Sally Tiven, Blues and Soul Guitarist and Songwriter, Dies at 68

Sally Tiven, Blues and Soul Guitarist and Songwriter, Dies at 68

Sally Tiven, a musician and songwriter who played on albums by B.B. King and Wilson Pickett and had her songs recorded by the likes of Huey Lewis & the News, Buddy Guy and The Jeff Healey Band, has died. She was 68.

Tiven died July 23 in Nashville of complications from hip replacement surgery, her husband and longtime partner in music, Jon Tiven, announced.

Working mainly in the blues and soul genres, Tiven played guitar on records by King (“All You Ever Give Me Is the Blues”) and bass guitar on Pickett’s 1999 album It’s Harder Now, Don Covay’s 2000 album Adlib and Sir Mack Rice’s 2001 album This What I Do, participating in the writing of those records as well.

Huey Lewis & the News, Guy and The Jeff Healey Band recorded her songs “He Don’t Know,” “Heavy Love” and “River of No Return,” respectively. Shemekia Copeland (“Married to the Blues,” “Big Lovin Woman,” “Has Anybody Seen My Man”), Irma Thomas (“Tryin to Catch a Cab in the Rain”) and Ian Moss (“Mr. Rain”) recorded her tunes as well.

Watch her play with Covay and Ronnie Wood in 1993 here. Her husband describes it as “one of the greatest nights of her life.”

Born on March 5, 1957, in Port Chester, New York, Tiven grew up in nearby Rye, New York, where she attended public schools and then spent a year apiece at Stanford University and New York University.

She met husband-to-be Tiven in New York in 1977 and joined his group The Yankees, and they married in 1979. They would work together in groups backing such artists as Stephen Kalinich, P.F. Sloan, Ellis Hooks, Syl Johnson, Bettye Harris, Billie Ray Martin, Al Franken, Marty Brown, Howard Tate, Garnet Mimms, Willie Jones, Bebe Buell, Creed Bratton, Troy Turner and Little Milton.

After she gave birth in 1991 to her daughter, Jacqueline Lucile, she became involved as a school volunteer reading to children. And when the family moved to Nashville in 2002, she immersed herself in the Nashville Adult Literacy Program, teaching those unfamiliar with English how to write and speak it.

In addition to her husband and daughter, survivors include her sisters, Robin, Tracy and Susan; her nephew, Nick; and her niece, Robin.

A celebration of life memorial, featuring musical performances of her songs by some of her favorite collaborators, is set for 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 at Belmont United Methodist Church in Nashville. Donations in her memory can be made to the Belmont United Methodist Church of Nashville ESL Program (please write Sally Tiven ESL/English as a Second Language in the memo line).

“She was/is a truly wonderful human being … so loving, caring and giving. She is truly loved,” Rolling Stones drummer Steve Jordan said in a statement.