Tish Bailey, the uncredited vocalist on the iconic house track ‘Freak Like Me’ by the late DJ Deeon, is the subject of a GoFundMe campaign launched by Berlin DJ Sarah Farina. The campaign aims to support Bailey, who is now aged 54, after all these years of being uncredited and uncompensated for her contributions to Chicago house music.
Sarah Farina, who plays the classic track in almost all her sets, decided to launch the campaign after discovering that Bailey had sung the song at DJ Funk’s studio when she was 19 years old, the song was then recorded without her knowing it would be used in the final mix.
The track ‘Freak Like Me’ has become a staple of DJ sets and synonymous with the Chicago house genre. It has also been sampled and remixed many times. Nevertheless, Bailey reported she still hasn’t received any credit or financial compensation for her art.
This situation is not uncommon in the music industry where black women vocalists have been exploited. Despite this, their contributions to the growth and development of house music have been invaluable. The GoFundMe page aims to redress this balance by offering Tish Bailey the recognition she deserves and to raise awareness about the exploitation of black women in the music industry.
Thanks to initiatives such as this, there is hope that more attention will be paid to the contributions of artists who have been marginalized and exploited by the industry, and to ensure that their names are remembered and their stories are told
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