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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 Β£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.

57 minutes

Last on

Mon 19 Jan 2015 22:00
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2

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Rock 'n' Roll

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Jazz

See all episodes from Hugh Laurie's Blues Changes

Music Played

  • Hugh Laurie & The Copper Bottom Band

    STAGGER LEE

  • Ma Rainey

    Stack O Lee Blues

    • HUSTLIN' BLUES.
    • BLUE ORCHID.
    • BLUE ORCHID-203.

  • Mississippi John Hurt

    Stack-O-Lee

    • Cross the Tracks.
    • Metro Select.
    • METRSL018.

  • Bob Dylan

    Stack A Lee

    • WORLD GONE WRONG.
    • COLUMBIA.
    • 4748-752.

  • Lloyd Price

    Stagger Lee

    • That's Rock'n'Roll (Various Artists.
    • EMI.
    • CDEMTVD-100.

  • The Clash

    Wrong 'Em Boyo

    • LONDON CALLING.
    • CBS.
    • CBS-460114-2.

  • Uncle John Patterson

    Stagolee Was a Bully

    • Folk Visions and Voices: Traditional Music and Song in Northern Georgia - Vol. 2.
    • Folkways Records.
    • FW34162_202.

  • James Brown

    GET UP I FEEL LIKE A SEX MACHINE

    • Music of the Year, 1970.
    • Spectrum.
    • 544-149-2.

  • Jimi Hendrix

    Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

    • Experience Hendrix.
    • Experience Hendrix.
    • ttvcd-2930.

  • Marvin Gaye

    Trouble Man

    • The Very Best of Marvin Gaye.
    • Motown.
    • 014-367-2.

  • Johnny β€œGuitar” Watson

    GANGSTER OF LOVE

    • KING RECORDS RHYTHM & BLUES.
    • KING RECORDS.
    • KBSCD-7002-3.

  • Mark Morrison

    RETURN OF THE MACK

    • THE BEST SWING EVER.
    • VIRGIN.
    • VTDCD-86.

  • Sir Mix‐A‐Lot

    Mack Daddy

    • Mack Daddy.
    • DEF AMERICAN.
    • DEF AMERICAN-5120682.

  • Coolio

    GANGSTA'S PARADISE

    • Gangsta's Paradise.
    • Tommy Boy.
    • TBCD-1141.

  • Ye

    I Am A God

    • Yeezus.
    • Def Jam Recordings.
    • CD 000.

Broadcasts

  • Mon 7 Oct 2013 22:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2
  • Mon 19 Jan 2015 22:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2

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