( CNN ) -- The Queen of the Blues is dead . Koko Taylor performs in Spain in 2005 . Her last performance was in May of this year . Koko Taylor , a West Tennessee sharecropper 's daughter who went to Chicago , Illinois , with `` 35 cents and a box of Ritz Crackers '' at 24 and wound up an award-winning blues legend , died Wednesday at her Chicago home at 80 . She died of complications from a May 19 surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding , her Web site reported . Just days before the surgery , Taylor won her 29th Blues Music Award , picking up the trophy for Traditional Female Blues Artist Of the Year . She performed her signature song , `` Wang Dang Doodle , '' at the ceremony . Known for her powerful vocals , Taylor was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1997 , won the Blues Foundation Lifetime Achievement Ward in 1999 and was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship in 2004 . She also won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1985 for her album `` Queen of the Blues . '' Taylor was born Cora Walton and picked up the nickname `` Koko '' because of her love of chocolate as a child . She also displayed a love of singing from an early age . She and her future husband , the late Robert `` Pops '' Taylor , traveled to Chicago in 1952 , where Pops Taylor worked for a packing company while Koko Taylor cleaned houses . By night , the two roamed Chicago 's blues clubs , where Koko Taylor sat in with top bands and was soon a popular guest artist . But it took 10 years for Koko Taylor to record on her own , after Willie Dixon got her signed to Chess Records and produced several singles , including `` Wang Dang Doodle . '' Taylor landed a permanent home with Alligator Records when Chess was sold in 1975 . Her final performance was the May 7 blues award show , but earlier in the year she performed at the Kennedy Center Honors program honoring actor Morgan Freeman . Throughout her lengthy career , she shared the stage with nearly every blues performer imaginable , from Junior Wells and B.B . King to Taj Mahal and Muddy Waters . She was a strong influence to later performers , including Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin . Survivors include Taylor 's husband , Hays Harris , daughter Joyce Threatt , son-in-law Lee Threatt , grandchildren Lee Jr. and Wendy , and three great-grandchildren .
Taylor dies at Chicago home of complications from May 19 surgery . Her final performance was a May 21 blues induction ceremony . She sang her signature song , ` ` ' Dang Doodle , '' at the ceremony . Taylor won Grammy in 1985 for her album ` ` Queen of the Blues ''