(Piano, vocals, 1915–88) John Len Chatman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Influenced by barrelhouse pianists such as Roosevelt Sykes, Slim forged an early career in Memphis playing in cafes, juke joints and other music venues around the Beale Street area. He moved to Chicago in 1937, where he worked with Big Bill Broonzy. He began ...
In his brief, meteoric career, Guitar Slim (1926–59) electrified the blues in more ways than one. While most bluesmen didn’t alter their style as they moved from acoustic to electric guitar in the Forties and Fifties, Slim developed a uniquely electric style, utilizing a 150-ft (46-m) (some say 350-ft/107-m) cable between his guitar and amplifier and creating ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1927–34) They did not invent the style, but guitarist/harpist Will Shade (a.k.a. Son Brimmer) and his rollicking aggregation were among the most popular and influential of the jug and string bands that proliferated around Memphis and Louisville, as well as in the Mississippi Delta, during the 1920s and 1930s. With various personnel coming ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1897–1973) Lizzie Douglas was born in Algiers, Louisiana but was raised in Walls, Mississippi. She learned banjo and guitar at a young age and ran away to Memphis in 1910 to work the music circuit under the name Kid Douglas. She toured with the Ringling Brothers circus for several seasons prior to 1920 and also ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1925–59) Eddie Lee Jones was born in Greenwood, Mississippi. He sang in church as a child but had relocated to New Orleans by the age of 17, where he worked with Huey ‘Piano’ Smith in a small group until 1953. His recording debut was on Imperial in 1951, but his most important recordings were ...
(Piano, vocals, 1906–95) Albert Luandrew was born in Vance, Mississippi. He was self-taught as a pianist and spent the period 1925–39 in Memphis, playing functions and small clubs. He went to Chicago to find work outside music, but instead fell in with the local blues crowd and worked with Tampa Red, Jump Jackson and Muddy ...
(Harmonica, guitar, vocals, 1924–70) Born James Moore in Lobdell, Louisiana, Harpo developed an upbeat style playing juke joints and parties before signing to Excello Records in 1955, where he was instrumental in defining the label’s ‘swamp-blues’ sound. He had a profound influence on 1960s rockers including Van Morrison, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones ...
(Guitar, b. 1937) Born Morris Holt in Grenada, Mississippi, Slim began playing on Chicago’s West Side in the mid-1960s. In 1976, when Hound Dog Taylor passed away, Slim took over his Sunday afternoon gig at Theresa’s on the South Side. Slim’s band the Teardrops was featured on the 1970 Alligator anthology series Living Chicago Blues. Throughout ...
(Vocals, 1904–96) Carter, the son of a Baptist minister, was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, and in his youth worked as a rodeo performer in Canada’s western provinces, as well as singing on radio shows. Recording for RCA Records for 50 years, Carter was central to the popularity of cowboy music in the 1930s ...
(Vocals, 1927–2003) David Gordon Kirkpatrick, born near Kempsey, New South Wales, was one of Australia’s most popular country artists from the 1950s until his death. He sold in excess of five million records in his home country with hits such as ‘A Pub With No Beer’ (also a Top 3 success in the UK) and ‘Lights On ...
(Vocals, b. 1924) Tampa, Florida-born Otis Dewey Whitman Jr. is best known for his warbling, high-falsetto vocal flourishes on sentimental hits like ‘Indian Love Call’ (1952) and ‘Secret Love’ (1954). Although Whitman enjoyed only limited success in the United States, he achieved considerable fame in Europe, especially the British Isles. During the 1980s, he experienced ...
(Producer, b. 1963) Norman Cook, former bassist with The Housemartins, has since operated under a number of guises with huge success. As Fatboy Slim he managed to combine the engine room of dance with great rock sounds – including The Who – to create some of the greatest anthems of the 1990s. You’ve Come A Long Way, ...
(Piano, vocals, 1916–2006) James Columbus McShann was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma and moved to Kansas City in 1936. He formed a big band in 1940 and recorded for Decca in 1941–43. The band featured vocalist Walter Brown and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, and had a big hit with ‘Confessin’ The Blues’. McShann had a hit record on ...
(Guitar, vocals, b. 1927) Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy came up in Memphis, playing with Howlin’ Wolf, Little Junior Parker and Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland before gaining serious attention with Memphis Slim’s band from 1952 to 1959. In the 1960s Murphy contributed to sessions by Sonny Boy Williamson II, Chuck Berry and Otis Rush, and was a crowd favourite ...
(Bass, vocals, songwriter, 1915–92) Willie James Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi and moved to Chicago at the age of 11. He learned bass and made his recording debut with the Five Breezes in 1940. After the Second World War he formed the Big Three trio, with whom he worked and recorded until 1952. He began ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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