A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country.

The word "sheriff" is a contraction of the term "shire reeve". The term, from the Old English ''scīrgerefa'', designated a royal official responsible for keeping the peace (a "reeve") throughout a shire or county on behalf of the king. The term was preserved in England notwithstanding the Norman Conquest. From the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms the term spread to several other regions, at an early point to Scotland, latterly to Ireland and the United States.

The position of sheriff now exists in various countries:

Sheriffs are administrative legal officials (similar to bailiffs) in the Republic of Ireland, Australia, and Canada (with expanded duties in certain provinces).

Sheriffs are judges in Scotland.

Sheriff is a ceremonial position in England, Wales, and India.

In the United States of America the role of a sheriff varies between different states and counties. The sheriff is a county official, the arm of the county court. In urban areas they may be restricted to these court duties, such as administering the county jail, courtroom security, prisoner transport, serving warrants, service of process or police administration. Sheriffs may also patrol outside of city/town limits or jurisdiction. In many rural areas, sheriffs and their deputies are the principal form of police.

In British English, the political or legal office of a sheriff is called a shrievalty.

History

Modern usage

Australia

The office of sheriff was first established in Australia in 1824. This was simultaneous with the appointment of the first Chief Justice of New South Wales. The role of the sheriff has not been static, nor is it identical in each Australian State. In the past his duties included: executing court judgements, acting as a coroner, the transportation of prisoners, managing the gaols, and carrying out executions (through the employment of an anonymous hangman). Currently, no Australian State provides for capital punishment. A government department (usually called the Department of Corrections or similar) now runs the prison system and the Coroner’s Office handles coronal matters. The sheriff is now largely responsible for enforcing the civil orders and fines of the court (seizing and selling the property of judgement debtors who do not satisfy the debt), providing court security, enforcing arrest warrants, evictions, taking juveniles into custody and running the jury system. Some State Sheriffs can also apply a wide range of sanctions ranging from suspending drivers licences and car registration through to wheel clamping and arranging community service orders and finally as a last resort make arrests.

Canada

Various jurisdictions in Canada on provincial and sub-provincial levels operate sheriff's departments primarily concerned with court bailiff services such as courtroom security, post-arrest prisoner transfer, serving legal processes, and executing civil judgements. Sheriffs are defined under Section 2 of the Criminal Code of Canada as "peace officers". In other parts of Canada not covered by a sheriff's agency, bailiff functions are handled directly by the local, provincial police or Royal Canadian Mounted Police as appropriate.

Alberta

In 2006, the Province of Alberta expanded the duties of the provincial sheriffs department to include tasks such as traffic enforcement, VIP protection, investigation and fugitive apprehension(FASST). As of June 2008, the provincial sheriffs department consists of 105 traffic sheriffs who are assigned to one of seven regions in the province. Sheriffs also assist various police services in Alberta with prisoner management. In October 2008, the Alberta Sheriffs will introduce the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Unit (SCAN).

British Columbia

BCSS responsibilities include the protection of the Provincial, Supreme and Appeal Courts of BC, planning high security trials, Intelligence Unit, assessing threats towards public officials and those employed in the Justice system, protection of Judges and Crown Prosecutors, managing detention cells, transport prisoners by ground and air, manage and provide protection for juries, serve court-related documents, execute court orders and warrants, and assist with coroner's court.

India

Among cities in India, only Mumbai (Bombay), and Kolkata (Calcutta) have a sheriff. The sheriff has an apolitical, non-executive role. Sheriffs preside over various city-related functions and conferences and welcome foreign guests. The post is second to the mayor in the protocol list.

Republic of Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, a sheriff () can be either:

a court officer in both Dublin City and County and Cork City and County who earn their fees from poundage (commission); or

civil servants employed by the Revenue Commissioners, known popularly as "tax sheriffs".

In both cases sheriffs are charged with enforcing civil judgements against debtors within their bailiwick. Outside Dublin and Cork the County Registrar carries out the functions of the sheriff regarding judgements.

The Dublin and Cork sheriffs also perform all the duties of returning officers in elections (other than local elections) and some other duties concerning pounds. Sheriffs may appoint court messengers, subject to approval of the Minister for Justice, to assist them with their work.

Philippines

Manila

The Office of Sheriff of Manila was established on July 1, 1901. The first Sheriff of Manila was James Peterson. The main duties of the sheriff and deputies is enforcing arrest warrants, evictions, civil orders, writs, subpoenas, notices, release orders, commitment orders, mittimus, and providing court security. The office has three divisions; administrative, criminal and civil. The office of the sheriff is now located at Manila city hall.

United Kingdom

England and Wales

The High Sheriff of an English or Welsh county is an unpaid, partly ceremonial post appointed by The Crown through a Warrant from the Privy Council.

Cornwall

The first Duchy of Cornwall Charter of 1337 stated that the shrievalty, or governance, of Cornwall was vested in the Duke of Cornwall [see Hansard]. Two further charters dated March 18, 1337 and January 3, 1338 stated that no sheriff of the king shall enter Cornwall to execute the kings writ. As a consequence, the High Sheriff of Cornwall was appointed by the Duke of Cornwall. Moreover, as sovereignty over Cornwall was shared between the Monarch of the UK and the Duke of Cornwall, the Sheriff of Cornwall had to swear an oath of loyalty to both sovereigns [see Declaration of Sheriff].

Historically, the court officers empowered to enforce High Court writs were called Sheriffs or Sheriff's Officers. In April 2004 they were replaced by High Court enforcement officers.

City of London

In the City of London, the position of sheriff is one of the officers of the Corporation. Two are elected by the liverymen of the City each year to assist the Lord Mayor, attend the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey, and present petitions to Parliament: usually one is an alderman and the other is not. The aldermanic sheriff is then likely to become Lord Mayor in due course.

Northern Ireland

High Sheriff is a largely ceremonial position in Northern Ireland, with some functional duties including deputising for Lord Mayor. There are eight High Sheriff positions throughout Northern Ireland: one for each of the counties and for the two major cities of Northern Ireland, there are the High Sheriff of Belfast and the High Sheriff of Londonderry City.

Scotland

In Scotland, a sheriff is analogous to a judge and sits in a second-tier court, called the Sheriff Court. The sheriff is legally qualified, in comparison with a lay Justice of the Peace who preside over the first-tier District Courts of Scotland.

The sheriff court is a court of first instance for the majority of both civil and criminal cases. However, the court's powers are limited, so that major crimes such as rape or murder and complex or high-value civil cases are dealt with in the High Court (for criminal matters) or the Court of Session (for civil matters).

There are six sheriffdoms in Scotland, each with a Sheriff Principal. Within each sheriffdom there are several Sheriff Courts; each court has at least one courtroom and at least one Sheriff (technically a Sheriff Depute). A Sheriff may sit at different courts throughout the sheriffdom.

Sheriffs are usually advocates and, increasingly, solicitors with many years of legal experience. Until recently, they were appointed by the Scottish Executive, on the advice of the Lord Advocate. However, the Scotland Act 1998 introduced the European Convention of Human Rights into Scots law. A subsequent legal challenge to the impartiality of the sheriffs based on the provisions of the Convention led to the setting up of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland, which now makes recommendations to the First Minister, who nominates all judicial appointments in Scotland other than in the District Court. Nominations are made to the First Minister, who in turn makes the recommendation to the Queen.

United States

In the United States, a sheriff is generally, but not always, the highest law enforcement officer of a county. A sheriff is in most cases elected by the population of the county. In some states the sheriff is officially titled "High Sheriff", although the title is very rarely actually used.

The political election of a person to serve as a police leader is an almost uniquely American tradition. (The practice has been followed in the British Channel Island of Jersey since at least the 16th century.) A sworn law enforcement officer working for a sheriff is called a "sheriff's deputy", "sheriff's officer", or something similar, and is authorized to perform the sheriff's duties. In many states the law enforcement officer are often called "county mounties" for the hat they generally wear as part of their usually two-tone brown uniform with a mountie-style hat. In some states, a sheriff may not be a sworn officer, but merely an elected official in charge of sworn officers. These officers may be subdivided into "general deputies" and "special deputies". In some places, the sheriff has the responsibility to recover any deceased persons within their county, in which case the full title is "sheriff-coroner". In some counties, the sheriff's principal deputy is the warden of the county jail or other local correctional institution.

In some areas of the United States, the sheriff is also responsible for collecting the taxes and may have other titles such as tax collector or county treasurer. The sheriff may also be responsible for the county civil defense, emergency disaster service, rescue service, or emergency management.

In the U.S., the relationship between the sheriff and other police departments varies widely from state to state, and indeed in some states from county to county. In the northeastern U.S., the sheriff's duties have been greatly reduced with the advent of state-level law enforcement agencies, especially the state police and local agencies such as the county police. In Vermont, for instance, the elected sheriff is primarily an officer of the County Court, whose duties include running the county jail and serving papers in lawsuits and foreclosures. Law enforcement patrol is performed as well, in support of State Police and in the absence of a municipal police agency in rural towns.

By contrast, in other municipalities, the sheriff's office may be merged with most or all city-level police departments within a county to form a consolidated city-county or metropolitan police force responsible for general law enforcement anywhere in the county. The sheriff in such cases serves simultaneously as sheriff and chief of the consolidated police department. Examples include the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Sheriff offices may coexist with other county level law enforcement agencies such as county police, county park police, or county detectives.

In Virginia since 1871, cities have been completely independent jurisdictions which are not part of any county at all. In those cities, the sheriff of the county in which the city in located, handle jails, courtroom security and serves all civil process (subpoenas, evictions, etc). However, in some counties that have created separate county police departments the sheriff's office shares law enforcement duties.

The New York City Sheriff is appointed by the mayor and his or her jurisdiction covers all five county-boroughs of New York City (King's County, Queen's County, Richmond County, Bronx County and New York County). The New York Sheriff is responsible to the city's Finance Department.

The sheriffs of Middlesex County and Suffolk County, Massachusetts have ceremonial duties at Harvard University commencement exercises. In a tradition dating to the 17th century, the Sheriffs lead the President's Procession, and the Sheriff of Middlesex County formally opens and adjourns the proceedings.

There are also states in the US that do not have sheriffs, such as Connecticut. In Connecticut, where county government itself has been abolished, the state and local police have sole responsibility for law enforcement.

Missouri has a county that eliminated the position of elected sheriff in 1955; the St. Louis County Police Department has an appointed police chief that performs the duties of the sheriff. Colorado has two counties that have appointed sheriffs rather than elected officials like the other 62 counties. Denver and Broomfield are a city and county entities, which are required to have and/or perform a sheriff function. Denver's "sheriff" is the manager of safety, who is appointed by the mayor to oversee the fire, police and sheriff departments and is the ex officio sheriff. The position was created in 1916 to oversee the fire and police chiefs as well as the undersheriff who oversees the sheriff department. The Denver Sheriff Department is responsible for the operation of the correctional facilities as well as serving the courts per state law. Broomfield evolved from four counties in 2001. The Broomfield Police Department performs all "sheriff" functions under an appointed police chief, who acts as the sheriff per state law.

See also

Constable

High Sheriff

Marshal

National Sheriffs' Association

Police memorabilia collecting

Schultheiß, the equivalent German mediæval office

Sharif, an Arab office sometimes anglicised as "Sheriff"

Viscount

Serif a typeface category

References

External links

http://www.ancestorhunt.com/past-sheriffs.htm

Category:Titles Category:Government occupations Category:Judiciary of Scotland Category:Legal professions Category:Law enforcement titles Category:Arabic words and phrases

ar:شريف ca:Xèrif de:Sheriff es:Sheriff fa:کلانتر fr:Shérif is:Fógeti it:Sceriffo hu:Seriff nl:Sheriff ja:保安官 no:Sheriff pl:Szeryf pt:Xerife ru:Шериф fi:Seriffi sv:Sheriff tr:Şerif uk:Шериф

honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Bob Marley
alt	Black and white picture of a man with long dreadlocks playing the guitar on stage.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Robert Nesta Marley
alias	Tuff Gong
birth date	February 06, 1945
birth place	Nine Mile, Saint Ann, Jamaica
death date	May 11, 1981
death place	Miami, Florida, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, saxophone, harmonica, percussion
genre	Reggae, ska, rocksteady
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
years active	1962–1981
label	Studio One, Upsetter, Tuff Gong
associated acts	Bob Marley & The Wailers, Wailers Band, The Upsetters, I Threes
website
notable instruments	Gibson Les Paul Special }}

Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers (1963–1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited with helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience.

Marley's music was heavily influenced by the social issues of his homeland, and he is considered to have given voice to the specific political and cultural nexus of Jamaica. His best-known hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, "Three Little Birds", as well as the posthumous releases "Buffalo Soldier" and "Iron Lion Zion". The compilation album ''Legend'' (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, going ten times Platinum which is also known as one Diamond in the U.S., and selling 25 million copies worldwide.

Early life and career

Bob Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley. A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a white Jamaican of mixed and English descent whose family came from Sussex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Bob Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 70. Marley faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected:

I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't deh pon nobody's side. Me don't deh pon the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me deh pon God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.

Although Marley recognised his mixed ancestry, throughout his life and because of his beliefs, he self-identified as a black African, following the ideas of Pan-African leaders. Marley stated that his two biggest influences were the African-centered Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie. A central theme in Bob Marley's message was the repatriation of black people to Zion, which in his view was Ethiopia, or more generally, Africa. In songs such as "Black Survivor", "Babylon System", and "Blackman Redemption", Marley sings about the struggles of blacks and Africans against oppression from the West or "Babylon".

Marley became friends with Neville "Bunny" Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer), with whom he started to play music. He left school at the age of 14 to make music with Joe Higgs, a local singer and devout Rastafari. At a jam session with Higgs and Livingston, Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions. In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell, attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set ''Songs of Freedom'', a posthumous collection of Marley's work. Marley was also known to use an Epiphone guitar for much of his career.

Bob Marley & The Wailers

1963–1974

In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith formed a ska and rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to "The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh.

In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.

Though raised in the Catholic tradition, Marley became captivated by Rastafarian beliefs in the 1960s, when away from his mother's influence. Formally converted to Rastafari after returning to Jamaica, Marley began to wear his trademark dreadlocks (''see the ''religion section'' for more on Marley's religious views''). After a conflict with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band, The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends and work together again.

Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an attempt to commercialise The Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album ... they were just demos for record companies to listen to". Also in 1968, Bob and Rita visited the Bronx to see Johnny Nash's songwriter Jimmy Norman. A three-day jam session with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted in a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions. This tape is, according to Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare in that it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as part of an effort to break Marley into the American charts. According to an article in ''The New York Times'', Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on "Stay With Me" and "the slow love song style of 1960's artists" on "Splish for My Splash". An artist yet to establish himself outside his native Jamaica, Marley lived in Ridgmount Gardens, Bloomsbury, London during 1972.

In 1972, the Wailers entered into an ill-fated deal with CBS Records and embarked on a tour with American soul singer Johnny Nash. Broke, the Wailers became stranded in London. Marley turned up at Island Records founder and producer Chris Blackwell's London office, and asked him to advance the cost of a new single. Since Jimmy Cliff, Island's top reggae star, had recently left the label, Blackwell was primed for a replacement. In Marley, Blackwell recognized the elements needed to snare the rock audience: "I was dealing with rock music, which was really rebel music. I felt that would really be the way to break Jamaican music. But you needed someone who could be that image. When Bob walked in he really was that image." Blackwell told Marley he wanted The Wailers to record a complete album (essentially unheard of at the time). When Marley told him it would take between £3,000 and £4,000, Blackwell trusted him with the greater sum. Despite their "rude boy" reputation, the Wailers returned to Kingston and honored the deal, delivering the album ''Catch A Fire''.

Primarily recorded on eight-track at Harry J's in Kingston, ''Catch A Fire'' marked the first time a reggae band had access to a state-of-the-art studio and were accorded the same care as their rock'n'roll peers. Blackwell desired to create "more of a drifting, hypnotic-type feel than a reggae rhythm", and restructured Marley's mixes and arrangements. Marley travelled to London to supervise Blackwell's overdubbing of the album, which included tempering the mix from the bass-heavy sound of Jamaican music, and omitting two tracks.

The Wailers' first major label album, ''Catch a Fire'' was released worldwide in April 1973, packaged like a rock record with a unique Zippo lighter lift-top. Initially selling 14,000 units, it didn't make Marley a star, but received a positive critical reception. It was followed later that year by ''Burnin''', which included the standout songs "Get Up, Stand Up", and "I Shot the Sheriff", which appealed to the ear of Eric Clapton. He recorded a cover of the track in 1974 which became a huge American hit, raising Marley's international profile. Many Jamaicans were not keen on the new "improved" reggae sound on ''Catch A Fire'', but the Trenchtown style of ''Burnin''' found fans across both reggae and rock audiences.

During this period, Blackwell gifted his Kingston residence and company headquarters at 56 Hope Road (then known as Island House) to Marley. Housing Tuff Gong Studios, the property became not only Marley's office, but also his home.

The Wailers were scheduled to open 17 shows for the number one black act in the States, Sly and the Family Stone. After 4 shows, the band was fired because they were more popular than the acts they were opening for. The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members pursuing solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Bunny, Peter, and Bob concerning performances, while others claim that Bunny and Peter simply preferred solo work.

1974–1981

Despite the break-up, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, and Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals. In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry", from the ''Natty Dread'' album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, ''Rastaman Vibration'' (1976), which spent four weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. On 3 December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organised by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm. The shooting was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow, which had no radical religious or political beliefs, played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.

Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976, and after a month-long "recovery and writing" sojourn at the site of Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, arrived in England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile. Whilst there he recorded the albums ''Exodus'' and ''Kaya''. ''Exodus'' stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis. In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley (leader of then-ruling People's National Party) and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.

Under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers eleven albums were released, four live albums and seven studio albums. The releases included ''Babylon by Bus'', a double live album with thirteen tracks, were released in 1978 and received critical acclaim. This album, and specifically the final track "Jamming" with the audience in a frenzy, captured the intensity of Marley's live performances.

''Survival'', a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake Up and Live", and "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the 17 April celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day. ''Uprising'' (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions; it includes "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah". ''Confrontation'', released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.

Personal life

Religion

Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became an ardent proponent of Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. He once gave the following response, which was typical, to a question put to him during a recorded interview:

Interviewer: "Can you tell the people what it means being a Rastafarian?"

Bob: "I would say to the people, Be still, and know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is the Almighty. Now, the Bible seh so, Babylon newspaper seh so, and I and I the children seh so. Yunno? So I don't see how much more reveal our people want. Wha' dem want? a white God, well God come black. True true." Observant of the Rastafari practice Ital, a diet that shuns meat, Marley was a vegetarian. According to his biographers, he affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion. He was in the denomination known as "Tribe of Joseph", because he was born in February (each of the twelve sects being composed of members born in a different month). He signified this in his album liner notes, quoting the portion from ''Genesis'' that includes Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph. Marley was baptised by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Kingston, Jamaica, on the 4th of November 1980.

Family

Bob Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women. The Bob Marley official website acknowledges eleven children.

Those listed on the official site are: # Sharon, born 23 November 1964, to Rita in previous relationship # Cedella born 23 August 1967, to Rita # David "Ziggy", born 17 October 1968, to Rita # Stephen, born 20 April 1972, to Rita # Robert "Robbie", born 16 May 1972, to Pat Williams # Rohan, born 19 May 1972, to Janet Hunt # Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen # Stephanie, born 17 August 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter # Julian, born 4 June 1975, to Lucy Pounder # Ky-Mani, born 26 February 1976, to Anita Belnavis # Damian, born 21 July 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare

Makeda was born on 30 May 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death. Meredith Dixon's book lists her as Marley's child, but she is not listed as such on the Bob Marley official website.

Various websites, for example, also list Imani Carole, born 22 May 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website.

Final years and death

In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of one of his toes. Contrary to urban legend, this lesion was not primarily caused by an injury during a football match in that year, but was instead a symptom of the already existing cancer. Marley turned down doctors' advice to have his toe amputated, citing his religious beliefs. Despite his illness, he continued touring and was in the process of scheduling a world tour in 1980. The intention was for Inner Circle to be his opening act on the tour but after their lead singer Jacob Miller died in Jamaica in March 1980 after returning from a scouting mission in Brazil this was no longer mentioned.

The album ''Uprising'' was released in May 1980 (produced by Chris Blackwell), on which "Redemption Song" is particularly considered to be about Marley coming to terms with his mortality. The band completed a major tour of Europe, where they played their biggest concert, to a hundred thousand people in Milan. After the tour Marley went to America, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of the Uprising Tour.

The final concert of Bob Marley's career was held 23 September 1980 at the Stanley Theater (now called The Benedum Center For The Performing Arts) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The audio recording of that concert is now available on CD, vinyl, and digital music services.

Shortly after, Marley's health deteriorated and he became very ill; the cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where he received a controversial type of cancer therapy (Issels treatment) partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks, and other substances. After fighting the cancer without success for eight months, Marley boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica.

While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, Marley's vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, Florida, he was taken to the hospital for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University of Miami Hospital) on the morning of 11 May 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life". Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Gibson Les Paul (some accounts say it was a Fender Stratocaster).

On 21 May 1981, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga delivered the final funeral eulogy to Marley, declaring:

Legacy

In 1999 ''Time'' magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' ''Exodus'' as the greatest album of the 20th century. In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a feature-length documentary about his life, ''Rebel Music'', won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words. A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him. In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn "Bob Marley Boulevard". In 2008, a statue of Marley was inaugurated in Banatski Sokolac, Serbia.

Internationally, Marley’s message also continues to reverberate amongst various indigenous communities. For instance, the Aboriginal people of Australia continue to burn a sacred flame to honor his memory in Sydney’s Victoria Park, while members of the Native American Hopi and Havasupai tribe revere his work. There are also many tributes to Bob Marley throughout India, including restaurants, hotels, and cultural festivals.

Marley has also evolved into a global symbol, which has been endlessly merchandised through a variety of mediums. In light of this, author Dave Thompson in his book ''Reggae and Caribbean Music'', laments what he perceives to be the commercialized pacification of Marley's more militant edge, stating:

Film adaptations

In February 2008, director Martin Scorsese announced his intention to produce a documentary movie on Marley. The film was set to be released on 6 February 2010, on what would have been Marley's 65th birthday. However, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He was replaced by Jonathan Demme, who dropped out due to creative differences with producer Steve Bing during the beginning of editing. Kevin Macdonald replaced Demme and the film, ''Marley'', was released in 2012.

In March 2008, The Weinstein Company announced its plans to produce a biopic of Bob Marley, based on the book ''No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley'' by Rita Marley. Rudy Langlais will produce the script by Lizzie Borden and Rita Marley will be executive producer.

Discography

''The Wailing Wailers'' (1965)

''The Best of The Wailers'' (1970)

''Soul Rebels'' (1970)

''Soul Revolution'' (1971)

''Catch a Fire'' (1973)

''Burnin''' (1973)

''Natty Dread'' (1974)

''Rastaman Vibration'' (1976)

''Exodus'' (1977)

''Kaya'' (1978)

''Survival'' (1979)

''Uprising'' (1980)

''Confrontation'' (1983)

Awards and honors

1976: Band of the Year (''Rolling Stone'').

June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations.

February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honour, the Jamaican Order of Merit.

March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1999: Album of the Century for ''Exodus'' by ''Time Magazine''.

February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

2004: ''Rolling Stone'' ranked him No.11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

"One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC.

Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll. 2006: A blue plaque was unveiled at his first UK residence in Ridgmount Gardens, London, dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty's Foreign Office. 2010: "Catch a Fire" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).

References

Further reading

Farley, Christopher (2007). ''Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley'', Amistad Press ISBN 0060539925

Goldman, Vivien (2006). ''The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the Century'', Aurum Press ISBN 1845132106

Marley, Rita; Jones, Hettie (2004) ''No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley'' Hyperion Books ISBN 0786887559

Masouri, John (2007) ''Wailing Blues: The Story of Bob Marley's "Wailers"'' Wise Publications ISBN 1846096898

External links

The Bob Marley Foundation

Online Home of the Marleys

Bob Marley at ''Rolling Stone''

Marley Elected one of the Greatest Songwriters BBC News, 23 May 2001

Showcase: Bob Marley by James Estrin, ''The New York Times'', 18 May 2009

Interview with Heather Marley in Bob Marley Magazine

Extensive discography

Category:1945 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Anti-apartheid activists Category:Attempted assassination survivors Category:Cancer deaths in Florida Category:Cannabis culture Category:Converts to Christianity Category:Converts to the Rastafari movement Category:Deaths from skin cancer Category:English-language singers Category:Ethiopian Orthodox Christians Category:Former Roman Catholics Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Jamaican expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Jamaican expatriates in the United States Category:Jamaican male singers Category:Jamaican people of English descent Category:Jamaican people of European descent Category:Jamaican people of African descent Category:Jamaican Rastafarians Category:Jamaican reggae singers Category:Jamaican songwriters Category:Jamaican vegetarians B Category:Pan-Africanism Category:Performers of Rastafarian music Category:People from Saint Ann Parish Category:People from Wilmington, Delaware Category:Resonator guitarists Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Shooting survivors Category:The Wailers members

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Office	Sheriff of Maricopa County
Term start	January 1, 1993
Predecessor	Tom Agnos
party	Republican
birth date	June 14, 1932
birth place	Springfield, Massachusetts
birth name	Joseph M. Arpaio
spouse	Ava Arpaio
occupation	Sheriff }}

Joseph M. "Joe" Arpaio (born June 14, 1932) is the elected Sheriff of Maricopa County in the U.S. state of Arizona. First voted into office in 1992, Arpaio is responsible for law enforcement in Maricopa County. This includes management of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, county jail, courtroom security, prisoner transport, service of warrants, and service of process. Arpaio promotes himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff." He is well known for his outspoken stance against illegal immigration. Arpaio has become a flashpoint for controversy surrounding Arizona's SB1070 anti-illegal immigration act.

Arpaio was once widely popular among voters in Arizona. However, his popularity has waned since 2007, but remains positive among registered Republicans.

History and law enforcement background

Arpaio was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Italian parents both from Avellino, Italy.. Arpaio's mother died while giving birth to him, and Arpaio was raised by his father, a grocery store owner. Arpaio completed high school and worked in his father's business until age 18 when he enlisted in the United States Army. Arpaio served in the Army from 1950 to 1954 in the Medical Detachment Division and was stationed in France for part of the time as a military policeman.

Following his discharge in 1954, Arpaio moved to Washington, D.C. and became a police officer, moving in 1957 to Las Vegas, Nevada. He served as a police officer in Las Vegas for six months before being appointed as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which later became part of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). During his 25-year tenure with the DEA, he was stationed in Argentina, Turkey and Mexico, and advanced through the ranks to the position of head of the DEA's Arizona branch.

In 1992, Arpaio successfully campaigned for the office of Maricopa County Sheriff. The voters of Maricopa County re-elected him in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008.

Arpaio married his wife, Ava, in 1958. Together they have two children and four grandchildren. They currently reside in Fountain Hills, Arizona.

Actions as Maricopa County Sheriff

Television

In late 2008 and early 2009 Arpaio appeared in ''Smile...You're Under Arrest!'', a three-episode Fox Reality Channel series in which persons with outstanding warrants were tricked into presenting themselves for arrest.

On June 9, 2011 Sheriff Arpaio was interviewed on Fox News on KSAZ-TV about a song on iTunes titled, "F#@K Sheriff Joe" by Contraband, describing him on his deathbed battling his own mortality.

Jails

Arpaio's practices include serving inmates surplus and spoiled food and limiting meals to twice daily. He has also banned inmates from possessing "sexually explicit material" including ''Playboy'' magazine after female officers complained that inmates openly masturbated while viewing them or harassed the officers by comparing their anatomy to that of the nude models in the publications. The ban was challenged on First Amendment grounds but upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In February 2007, Arpaio instituted an in-house radio station he calls KJOE. Arpaio's radio station broadcasts classical music, opera, Frank Sinatra hits, patriotic music and educational programming. It operates from the basement of the county jail for five days a week, four hours each day.

In an ongoing case, federal judge Neil V. Wake ruled in 2008 and 2010 that the Maricopa County jails violated the constitutional rights of inmates in medical and other care related issues.

Tent City

Arpaio set up a "Tent City" as an extension of the Maricopa County Jail. Arpaio has described Tent City as a concentration camp. Tent City is located in a yard next to a more permanent structure containing toilets, showers, and an area for meals. It has become notable particularly because of Phoenix's extreme temperatures.

On July 2, 2011, when the temperature in Phoenix hit , Arpaio measured the temperature inside Tent City at . Some inmates complained that fans near their beds were not working, and that their shoes were melting from the heat. During the summer of 2003, when outside temperatures exceeded , Arpaio said to complaining inmates, "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents, have to wear full body armor, and they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths." Unlike the Korean War surplus tents used in Tent City, tents housing U.S. Army Soldiers in Iraq are usually air conditioned.

In 1997, Amnesty International published a report on Arpaio's jails which found that Tent City is not an "adequate or humane alternative to housing inmates in suitable . . . jail facilities." Tent City is criticized by groups contending that there are violations of human and constitutional rights. Those critical of Arpaio also point out that the vast majority of inmates within Tent City have not been convicted; rather, they are merely awaiting trial. Arpaio's claim that these inmates committed crimes, they argue, reflects Arpaio's contempt for the American Constitution and the explicit right it grants to a "presumption of innocence."

Volunteer chain gangs

In 1995, Arpaio reinstituted chain gangs. In 1996, Arpaio expanded the chain gang concept by instituting female volunteer chain gangs. Female inmates work seven hours a day (7 a.m. to 2 p.m.), six days a week. He has also instituted the world's first all-juvenile volunteer chain gang; volunteers earn high school credit toward a diploma.

Pink underwear

One of Arpaio's most visible public-relations actions was the introduction of pink underwear, which the Maricopa County Sheriff's website cites as being, "world-famous." Arpaio subsequently started to sell customized pink boxers (with the Maricopa County Sheriff's logo and "Go Joe") as a fund-raiser for Sheriff's Posse Association. Despite allegations of misuse of funds received from these sales, Arpaio declined to provide an accounting for the money.

Arpaio's success in gaining press coverage with the pink underwear resulted in his extending the use of the color. He introduced pink handcuffs, using the event to promote his book, ''Sheriff Joe Arpaio, America's Toughest Sheriff''.

Selective Service registration and organ donors

In 2001, Arpaio was the first sheriff to require all inmates aged 18 and over to register for the Selective Service System. Registration is required by federal law for all U.S. males between 18 and 26 years of age, as well as for resident aliens of the same age, regardless of their immigration status. Since 2001, a total of 28,000 inmates (including 9,000 aliens) have registered for Selective Service.

The Sheriff also started the "Have a Heart" program in which inmates may volunteer to be organ donors.

Sheriff's Posse

Building upon Maricopa County's 50-year-old program, Arpaio expanded the all-volunteer citizen posse through heavy recruiting. The volunteers perform many duties for the sheriff's office:

search and rescue

emergency communications

prisoner transport

traffic control

backup for sworn deputies

office administrative duties

Holiday Mall Patrol (which provides motorist assistance and security for shoppers during the holiday shopping season)

deadbeat parent details targeting men and women with outstanding arrest warrants for failure to pay child support.

Assisting in immigration sweeps.

In November, 2010, Arpaio created an armed illegal immigration operations posse, to help his deputies enforce immigration law. Members of this posse include celebrity actors Steven Seagal, Lou Ferrigno, and Peter Lupus.

Controversies

Arpaio has been a controversial sheriff. Arpaio's practices have been criticized by organizations such as Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Arizona Ecumenical Council, the American Jewish Committee, and the Arizona chapter of the Anti-Defamation League. The editorial board of ''The New York Times'' called Arpaio "America's Worst Sheriff". Controversial issues surrounding Arpaio have included allegations of racial profiling, in which the ACLU has sued the sheriff.

Unconstitutional Jail Conditions

U.S. District Court Judge Neil V. Wake ruled in 2008, and again in 2010, that the Maricopa County jails violated the constitutional rights of inmates in medical and other care related issues. This ruling was a result of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, which alleged that "Arpaio routinely abused pre-trial detainees at Maricopa County Jail by feeding them moldy bread, rotten fruit and other contaminated food, housing them in cells so hot as to endanger their health, denying them care for serious medical and mental health needs and keeping them packed as tightly as sardines in holding cells for days at a time during intake."

In a ruling issued in October, 2010, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Arpaio to follow U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake's 2008 ruling, which required Arpaio to end severe overcrowding and ensure all detainees receive necessary medical and mental health care, be given uninterrupted access to all medications prescribed by correctional medical staff, be given access to exercise and to sinks, toilets, toilet paper and soap and be served food that meets or exceeds the U.S. Department of Agriculture's dietary guidelines.

Department of Justice Civil Rights Lawsuit

Since March, 2009, the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has been investigating Arpaio amid accusations of discrimination and unconstitutional searches and seizures. The investigation has been conducted under the authority of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbids discrimination related to programs that receive federal funds. On July 7, 2009, Arpaio held a press conference, and announced that he would not cooperate with the investigation, either by providing documents, or permitting interviews with personnel. On September 2, 2010, the Department of Justice filed suit against Arpaio, to compel his cooperation with the investigation. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department stated that it was unprecedented for an agency to refuse to cooperate with a Title VI investigation, and that this is the first time the Justice Department has sued to compel access to documents and facilities. The suit was settled in June, 2011, after Arpaio allowed federal officials to interview Sheriff's office employees, and review hundreds of thousands of documents for the investigation.

Abuse of Power

In February 2010 Judge John Leonardo of Pima County Superior Court found that Arpaio "misused the power of his office to target members of the (Board of Supervisors) for criminal investigation."

In 2008 a federal grand jury began an inquiry of Arpaio for abuse of power, in connection with an FBI investigation. Arpaio is being investigated for politically motivated and "bogus" prosecutions, which a former US Attorney called "utterly unacceptable". Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has called Arpaio's "long list" of questionable prosecutions "a reign of terror".

The targets of Arpaio's alleged abuse of power have included or currently include: Phil Gordon, Phoenix Mayor; Dan Saban, Arpaio's 2004 and 2008 opponent for the office of Sheriff of Maricopa County; Terry Goddard, Arizona Attorney General; David Smith, Maricopa County Manager; The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors; Barbara Mundell, Maricopa Superior Court Presiding Judge; Anna Baca, former Maricopa Superior Court Presiding Judge; Gary Donahoe, Maricopa Superior Court Criminal Presiding Judge Daniel Pochoda, ACLU attorney; Sandra Dowling, former Maricopa County School Superintendent; Mike Lacy, Editor, Phoenix New Times.

To date (July 10, 2010) of the above only Sandra Dowling has been successfully prosecuted. Indicted on 25 felony counts, Dowling eventually pled guilty to patronage for giving a summer job to her daughter, a single class 2 misdemeanor which was not among the original counts, although as part of the plea bargain she also agreed to recuse herself from the Maricopa County Regional School District. Dowling has since filed suit, alleging negligence, malicious prosecution, abuse of process and several constitutional violations.

Feud with Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Maricopa Superior Court

Over the two years prior to September, 2010, feuding between Arpaio and former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas on one side, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on the other side cost at least $5.6 million, most of which was paid to private attorneys. Arpaio and Thomas filed several lawsuits against the Board of Supervisors, including a federal civil-racketeering suit against the supervisors, four judges and attorneys who work with the county. Arpaio and Thomas lost every case, either by ruling of the courts, or by dropping the case.

In early 2010, Arpaio and Thomas sought to have a grand jury indict a number of Maricopa County Judges, Maricopa County Supervisors, and employees of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. The grand jury, in an unusual rebuke, ordered the investigation ended. This action has been described as meaning that "...the case is so bad, there's no further evidence that could be brought [to substantiate it]". Legal experts agree this is a rare move. Thomas and a subordinate attorney on his County Attorney staff face a hearing later in 2011 before the Ethics Committee of the Arizona Bar, the result of which could be a number of sanctions up to permanent loss of their law licenses.

In November and December, 2010, lawsuits naming Arpaio were filed by Judge Gary Donahoe, retired Maricopa County Superior Court judges Barbara Mundell, Anna Baca, and Kenneth Fields, County Supervisor Don Stapley, Deputy County Manager Sandi Wilson, and Susan Schuerman, executive assistant to Supervisor Don Stapley. Conley Wolfswinkel (a business associate of Stapley) filed suit in January, 2011. Other targets of Arpaio's investigations, including Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, and Maricopa Deputy County Manager Sandi Wilson have filed notices of claims (the precursor to filing suit) totalling about $56 million dollars.

Election Law Violation

During the month of July 2010, a committee established by Arpaio, the Campaign to Re-Elect Joe Arpaio 2012, funded advertisements critical of Rick Romley, a candidate in the Republican Primary for Maricopa County Attorney and Arizona Attorney General candidate Tom Horne, despite the fact that Arpaio is not currently running for re-election (his term does not expire until the end of 2012).

An order issued on the behalf of the Maricopa Elections Department on August 24, 2010, found that one of the advertisements, a direct mailer, advocated the defeat of Romley, and was an in-kind contribution to Bill Montgomery (Romley's primary election opponent), in violation of Arizona election law. The order stated that the Campaign to Re-Elect Joe Arpaio 2012 will be fined three times the amount of money that was spent on the mailer. In September, 2010, Arpaio's campaign was fined $153,978 in this matter. Montgomery ultimately defeated Romley in the primary election, with Romley stating Arpaio's ads "hurt" his results.

Misuse of funds

An analysis by the Maricopa County Office of Management and Budget, completed in September, 2010, found Arpaio has misspent almost $100 million in taxpayer dollars over the previous 5 years.

The analysis showed that money from a restricted detention fund which could only legally be used to pay for jail items, such as food, detention officers' salaries and equipment, was used to pay employees to patrol Maricopa County. The analysis also showed that many Sheriff's Office employees, whose salaries were paid from the restricted detention fund, were working job assignments different than those recorded in their personnel records. Arpaio's office kept a separate set of personnel books detailing actual work assignments, different than information kept on the county's official human-resources records.

Arpaio used the detention fund to pay for investigations of political rivals, and activities involving his human-smuggling unit.

The analysis also showed a number of inappropriate spending items, including a trip to Alaska where deputies stayed at a fishing resort, and trips to Disneyland.

Separate investigations by The Arizona Republic uncovered widespread abuse of public funds and county policies by Arpaio's office, including high-ranking employees routinely charging expensive meals and stays at luxury hotels on their county credit cards.

The Republic also found that a restricted jail enhancement fund was improperly used to pay for out-of-state training, a staff party at a local amusement park, and a $456,000 bus, which was purchased by Arpaio in violation of county procurement rules.

Munnell Memo

In September, 2010, a 63 page internal memo, written by Maricopa Deputy Chief Frank Munnell, was made public. The memo alleged years of misconduct and mismanagement by Arpaio's second in command and other top MCSO officers, including the use of a public-corruption task force to conduct politically motivated probes into political opponents. The memo alleged that top officials in the MCSO "willfully and intentionally committed criminal acts by attempting to obstruct justice, tamper with witnesses, and destroy evidence." Arpaio forwarded the memo to the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, requesting they conduct an administrative investigation. Former top MCSO staffers have claimed that Arpaio knew of the acts alleged in the Munnell memo, but took no action to stop them. Arpaio has not commented publicly on the allegations.

In October 2010, the US Attorney for Arizona confirmed that the FBI and Department of Justice have received copies of the Munnell memo, and are conducting criminal investigations into its allegations.

Election results

2000 election results

}}

2004 election results

2007 Failed Recall petition

In November 2007 a group calling itself ''Arizonans for the U.S. Constitution and Recall of Joe Arpaio'' filed the paperwork to begin an effort to recall Arpaio and County Prosecutor Andrew P. Thomas from office for allegedly disobeying and violating the United States Constitution and abuse of power. Their petition to get a recall question for the two officials onto the next general election ballot failed when the group was unable to collect the more than 200,000 registered voter signatures required. In a survey taken by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, while the petition was in circulation, nearly three out of four respondents opposed the recall, and 65 percent of the respondents held a positive opinion of Arpaio.

2008 election results

Books

Joe Arpaio and Len Sherman, ''America's Toughest Sheriff: How We Can Win the War Against Crime'', (1996). Summit Publishing Group, ISBN 1-56530-202-8

Joe Arpaio and Len Sherman, ''Joe's Law: America's Toughest Sheriff Takes on Illegal Immigration, Drugs, and Everything Else that Threatens America'', (2008). AMACOM, ISBN 0-8144-0199-6

References

External links

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office

Official Bio

Official Election Website

Local News Coverage of Arpaio from KPHO.com and CBS 5 News (KPHO-TV)

Local News Coverage of Arpaio from azfamily.com and KTVK-3TV

Category:1932 births Category:Arizona sheriffs Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Living people Category:People from Maricopa County, Arizona Category:People from Springfield, Massachusetts Category:American anti–illegal immigration activists

ca:Joe Arpaio de:Joe Arpaio es:Joe Arpaio fr:Joe Arpaio nl:Joe Arpaio

{{infobox person| name	Jerome Corsi
birth name	Jerome Robert Corsi
birth date	August 31, 1946
birth place	East Cleveland, Ohio
residence	New Jersey
known for	Co-author of ''Unfit for Command'', author of ''The Obama Nation''
education	BA Case Western Reserve, magna cum laudePhD Harvard
occupation	Writer
party	Constitution Party
religion	Roman Catholic
spouse	Monica CorsiJoy Dugan
children	Alexis Corsi, daughter
parents	Louis E. CorsiAlice Hanlon Corsi
footnotes	}}

Jerome Robert Corsi (born August 31, 1946) is an American author, political commentator and conspiracy theorist best-known for his two ''New York Times'' bestselling books: ''The Obama Nation'' and ''Unfit for Command'' (with co-author John O'Neill). Both books, the former written in 2008 and the latter in 2004, attacked Democratic presidential candidates and were criticized for including numerous inaccuracies.

In other books and columns for conservative websites such as WorldNetDaily and Human Events, Corsi has discussed topics that are considered conspiracy theories in some circles, such as the alleged plans for a North American Government, the theory that President Barack Obama is not an American citizen; criticism of the United States government for allegedly covering up information about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, promoting the Abiogenic hypothesis of the origin of oil (arguing that oil is produced from chemical reactions in the Earth, in contrast to the general consensus of the scientific community that oil is produced from organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae), and alleged United States support of Iran in its attempts to develop nuclear weapons.

Early life

Jerome Corsi was born in East Cleveland, Ohio, to Louis E. Corsi, a union public relations director, and Alice Corsi, née Hanlon. He married Joy Dugan on May 8, 1970. The marriage ended in divorce. He married Monica Corsi in 1991.

He graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1964. He earned a B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in 1968, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University in 1972.

Career

In 1972 Corsi researched the political protests around the 1972 Democratic and Republican National Conventions in Miami Beach, and the involvement of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. His research was then published by the Lemberg Center for the Study of Violence (Brandeis University, 1974).

Corsi went into banking and finance in 1981. In 1995 Corsi helped launch a mutual fund to invest in formerly Communist Poland after the fall of the Soviet Union, which eventually lost $1.2 million, much of it from a group of about 20 Minnesota investors. Some of the investors blamed the organizers, including Corsi, for their investment in the former Communist country. Two investors sued Corsi and his partners on the basis that the organizers had given their personal guarantee backing up the investment, and won judgments against them. They did not collect from Corsi because, as one investor claimed, the money "had been moved into his wife's name ... There was nothing to get out of him." The FBI found no basis for bringing criminal charges. Until his 2004 book, Corsi was a financial services marketing specialist.

In January 2005, Corsi told the ''Boston Herald'' that he planned to bid for John Kerry's Senate seat in Massachusetts in 2008 as a Republican or Independent candidate. He later said his wife had "vetoed" this plan. Then Corsi stated "Howard Phillips of the Constitution Party asked me to consider seriously running for president in 2008 and I am doing so." He then agreed to be nominated at the Constitution Party National Convention, but he dropped out in July 2007.

Writings and conspiracy theories

Corsi has written about a variety of subjects, including Democratic politicians and conspiracy theories. According to ''The Guardian'', Corsi — who is Catholic — has been accused by the American press "of being anti-Islamic, anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic and homophobic, and of exploiting racial prejudices in an attempt to 'scare white America'." In 2004, Corsi wrote a critical biography of then Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry called ''Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry''. In 2005 he published ''Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians'', which claimed Democratic politicians are corrupted by Iranian money and are helping the Ulemas, who seek nuclear weapons, in Tehran. That same year he co-authored ''Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil'' (2005) with Craig R. Smith.

In 2006, he co-authored ''Showdown with Nuclear Iran: Radical Islam's Messianic Mission to Destroy Israel and Cripple the United States'' with Michael D. Evans. In August 2006 he published ''Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders'' with Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist. This book criticized President George W. Bush's border protection policies, accusing him of furthering plans to create a North American Union. In May 2006, Corsi co-wrote the book ''Rebuilding America'' with Kenneth Blackwell, then Ohio secretary of state and a Republican candidate for Governor of Ohio.

In March 2008 Corsi reported in WorldNetDaily that a "Muslim terrorist group with ties to criminal drug networks and al-Qaida" has given "strong support" to John McCain.

In 2007 Corsi wrote that he himself is not a Republican and complained that "the Republican Party is controlled by what used to be called the 'Rockefeller Wing'." In addition, Corsi called for the impeachment of George W. Bush." On August 15th, 2008, Corsi endorsed Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin, who had campaigned to reopen the investigation into the September 11, 2001 attacks in support of the 9/11 Truth Movement.

Corsi has also referred to Martin Luther King, Jr. as a "shakedown artist".

Factcheck.org called Corsi's ''The Obama Nation'' "a mishmash of unsupported conjecture, half-truths, logical fallacies and outright falsehoods." Obama's campaign has criticized Corsi as a "bigoted fringe author" for these claims, as well as "the bizarre, conspiratorial views that Jerome Corsi has advocated in his broader work." Corsi has also appeared on ''INN World Report'', a news program on Free Speech TV, to advance his claims.

''Unfit for Command''

In August 2004, Corsi's ''Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry'', with attributed coauthor John O'Neill, was published by Regnery Publishing. The book sold more than 1.2 million copies.

The main theme of Corsi's portion of the book was to criticize Kerry's antiwar activities after returning from Vietnam, and to dispute many of his and other antiwar activists' assertions that U.S. soldiers had committed war crimes and atrocities, burned down villages, and murdered innocent civilians in Vietnam. Kerry gained notoriety, the book argues, by bringing to light such horrific events as the My Lai Massacre, thus damaging the image of the U.S. Military in the Winter Soldier hearings.

The other theme of the book was that Kerry's four month tour in Vietnam had been marked by cowardice under fire and fraudulently obtaining medals. In that regard, the book contained statements by some veterans of the Vietnam War who served with John Kerry on Swift Boats, several of whom executed affidavits in support of their claims; these claims were repudiated by other veterans who served with Kerry and often were disproven by outside sources, including the Navy's official records.

After controversial comments Corsi had made at the ''Free Republic'' website were publicized by the Media Matters for America website, John O'Neill claimed that Corsi was not actually a co-author of the book ''Unfit for Command'', but rather was "simply an editor." Nevertheless, O'Neill described Corsi as the book's "coauthor" in a 2007 letter to the ''New York Times''. Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler describe Corsi's efforts in writing the book, referring to him as one of its "authors," in their book ''To Set the Record Straight''.

In 2007 Corsi, along with Bill Gertz, Lt. Col. Robert (Buzz) Patterson, Joel Mowbray and Richard Miniter, sued Regnery's parent company, Eagle Publishing, claiming the company "orchestrate[d] and participate[d] in a fraudulent, deceptively concealed and self-dealing scheme to divert book sales away from retail outlets and to wholly owned subsidiary organizations within the Eagle conglomerate." The suit was dismissed on June 30, 2008

''The Obama Nation''

Corsi's book ''The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality'' was released on August 1, 2008, and is critical of Barack Obama and his candidacy for President. In response, the Obama campaign issued a 40 page rebuttal called "''Unfit for Publication''" on his website FightTheSmears.com, alleging factual errors. Corsi proclaimed the Obama report a confession that the most serious charges against Obama were true, because (he said) the campaign report cited minor issues, responded to charges different from those that Corsi had made, and implicitly confirmed many of Corsi's allegations.

According to various American news sources, many of the accusations made in the book are unsubstantiated, misleading or inaccurate.

According to ''The New York Times'', "Significant parts of the book, whose subtitle is 'Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality,' have been challenged in the days since its debut on Aug. 1." The book made its first appearance on ''The Times''' best-sellers list for nonfiction hardcovers at No. 1. Corsi conducted over 100 interviews promoting the book, including a scheduled appearance on ''The Political Cesspool'', a white supremacist radio talk show. He previously appeared on the show on July 20, but he canceled his August 17 appearance because of a change in "travel plans". In August 2008, Corsi appeared on Alex Jones' radio show and promoted ''The Obama Nation''.

Paul Waldman criticized ''The Obama Nation'' as "filled with falsehoods." In a debate with Corsi on ''Larry King Live'', Waldman accused him of using baseless innuendo as a tactic to 'smear' Obama.

On October 7, 2008, Corsi and his media consultant Tim Bueler were detained by immigration authorities in Kenya while doing further research related to the book, allegedly for failure to have a work permit. Corsi had scheduled a press conference to announce new research proving that Obama had raised a million dollars for the election campaign of Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga, and had helped run Odinga's campaign as a strategist, including setting the stage for the campaign of violence and bloodshed that had brought Odinga to power after a disputed election. The meeting was interrupted by Kenyan immigration officials when they detained Corsi. Corsi was eventually deported.

''Black Gold Stranglehold''

Corsi has also promoted the concept of abiotic oil production (as opposed to the theory for formation of petroleum from biological matter); the idea that oil is naturally produced underground through chemical processes under extreme heat and pressure, rather than by the conversion of biological material. In his book ''Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil'', Corsi questions the "truism that oil is fossil fuel." As oil wells have drilled ever deeper, and discovered oil at 30,000 feet beneath the surface (5½ miles) it becomes clear, Corsi argues, that no dinosaur remains were buried 30,000 feet under ground. Corsi argues that oil men have long noticed that oil wells pumped dry sometimes "refill" with oil, suggesting a much deeper source for the oil, rising up under pressure to refill oil wells. Meanwhile, scientists have detected the presence of "fossil fuels" or hydrocarbons on Saturn's moon Titan. Furthermore, Corsi, argues, science has never put forward a satisfactory explanation for how a dinosaur can turn into oil.

Corsi suggests that the world buys into scientific views of petroleum formation because it would be "disastrous — both to oil companies and to politicians in office" in terms of pricing to admit that oil is not a scarce commodity. The abiotic oil theory is in conflict with scientific consensus.

On the inside flap of the book:

Jerome R. Corsi and Craig R. Smith expose the fraudulent science that has been sold to the American people in order to enslave them — the belief that oil is a fossil fuel and a finite resource. On the contrary, this book presents authoritative research, currently known mostly in the scientific community, that oil is not a product of decaying dinosaurs and prehistoric forests. Rather, it is a natural product of the Earth. The scientific evidence cited by Corsi and Smith suggests that oil is constantly being produced by the Earth, far below the planet's surface, and that it is brought to attainable depths by the centrifugal forces of the Earth's rotation.

''Atomic Iran''

In 2005 Corsi's ''Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians'' was published by WND Books with an introduction by Craig R. Smith. In the book he claims Democratic politicians are corrupted by Iranian money and are helping the mullahs, who seek nuclear weapons, in Tehran. Corsi accused an aide for John Kerry of helping the mullahs, who strongly rejected the claim. To promote the book, Corsi appeared in conservative venues such as on ''Hannity & Colmes'' on April 8, 2005, at the Heritage Foundation, and on WEJEW Radio.

On the topic in April 2005, Corsi wrote "An atomic Iran is imminent ... mullahs may have bomb by June." One year after the publication, Corsi wrote in his WorldNetDaily column, "I told you so", and claimed his book was right about failed talks. The book was taken as highly controversial, generating opposing views.

''Where's the Birth Certificate?''

Corsi wrote ''Where's the Birth Certificate?'', a book that questions Obama's American citizenship. Prior to its May 2011 release, the book enjoyed a buzz-building teaser article in the heavily-trafficked Drudge Report website, but Obama released his long-form birth certificate three weeks before the book was published. Shortly after the book's publication, ''Esquire'' issued a satirical report that the book had been recalled, which prompted Corsi to sue ''Esquire'' for damages of over $285 million.

North American Union conspiracy theories

Corsi claims that "President Bush is pursuing a globalist agenda to create a North American Union" a theoretical continental union of Canada, Mexico and the United States, that will supplant the United States. In 2007 he predicted an amero currency to replace dollar for this union will happen within 10 years. The "Union" is a theme in two of his books ''The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger With Mexico and Canada'' (2007) and ''Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders'' (2006) as he explained on The Conservative Caucus's TV show. On December 15, 2006 Corsi reported for the first time he "had found a major intellectual leader behind the push to integrate North America suggesting that a crisis of 9-11 proportions might be just what was needed to advance the process toward establishing a North American Union and the amero."

In 2007 he claimed a North American Union driver's license was created and that the U.S. State Department was in talks to "move toward a transatlantic union." That same year he claimed, "Virgil Goode, R-Va., has introduced a House of Representatives resolution expressing congressional opposition to construction of a NAFTA Super Highway System or entry into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada." The validity of those claims was criticized in ''Newsweek'' and the author noted: "Corsi offered a warning: President Bush's supposed determination to force North American integration, he told the audience, could cost the GOP the 2008 presidential election. Corsi may have a conspiratorial bent. But he sure knows how to spin stories that shake up an election — and at least one candidate seems happy to help him."

John Hawkins, a fellow writer for ''Human Events'', responded: "Yesterday, Jerome Corsi was prattling on about the North American Union again after Michael Medved deservedly spanked him for spreading conspiracy theories. While I don't think Corsi is any more worthy of being taken seriously than those who think Jews rule the world or the 'Truthers' who think President Bush is responsible for 9/11, I thought I would respond to him one last time." Michael Medved, a conservative writer, listed Corsi as number three on his list of "The Most Annoying People on the Right", and wrote: "Nobody has worked harder to convince people that the completely moronic North American conspiracy theory is real than the right's version of Dylan Avery, kooky Jerome Corsi." Additionally, conservative Hugh Hewitt said Corsi is "from the fringe."

In October 2009, his book ''America for Sale: Fighting the New World Order, Surviving a Global Depression, and Preserving USA Sovereignty'' was published, which alleges "the globalists' plan to put America on the sale block, from financial services firms to public infrastructure such as highways and airports." To promote the book, he appeared on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News and then discussed the issue on ''Coast to Coast'' with George Noory.

9/11 conspiracy theory

According to Corsi, "A video clip widely circulated on the Internet shows a test that pulverized an F-4 fighter on impact with a hardened target, providing evidence to answer 9/11 skeptics who question why so little identifiable airplane debris remained after the hijacked American Airlines Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon." Audio]and a Youtube video has been circulated, especially among those questioning Corsi's credibility, of Corsi's January 29, 2008 interview on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' radio show. In the interview Corsi discusses "the findings of Steven Jones, physicist and hero of the '9/11 Truth' movement who claims to have evidence that the World Trade Center towers collapsed due to explosives inside the building, not just the planes hitting them, during the attacks." Corsi cites Jones' findings of microscopic forensic evidence which seemingly negates the U.S. government hypothesis that the aircraft's jet fuel fired heat, alone, was sufficiently hot enough to collapse the steel superstructure of the buildings.

Accusation of plagiarism

Conservative author and pundit Debbie Schlussel has accused Corsi of plagiarizing elements from columns that she has published, and subsequently posting them under his byline in his ''WorldNetDaily'' column.

Selected works

Lewis, Ralph G. and Jerome R. Corsi. ''To Make the World Safe for Picnics: The 1972 Political Conventions in Miami Beach''. 1974

O'Neill, John E. and Jerome R. Corsi. ''Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry''. Regnery Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-89526-017-4.

Blackwell, Kenneth and Jerome R. Corsi. ''Rebuilding America: A Prescription for Creating Strong Families, Building the Wealth of Working People, and Ending Welfare''. WND Books, 2006. ISBN 1581825013

Corsi, Jerome R. ''The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger With Mexico and Canada''. WND Books, 2007, ISBN 0979045142.

See also

Swiftboating

William Estabrook Chancellor

Francis Alphonse Capell

References

Further reading

Swett, Scott and Tim Ziegler, ''To Set The Record Straight: How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry'', New American Media Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-0-9799841-5-0

External links

Column archive at ''WorldNetDaily''

Column archive at ''Human Events''

Jerome Corsi on The Dangers of the "North American Union" from The Conservative Caucus

Unfit For Publication: An Investigative Report On The Lies In Jerome Corsi's "Obama Nation" – Obama for America official response

*Unfit for Publication from Obama for America

Video discussion/debate with Jane Hamsher on Bloggingheads.tv

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:American political pundits Category:American political writers Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Case Western Reserve University alumni Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio Category:Human Events people Category:Constitution Party (United States) politicians

name	Bill Black
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	William Patton Black, Jr.
born	September 17, 1926Memphis, Tennessee, USA
died	October 21, 1965Memphis, Tennessee, USA
genre	Rock and roll
associated acts	Elvis PresleyThe Blue Moon BoysBill Black's Combo
occupation	Bassist
years active	1954-65
label	Sun (Presley), Hi, UK Felsted, London (Combo)
instrument	Double bassFender Precision Bass }}

William Patton "Bill" Black, Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician who is noted as one of the pioneers of rockabilly music. Black was the bassist in Elvis Presley's early trio and the leader of Bill Black's Combo.

Early life

Black was born in 1926 in Memphis, Tennessee, the oldest of nine children of a motorman for the Memphis Street Railway. His father played popular songs on the banjo and fiddle to entertain the family. Black learned to play music at the age of 14 on an instrument made by his father—a cigar box with a board nailed to it and strings attached. At the age of sixteen, Black was performing "honky-tonk" music on acoustic guitar in local bars.

During World War II, Black was stationed with the U.S. Army at Fort Lee in Virginia. While in the Army, he met Evelyn, who played guitar as the member of a musical family. They married in 1946 and returned to Memphis. Black worked at the Firestone plant.

Career

Black began playing the upright bass fiddle. He modeled his "slap bass" technique after one of his idols, Fred Maddox of Maddox Brothers and Rose. Black also developed a "stage clown" persona in the same way that Maddox entertained audiences. Black performed as an exaggerated hillbilly with blacked-out teeth, straw hat and overalls. According to his son, Black said his goal was always to give his audience "a few moments of entertainment and maybe a little bit of humor that'll tickle 'em for a while."

In 1952, Black began playing club and radio shows with guitarist Scotty Moore. Along with two other guitarists and a fiddler, they performed country music tunes by Hank Williams and Red Foley in Doug Poindexter's band, the Starlight Wranglers. Black and Moore also played in a band with Paul Burlison, Johnny Burnette, Dorsey Burnette on steel guitar, and a drummer.

In 1954, Black and Moore were formed into a trio with Elvis Presley.

The Blue Moon Boys

In July 1954, Sam Phillips of Sun Records asked Black and Moore to play back-up for the as-yet-unknown Elvis Presley. Black played slap bass with guitarist Scotty Moore, while Elvis Presley played rhythm guitar and sang lead. Neither musician was overly impressed with Presley, but they agreed a studio session would be useful to explore his potential.

On July 5, 1954, the trio met at Sun studios to rehearse and record a handful of songs. According to Moore, the first song they recorded was "I Love You Because", but after a few country music songs that weren't impressive they decided to take a break. During the break, Presley began "acting the fool" with Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right (Mama)", a blues song. When the other two musicians joined in, Phillips taped the song. The upbeat sound was original. Black remarked, "Damn. Get that on the radio and they'll run us out of town."

The group recorded four songs during that session, including bluegrass musician Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky", which he had written and recorded as a slow waltz. Sources credit Bill Black with initiating the song, with Presley and Moore joining in. Moore said, "Bill is the one who came up with "Blue Moon of Kentucky."...We're taking a little break and he starts beating on the bass and singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky," mocking Bill Monroe, singing the high falsetto voice. Elvis joins in with him, starts playing and singing along with him..." They ended up with a fast version of the song in 4/4 time. After an early take, Phillips can be heard on tape saying: "Fine, man. Hell, that's different—that's a pop song now, just about."

Phillips took several acetates of the session to DJ Dewey Phillips (no relation) of Memphis radio station WHBQ's ''Red, Hot And Blue'' show. From August 18 through December 8, "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was consistently higher on the charts, and then both sides began to chart across the South.

Black and Moore became Presley's back-up group, earning 25% of his takings. Moore and Black left the Starlight Wranglers after the success of "That's All Right", jealousy within the group forcing them to split. Their recordings at Sun were released with the credits as "Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill". The group was later billed as "Elvis Presley and the Blue Moon Boys".

Over the next 15 months, the trio released five singles, toured across the South, and appeared regularly on the ''Louisiana Hayride''. They had originally auditioned for the Opry in October 1954, but they failed to impress the people in charge, or the audience, and were not invited back.

In 1955, Black went to RCA along with Presley and Moore when Presley's contract was sold to that company. Except for the RCA reissue of "Mystery Train" and "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" ('with Scotty and Bill'), they were no longer credited on record labels.

Black played on early Presley recordings including "Good Rockin' Tonight", "Heartbreak Hotel", "Baby Let's Play House", "Mystery Train", "That's All Right", and "Hound Dog", and eventually became one of the first bass players to use the Fender Precision Bass (bass guitar) in popular music, on "Jailhouse Rock" in the late 1950s.

Black, Moore and drummer D. J. Fontana toured extensively during Presley's early career. Black continued his on-stage "clown" persona and developed comedy routines with Presley. Black's on-stage personality was a sharp contrast to the introverted stage presence of Moore. The balance fit the group's performances.

According to Black's son Louis, Moore said, "Elvis used to just stand up there and not move, and Bill would jump around on the bass. Your daddy would come down through there and get everybody to laughing and loosen them up." Fontana called Black the mainstay of the band in the early days. "He was a comedian who could warm up a crowd. That was necessary for us because we played for a lot of country crowds that weren't used to people jumping up and down on stage."

Although both the crowd and Presley enjoyed Black's clowning, Presley's manager Colonel Parker declared that there be no more showing up Elvis. Gordon Stoker told Black, "Hey, man, you've got to cut this out. You're not the star. Elvis is the star." Black and Moore left Presley on September 21, 1957. Although Black continued to record with Presley until 1958, he and Moore discontinued the band because of poor wages.

Bill Black's Combo

In 1959 Black joined a group of musicians which became Bill Black's Combo. The lineup was Black (bass), Joe Lewis Hall (piano), Reggie Young (guitar), Martin Wills (saxophone), and Jerry Arnold (drums). There were several personnel changes. While Young was in the army, his position was filled by Hank Hankins, Chips Moman and Tommy Cogbill. Ace Cannon replaced Wills on sax. Carl McVoy replaced Hall in the studio, while Bobby Emmons replaced him on tour.

The band released blues instrumental ''Smokie'' for Hi Records in December 1959. ''Smokie, Part 2'' became a #17 pop hit, and made number one on the "black" music charts. The song made the Top 20 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. A follow-up release, ''White Silver Sands'' (Hi 2021), was a Top 10 hit (#9) and, like its predecessor, topped the R&B; charts for four weeks.

Eight of the recordings by Bill Black's Combo placed in the Top 40 between 1959 and 1962. These were "White Silver Sands" (U.S. #9), "Josephine" (U.S. #18), "Don't Be Cruel" (U.S. #11), "Blue Tango" (U.S. #16), and "Hearts of Stone" (U.S. #20). Advertised as "Terrific for Dancing" their ''Saxy Jazz'' spent a record whole year in the top 100.

The Combo appeared in the 1961 film ''The Teenage Millionaire'' and on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', where they performed a medley of "Don't Be Cruel," "Cherry Pink," and "Hearts of Stone", and were voted Billboard's number one instrumental group of 1961.

Albums with themes included ''Bill Black's Combo Plays Tunes by Chuck Berry'', ''Bill Black's Combo Goes Big Band'', ''Bill Black's Combo Goes West'', and ''Bill Black's Combo Plays the Blues''. The Combo's sound of danceable blues became a popular accompaniment for striptease dancers. Another unique characteristics of the Combo was Reggie Young thwacking on the guitar with a pencil.

Lyn Lou Studio

In 1962, Bill Black opened a recording studio called "Lyn Lou Studio" (named for his son and daughter) on Chelsa Street in Memphis, Tennessee, with Larry Rogers (Studio 19, Nashville) as his engineer and producer. Johnny Black, Bill's brother and also upright bass player, who knew Elvis at Lauderdale Courts before Bill, recalls visiting Bill at the studio and reported that Bill would be totally absorbed mixing and playing back tracks. The studio featured a 1958 Ampex 351 mono tape recorder retired from Sun Studios in 1960, basically just like the one Bill recorded on with Elvis in 1954. Sam Phillips replaced the 2 original Ampex 350's with 2 new Ampex 351's in 1958. Bob Tucker and Larry Rogers would purchase Lyn Lou Studios after Bill Black's death in 1965. The studio would record many Bill Black Combo albums (now billed as "The Best Honky Tonk Band in America" as well as "The band who opened for the Beatles"), and produce number-one country hits for Charly McClain, T.G. Shepard, Billy Swan and others. The house band for these sessions would be the Shylo Band, featuring guitarist/songwriter Ronnie Scaife, nephew of Cecil Scaife, famed Sun Studio engineer.

Early in 1963, Black sent from two to five different versions of the Combo to different regions of the country at the same time, while staying off the road himself, wanting to concentrate on his business, family and his health.

Ill health and death

In 1963, Bob Tucker joined the Bill Black Combo as a road manager and guitar/bass player.

Black himself had been ill for the past year and a half and unable to travel. Nonetheless, he insisted that the band continue without him. The Bill Black Combo created musical history in 1964 when they became the opening act for the Beatles (at their request) on their historical 13-city tour of America after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Black himself was not well enough to make the tour.

After two operations and lengthy hospital stays, Black died of a brain tumor on October 21, 1965, at the age of thirty-nine. Black died during his third operation that doctors had hoped would eradicate the tumor once and for all. Black was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee. Presley received criticism for not attending his funeral; however, he believed that his presence would turn the funeral into a media frenzy. He decided instead to visit the family privately after the service to express his condolences. According to Louis Black, Presley said, "If there's anything that y'all need, you just let me know and it's yours."

Black's widow sold Bob Tucker and Larry Rogers both the right to use the name Bill Black's Combo. The band changed to country when it joined Columbia Records, and won Billboard's Country Instrumental Group of the Year award in 1976.

Legacy

Bill Black's Combo cut more than 20 albums, toured the United States and Europe and won awards as the best instrumental group in America in 1966 and 1967. Bob Tucker worked for the University of Memphis as Professor of Music Business as well as being leader of the Best Honky Tonk Band in America.

Black's stand-up bass is today owned by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, who received the instrument as a birthday present from his late wife Linda McCartney in the late 1970s. The bass can be seen in the video clip to McCartney's song "Baby's Request". In the documentary film ''The World Tonight'', McCartney can be seen playing the bass and singing his version of "Heartbreak Hotel". In 1995, he played it on "Real Love", the last "new" Beatles record (one of two in which McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr overdubbed a full arrangement onto a John Lennon home recording from the late 1970s). In 2005, Clay Steakley portrayed Black in the Elvis Presley biopic miniseries ''Elvis''.

On April 4, 2009, Bill Black was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

See also

List of bass guitarists

List of Precision Bass players

List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard R&B; chart

List of notable brain tumor patients

References

External links

Rockabilly Hall of Fame

MSN Entertainment

AllMusic Guide

Blackie - Bill Black & Elvis

Category:1926 births Category:1965 deaths Category:American double-bassists Category:American rock double-bassists Category:American rock bass guitarists Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee Category:Rockabilly musicians Category:Sun Records artists Category:Hi Records artists

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