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Aaron Thibeaux Walker was born in Linden, Texas on 28 May 1910, the only child of Rance and Movelia Walker. The family moved to Dallas in 1912 and as a pre-teen Walker would lead Blind Lemon Jefferson around the Dallas streets. He taught himself guitar and worked streets and functions until he toured with various travelling shows in the ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Guitar, vocals, 1910–75) Dallas-bred Aaron Walker was soloing on electric guitar as early as 1940, setting a trend that would eventually be the most commonplace image in rock music. B.B. King marvelled at Walker’s ability to play while holding the guitar away from his body. Walker left Texas in the 1930s and alternated between sessions and performances ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

The first bluesman to record with an electric guitar, T-Bone Walker (1910–75) shaped the course of post-war blues, influencing everyone from B.B. King and Chuck Berry to Jimi Hendrix and beyond. B.B. King acknowledges that the first time he heard Walker, he knew he had to get an electric guitar, and Berry and Hendrix took ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

(Guitar, vocals, b. 1949) A passionate, gospel-influenced singer, Walker came up in the 1960s on the San Francisco blues scene. In 1975 he began singing with the Spiritual Corinthians, remaining on the gospel circuit until 1985 when he formed his own band, the Boss Talkers. He recorded some strong albums during the 1980s for the ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Songwriter, vocals, 1918–2006) The sophisticated songs of Cindy Walker were particularly attractive to western-swing performers like Bob Wills, whose recordings helped establish her as one of the top songwriters in country music. From Mart, Texas, Walker also sang, recorded and appeared in films with Texas Jim Lewis. Over time, she concentrated solely on writing ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocals, guitar, b. 1942) Walker grew up in upstate New York State and wrote his most famous song, ‘Mr Bojangles’, as a Greenwich Village folkie, but when he moved to Austin in 1972 he embraced the town’s cowboy-hippie ethos so wholeheartedly that he became its personification. Backing his singer-songwriter material with a Texas dancehall band transformed his ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1969) Despite being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis early in his career, Clay Walker – whose 1993 debut single, ‘What’s It To You’ topped the singles charts – has since occupied that position on more than 10 occasions. Without gaining the recognition he might have, the smooth-voiced ballad singer has remained a strong and ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocal/instrumental group, 1964–68, 1975–78) The unrelated Walkers, Scott Engel (vocals, bass), John Maus (vocals, guitar) and Gary Leeds (drums), sought their fortunes in Britain where ‘Love Her’ made the Top 20 in 1965. Then came bigger smashes with ‘Make It Easy On Yourself’, ‘My Ship Is Coming In’, ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’ and like ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Saxophone, vocals, 1942–95) Rough bluesy sax player (born Autry DeWalt in Arkansas in 1942) who, with his band The All Stars, signed to Motown in 1964. He first charted the following year with ‘Shotgun’, having stepped up to perform the vocals when the booked singer did not show. More hits followed, notably 1966’s ‘How Sweet It ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

Few would deny that the blues has played a more important role in the history of popular culture than any other musical genre. As well as being a complete art form in itself, it is a direct ancestor to the different types of current popular music we know and love today. Without the blues there would have been no Beatles ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

(Guitar, vocals, 1932–93) Collins’s highly original and bold, chiselled tone – achieved through an idiosyncratic tuning and high volume – earned the Texan his nickname ‘The Iceman’. The moniker was abetted by a string of chilly-themed, early 1960s instrumental hits that incorporated R&B rhythms, including the million-selling ‘Frosty’, ‘Sno Cone’ and ‘Thaw Out’. Although his cousin ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

The bluesman who took the blues into the mainstream, B.B. King (b. 1925) is also its ambassador to the world. His solid, seasoned style is heard internationally. King’s style draws on the Mississippi blues of Elmore James and Muddy Waters, the Chicago blues of Buddy Guy and Magic Sam, and the West-Coast blues of T-Bone Walker ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

When the great Mississippi musician Riley King left the cotton fields to seek his fortune in Memphis in 1946, he had $2.50 in his pocket and a battered guitar in his hand. Today, his name is synonymous with blues music itself, yet his ascendance to the zenith of the blues world never altered his friendly, downhome ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Vocals, 1911–85) Big Joe Turner’s tenure as ‘Boss of the Blues’ is dominated by one song, ‘Shake, Rattle And Roll’, which became an early rock’n’roll anthem as recorded by white artists Bill Haley and Elvis Presley. But Turner’s long career and legacy of R&B hits includes boogies like ‘Roll ‘Em Pete’, the seminal blues of ‘Cherry Red’, and ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

Blind Lemon Jefferson (c. 1893–1929) opened up the market for blues records in 1926 when ‘Got The Blues’, backed with ‘Long Lonesome Blues’, became the biggest-selling record by a black male artist. It brought him the trappings of success, including a car and chauffeur, and he released nearly 100 songs over the next four years, before his death. ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin
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