' Out(2004). May 2009 saw his album Hidden Conversations featuring Massive Attack released on Mr Bongo records. In 2001, Callier performed "Satin Doll" for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Indigo, a tribute to Duke Ellington, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.
He died on October 28, 2012, after a long illness
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Posted October 29th, 2012 by administrator
