Lonnie Brooks, Shemekia Copeland honored at Chicago Blues Festival
BY SUN-TIMES STAFF June 14, 2011 7:02PM
Lonnie Brooks (left) and Shemekia Copeland
Updated: June 14, 2011 11:35PM
Two of the biggest stars in the Blues received big honors at this past weekend’s Chicago Blues Festival.
Lonnie Brooks, who has made Chicago his home for a half-century, headlined the final night of the 27-year-old festival Sunday. In his honor, June 12 was proclaimed “Lonnie Brooks Day’’ in a letter from Mayor Rahm Emanuel read on stage at the Petrillo Band Shell in Grant Park.
Earlier, as Shemekia Copeland was finishing her set, she was crowned “Queen of the Blues’’ by Cookie Taylor, the daughter of Koko Taylor, who previously owned the title. Taylor died in 2009, and on Sunday night, Cookie Taylor presented Copeland with a tiara her mother once wore.
Later, Copeland, Brooks, son Wayne Baker Brooks and a host of other Blues greats took the stage for a rousing rendition of “Sweet Home Chicago’’ performed in honor of Chicago-based Alligator Records’ 40th anniversary.
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