Essra Mohawk

Essra Mohawk built an extensive career as a performing songwriter and recording artist whose path intersected with many prominent names across popular music. Beyond issuing multiple solo albums that drew strong critical notice, she joined forces with Al Jarreau, Bonnie Bramlett, Al Stewart, Narada Michael Walden, and Keb' Mo', supplied backing vocals for John Mellencamp, Jerry Garcia, and Kool & the Gang, and penned material for Cyndi Lauper and Tina Turner. Her first single, "The Boy with the Way" b/w "Memory of Your Voice," came out on Liberty Records in 1964 under the name Jamie Carter. Although she turned down repeated staff-writing offers, the Shangri-Las and Vanilla Fudge began recording her compositions.

Mohawk crossed paths with Frank Zappa in 1967 and soon entered the Mothers of Invention, where she adopted the stage name Uncle Meat despite her reluctance. Zappa placed her on his Bizarre label, a Verve subsidiary, resulting in the quick release of Sandy's Album Is Here at Last!, the sole album issued under her birth name Sandra Elayne Hurvitz. During that stretch a studio receptionist friend started calling her "Essie," a nickname that soon became "Essra." In 1969 she married Frazier Mohawk, producer of her second album and a contributor to Nico's The Marble Index; their collaboration produced Primordial Lovers, which Rolling Stone magazine ranked among the 25 best albums ever made. The record received little promotion and failed to chart, yet it slowly built a loyal audience over subsequent decades.

Renewed attention arrived in the mid-'70s after her vocals appeared on Schoolhouse Rock, the widely viewed educational cartoon series, specifically on "Interjections," "Sufferin' 'til Suffrage," and "Mother Necessity." Mohawk signed with Elektra/Asylum in 1974 and released Essra Mohawk, an album that might have secured her place among leading singer-songwriters but suffered from inadequate publicity and distribution despite favorable reviews. Two years later her fourth album, Essra, met the same limited response on Private Stock. Even so, her standing among musicians led to background vocal work with the Jerry Garcia Band from 1980 to 1982, after she narrowly missed joining Jefferson Starship when Grace Slick departed in 1978.

Further solo efforts Burnin' Shinin' and E-Turn drew modest notice, yet 1986 brought major success when Cyndi Lauper reached number three on the Billboard chart with Mohawk's "Change of Heart" from the platinum-certified True Colors. Later that decade Tina Turner recorded the Mohawk-penned "Stronger Than the Wind." After ABC Video issued Schoolhouse Rock episodes on video in the '90s, the performers, under music director Bob Dorough, began live shows. In 1998 Rhino released Schoolhouse Rocks the Vote!, on which Essra sang, wrote, and produced "Do You Wanna Party," addressing U.S. political parties.

Following her move to Nashville, Mohawk recorded Raindance and Essie Mae Hawk Meets the Killer Groove Band, while earlier material began appearing on CD starting in 2000. Rhino Handmade reissued Primordial Lovers in an expanded edition that included non-LP singles and the complete Asylum follow-up. Within a few years additional titles, among them 1976's Essra, surfaced as Japanese mini-LP CDs, and E-Turn also received a CD release. A productive period yielded You're Not Alone, Love Is Still the Answer, and the career-spanning rarities collection Revelations of the Secret Diva. She maintained television ties by contributing songs to the soundtracks of CBS series Joan of Arcadia and All My Children. Essra Mohawk died on December 11, 2023, at the age of 75.