R&B and Soul
Hugh Laurie looks at how the blues has influenced soul and hip-hop today, with music from James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Kanye West, Coolio, and Hugh's own performance of Stagger Lee.
Actor, comedian and musician Hugh Laurie presents this new series in which he examines the ways in which the blues has influenced all the types of popular music that we listen to today.
Each week he'll be playing a song with his acclaimed Copper Bottom Band and using that as a starting point from which to explore the permutations and permeations of the music that he loves.
This week, Hugh plays and sings "Stagger Lee", explaining its roots in a real 19th century murder. That starts a complicated trail of gossip, political scandal, and folk lore which leads through the music of James Brown, Lloyd Price, The Clash, Ma Rainey, Louis Armstrong, Sir Mix-A-Lot and Kanye West to show how the spirt of Stagger Lee still influences the soul and hip hop that we listen to today.
***
Hugh Laurie is an English actor, comedian, writer, musician and director. He first became known as one half of the Fry and Laurie double act, along with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster from 1985 to 1999.
From 2004 to 2012, he played Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he received two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards, and six Emmy nominations. He has been listed in the 2011 Guinness Book of World Records as the highest paid actor ever in a television drama, earning 拢250,000 ($409,000) per episode in House, and for being the most watched leading man on television.
Acting aside, he is an accomplished pianist, leading the Copper Bottom Band in a smorgasbord of traditional jazz and blues which has so far resulted in two critically acclaimed albums and a series of sell-out world tours.
Last on
Music Played
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Hugh Laurie & The Copper Bottom Band
STAGGER LEE
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Ma Rainey
Stack O Lee Blues
- HUSTLIN' BLUES.
- BLUE ORCHID.
- BLUE ORCHID-203.
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Mississippi John Hurt
Stack-O-Lee
- Cross the Tracks.
- Metro Select.
- METRSL018.
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Bob Dylan
Stack A Lee
- WORLD GONE WRONG.
- COLUMBIA.
- 4748-752.
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Lloyd Price
Stagger Lee
- That's Rock'n'Roll (Various Artists.
- EMI.
- CDEMTVD-100.
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The Clash
Wrong 'Em Boyo
- LONDON CALLING.
- CBS.
- CBS-460114-2.
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Uncle John Patterson
Stagolee Was a Bully
- Folk Visions and Voices: Traditional Music and Song in Northern Georgia - Vol. 2.
- Folkways Records.
- FW34162_202.
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James Brown
GET UP I FEEL LIKE A SEX MACHINE
- Music of the Year, 1970.
- Spectrum.
- 544-149-2.
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Jimi Hendrix
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
- Experience Hendrix.
- Experience Hendrix.
- ttvcd-2930.
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Marvin Gaye
Trouble Man
- The Very Best of Marvin Gaye.
- Motown.
- 014-367-2.
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Johnny 鈥淕uitar鈥� Watson
GANGSTER OF LOVE
- KING RECORDS RHYTHM & BLUES.
- KING RECORDS.
- KBSCD-7002-3.
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Mark Morrison
RETURN OF THE MACK
- THE BEST SWING EVER.
- VIRGIN.
- VTDCD-86.
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Sir Mix鈥怉鈥怢ot
Mack Daddy
- Mack Daddy.
- DEF AMERICAN.
- DEF AMERICAN-5120682.
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Coolio
GANGSTA'S PARADISE
- Gangsta's Paradise.
- Tommy Boy.
- TBCD-1141.
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Ye
I Am A God
- Yeezus.
- Def Jam Recordings.
- CD 000.
Broadcasts
- Mon 7 Oct 2013 22:00大象传媒 Radio 2
- Mon 19 Jan 2015 22:00大象传媒 Radio 2
Featured in...
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Jazz, Blues & Folk on 大象传媒 Radio 2
Featuring Hugh Laurie, Paul Jones, Jamie Cullum, Mark Radcliffe and more great shows.
