Did you know that Terry Callier worked at the University of Chicago as a computer programmer in the 80s? And, when his music saw a revival in the 90s and he started touring in his vacation time, the buzz resulted in the university firing him?
[…] Callier kept making records and touring until 1983, when he received a call from his 12-year-old daughter. She told him that she was coming to live with him in Chicago, so he gave up showbusiness for the job with the University of Chicago. “I didn’t touch a guitar from 1983 until 1988 because I was just too busy. Then in 1991 I got a call from a guy in London called Eddie Pillar, who ran a label called Acid Jazz. He told me that he had been playing my records in clubs and he wanted to re-release them and get me playing in England again. So for the next few years, I came over to do gigs in London in my vacation time from my day job.”
In 1998 Callier’s album Timepeace won a United Nations award, which meant that his employers at the University of Chicago finally learned about his double life. After picking up the award in New York, he came into work to discover that he had four hours to clear his desk.
Excerpt from a 2004 interview with Terry Callier
I looked to see if the University of Chicago apologised for their behaviour but didn’t find anything. But their loss was his gain, and those who enjoyed his music—like me.
Black programmer related: The Real Python Podcast, featuring Jay Miller from Black Python Devs
Filed under: music people of colour programming Python time