Essra Mohawk
Singer/songwriter Essra Mohawk was a performing songwriter and recording artist whose career encompassed a who's-who of popular music. In addition to releasing several critically acclaimed solo albums, she collaborated with Al Jarreau, Bonnie Bramlett, Al Stewart, Narada Michael Walden, and Keb' Mo'; provided background vocals for John Mellencamp, Jerry Garcia, and Kool & the Gang; and wrote songs for Cyndi Lauper and Tina Turner. She released her first single, "The Boy with the Way" b/w "Memory of Your Voice," on Liberty Records in 1964, under the name Jamie Carter. She later declined several offers of staff writerships, although the Shangri-Las and Vanilla Fudge began recording her material.
In 1967, Mohawk met Frank Zappa, eventually joining the Mothers of Invention, where she reluctantly assumed the moniker Uncle Meat. Zappa signed her to his Bizarre label (a Verve subsidiary) and her first album, Sandy's Album Is Here at Last!, appeared soon after and remains the only album released under her birth name of Sandra Elayne Hurvitz. It was during this period that a studio receptionist friend began calling her "Essie," a nickname that quickly morphed into "Essra." In 1969 she married Frazier Mohawk, the producer of her second album, who had worked on Nico's The Marble Index. Their working relationship spawned Primordial Lovers, hailed as one of the 25 best albums ever made by Rolling Stone magazine. It missed out on wider publicity and never charted, but gradually developed a strong following over the ensuing decades.
Further interest in Mohawk's music was prompted in the mid-'70s by her appearance on Schoolhouse Rock, the popular educational and musical cartoon TV series. Her vocals were featured on "Interjections," "Sufferin' 'til Suffrage," and "Mother Necessity." In 1974, Mohawk moved to the Elektra/Asylum label, where she released Essra Mohawk. The album should, by rights, have consolidated her position in the first league of singer/songwriters, but was insufficiently publicized and distributed, despite its positive reviews. Two years later, the same fate greeted her fourth album, Essra, which appeared on Private Stock. Despite such disappointments, Mohawk's reputation in musical circles was such that from 1980 to 1982 she performed as a background vocalist with the Jerry Garcia Band after narrowly missing out on joining Jefferson Starship following Grace Slick's departure in 1978.
Further solo albums Burnin' Shinin' and E-Turn appeared without great fanfare, but in 1986 Mohawk enjoyed a huge hit as the songwriter of Cyndi Lauper's Billboard number three hit "Change of Heart," from Lauper's platinum-selling True Colors album. Later in that decade Tina Turner recorded "Stronger Than the Wind," again penned by Mohawk. After ABC Video released the Schoolhouse Rock cartoons on video in the '90s, the troupe, led by music director Bob Dorough, began performing live. In 1998, Rhino released a new album, Schoolhouse Rocks the Vote!, on which Essra sang, wrote, and produced "Do You Wanna Party," about political parties in the U.S.
Having moved to Nashville, Mohawk recorded the albums Raindance and Essie Mae Hawk Meets the Killer Groove Band and starting in 2000, her earlier material began appearing on CD. Primordial Lovers was reissued by Rhino Handmade in a luxury package including non-LP singles and the entire follow-up album that had originally appeared on Asylum. Within a few years, additional albums -- including 1976's Essra -- were released as Japanese mini-LP CDs, and E-Turn also appeared on CD. In a phase of prolific creativity, albums including You're Not Alone and Love Is Still the Answer, as well as a career roundup of rarities, Revelations of the Secret Diva, were released. Maintaining her presence in television, Essra also contributed songs to the soundtracks of CBS series Joan of Arcadia and All My Children. Essra Mohawk died on December 11, 2023, at the age of 75.
© Charles Donovan /TiVo
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Diskografie
17 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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Primordial Lovers
Pop - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 01.01.1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
1979 the Supersound Sessions
Pop - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 27.09.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love Is Still The Answer
Pop - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 01.01.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Guns Make It Easy to Kill
Country - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 11.04.2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Essie Mae Hawk Meets the Killer Groove Band
Rock - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 01.01.1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Am an American
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 11.09.2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jesus Was a Liberal
Rock - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 21.12.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Life Is Sacred
Rock - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 27.09.2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Revelations Of The Secret Diva
Alternativ und Indie - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 01.01.2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The One and Only Essra Mohawk
Country - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 02.08.2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Essra
Alternativ und Indie - Erschienen bei Private Stock Records am 01.01.1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Never Told You but I Think You Know
Pop - Erschienen bei Zonarecords am 20.02.2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Wanna Feel Ya
Jazz - Erschienen bei Private Stock Records am 22.02.1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The World as We Know It
Progressive Rock - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 02.03.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ready for Some Good News
Country - Erschienen bei Mummypump Music am 10.04.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo