Terry Callier

Artist: Terry Callier

LP: What Color Is Love

Song: "Dancing Girl"

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Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1945, Terry Callier learned to play the piano when he was young. He started performing in Chicago's folk clubs and coffee houses in the 1960s, then hooked up with the Chess and Cadet labels to release three commercially unsuccessful LPs in the early 1970s. "What Color Is Love" from 1972 is the second of the three, featuring a musical style critics labeled "jazz-folk." Frustrated with the lack of interest in his musical career, Callier took classes in computer programming and got a job at the University of Chicago in the early 1980s, where he studied at night to earn a sociology degree. As is often the case with so many of the brilliant-but-neglected musical recordings of the USA, it required some Europeans to finally discover and fully appreciate the 1970s and early '80s work of Terry Callier. His music started getting played at clubs in the UK, where Callier began traveling to perform during vacation time from work. More popular than ever, Callier revived his music career in the late 1990s, releasing five albums in the past decade and working with the likes of Beth Orton and Massive Attack. Unfortunately, the good folks at the University of Chicago realized that it would be entirely too distracting for the students to have their computers programmed by a musical superstar, so Callier was let go when his moonlighting was finally made known. You can read more about Terry Callier on Wikipedia here and visit his official website here.