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Shuggie Otis
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Shuggie Otis is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, born in Los Angeles in 1953. He is the son of the rhythm and blues musician and bandleader Johnny Otis. He started on guitar at the age of two and at eleven played professionally in his father's band, sometimes wearing dark glasses and a fake moustache to get into nightclubs. Growing up among blues, jazz and R&B musicians, he was captivated above all by the music of his own generation: Jimi Hendrix, Arthur Lee of Love and Sly Stone.
Music and breakthrough
In 1969, at the age of fifteen, he recorded an album in a single weekend with Al Kooper, the Kooper Session. That same year his first solo album, Here Comes Shuggie Otis, was released on Epic Records. B.B. King called him his favourite new guitarist. He also played with Frank Zappa, including on electric bass on Peaches en Regalia, and with Etta James. His best-known album was Freedom Flight in 1971, with Strawberry Letter 23. The Brothers Johnson made that song a hit, after a tip to the producer Quincy Jones.
Influence
In 1974 came Inspiration Information, his third and last album for Epic. He wrote and arranged all the songs himself and played nearly all the instruments, except for the horns and some of the strings. He turned down an invitation to tour with the Rolling Stones. After that he dropped out of sight. Much later, listeners rediscovered his work as a remarkable mix of soul, funk, blues and psychedelia. Shuggie Otis shows how a single musician can build an entirely personal sound on his own.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1970Here Comes Shuggie Otis
- 1970Stone Down Blues
- 1971Freedom Flight
- 1974Inspiration Information
- 1991The New Johnny Otis Show with Shuggie Otis
- 2018Inter-Fusion
Mentioned in other articles
- Drum machine Technology
Timmy Thomas set an organ with built-in rhythms to a bossa nova, and Shuggie Otis jammed for hours with his own drum machine.