Who was/is Queen Sylvia Embry ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
QUEEN SYLVIA EMBRY Queen Sylvia Embry was born Sylvia Lee Burton. June 14, 1941 in Wabbaseka, Arkansas. She played piano as a child and sang in church choirs. moving to Memphis when she was 19. She then settled in Chicago in the '60s where she eventually was known as the bass-playing vocalist with Lefty Dizz and the Shock Treatment. The group was immensely popular in the late '70s. They were the Blue Monday house band at the Checkerboard and won a north side following at the Kingston Mines playing some of the best (and wildest) blues music in Chicago. Sylvia met and married John Embry.
They had divorced but were still friends by the time this album was recorded. Most of this album. originally on Razor Records as AFTER WORK, was recorded on January 19. 1979. The album and the 45 are both long out-of-print. They are both presented here with the addition of previously unissued tracks. It seemed as if Sylvia was poised to break as Chicago's leading blues woman as she began a professional relationship with Jimmy Dawkins. On a European tour with the American Folk Blues Festival. she recorded for the L&R label. It was Sylvia's first full-length LP and featured Jimmy Dawkins. Carey Bell and Jimmy Rogers (issued in the USA on the Evidence label but now out of print). Other appearances followed on anthologies for Arhoolie, Alligator. L-FR. EPM and a single on Leric (reissued on JIMMY DAWKINS PRESENTS THE LERIC STORY. Delmark 808 ).
Sylvia even appeared in a film, Mississippi Delta Blues. Sylvia Embry returned to gospel music but her health declined and she died of cancer February 28. 1992. TROUBLES is classic Chicago blues at its best. — Robert G. Koester (Thanks to Alligator Records. Mark Lefens and All Music for the above info)
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