Do you know who Revetta Sloan is? If not, you should. Revetta Sloan is the spouse of an American music industry executive and the co-founder of Chess Records, Leonard Chess. Leonard Chess was influential in developing electric blues, Chicago blues, and rock and roll. This blog post will learn more about her life and career. We will also discuss the lessons that she has learned along the way. If you want motivation, you need to read this blog post!
Early Life of Revetta Sloan
Revetta Sloan was born in the year 1919 in Illinois, American nationality. The exact date and minimum wage of her birth are not specific. Revetta s parents were Ben Sloan and Ida Sloan. She had one brother Burt Saul Sloan. Revetta and her family were Jews.
Married to Leonard Chess, who was also Jewish; Revetta and Leonard had three children: Marshall Chess, daughter Pam Chess, and their son Kevin Chess.
On October 16, 1969, a few weeks after he sold his namesake clothing brand to General Recorded Tape, Revetta’sRevetta’s husband Leonard Chess died from a heart attack.
Revetta Sloan was left to raise their three children on her own. She did an admirable job, considering the circumstances. All three of her children had successful careers in the music industry.
Marshall Chess co-founded Rolling Stones Records with his father’s business partner Phil Spector. Pam Chess is a successful music executive who has worked with artists such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Prince. Kevin Chess is a Grammy-winning producer whose credits include Whitney Houston and Usher albums.
Despite the success of her children, Revetta Sloan has had to struggle financially in recent years. In 2012, she was evicted from her home for nearly 50 years. She was forced to move into a senior citizen’s apartment complex.
Revetta married again in 1983, age 64, to Abner Bernard Spector. Revetta died in 1983, at age 64, in California, United States.
Revetta Sloan’sSloan’s Husband Leonard Chess
In 1938, the husband and wife duo of Revetta Sloan and Leonard, who had been active in the South Side jazz club scene, opened a string of jazz clubs, culminating in the Macomba Lounge. Leonard became associated with Aristocrat Records in 1947, gradually increasing his stake in the company until he and his brother-in-law had total control. The Chess Brothers, who alongside Muddy Waters introduced blues music, steered the business away from other genres, including black pop, jazz, and folk music.
The initial releases on the official Chess Records label included Gene Ammons’sAmmons’s My Foolish Heart, Muddy Waters’Waters’ Rollin’Rollin’ Stone, and Jimmy Rogers’sRogers’s That’sThat’s All Right. Leonard Chess played bass drum on guitar for one of Muddy Waters’s sessions in 1951.
Revetta Sloan’sSloan’s husband approached Sun Records founder Sam Phillips to locate new musicians from the south. Phillips directed arrangements to Chess from Bill Haley and the Comets, Skip James, and Howlin’Howlin’ Wolf, among others. Pianist Howlin Wolf was particularly renowned, and Chess Records had to fight for him against numerous other labels that also had obtained Wolf recordings from Phillips. Other notable performers, such as Bo Diddley and Sonny Boy Williamson, signed to Chess Records, while Willie Dixon and Robert Lockwood Jr. played critical roles behind the scenes.
Chess Records Records grew in the 1950s with the chart-topping singles of artists like Little Walter, The Moonglows, the Flamingos, and Chuck Berry, and in the 1960s with singles by artists like Etta James, Fontella Bass, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, and Laura Lee, as well as the subsidiary labels Checker, Argo, and Cadet.
Net Worth of Revetta Sloan
Revetta Sloan’sSloan’s net worth is currently unknown. However, her husband, Leonard Chess, had a net worth of $50 million at the time of his death in 1969. In 2012, Revetta was evicted from her home of nearly 50 years and was forced to move into a senior citizen’s apartment complex.