Hello Leon,
Below you will find the results of my research regarding Blues singers
or musicians.
Bessie Smith - 77 words
Bessie Smith, ?The Empress of the Blues? was born in 1894 in
Chattanooga, Tennessee and was the greatest and most influential
female blues singer of the 1920s. Among her important recordings are
"Jailhouse Blues," recorded in 1923; "Cold in Hand Blues," "J. C.
Holmes Blues," and "You've Been a Good Old Wagon." In 1937, at the age
of 43, Bessie died in a car accident. Bessie Smith was inducted into
the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980.
Images
Bessie Smith: http://www.oreenscott.com/bessie.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.oreenscott.com/bessie_smith.htm
Bessie Smith: http://www.afterellen.com/Print/Photos/bessie%20smith.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.afterellen.com/Print/taboo.html
Bessie Smith: http://montrealesbi.tripod.com/fr/photos/bessie-smith.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://montrealesbi.tripod.com/fr/galerie.html
Bessie Smith: http://www.nrk.no/img/202813.jpeg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.nrk.no/programmer/radio/nostalgia/3616336.html
From Blues Online:
http://mathrisc1.lunet.edu/blues/images/B_Smith6s.jpg
Bessie Smith at the Library of Congress:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?fsaall,vv,app,brum,detr,swann,look,gottscho,pan,dag,horyd,wtc,genthe,var,cai,cd,hh,yan,dwgd,bbcards,lomax,ils,prok,brhc,nclc,matpc:5:./temp/~pp_9sUV::displayType=1:m856sd=van:m856sf=5a52644:@@@mdb=fsaall,vv,app,brum,detr,swann,look,gottscho,pan,dag,horyd,wtc,genthe,var,cai,cd,hh,yan,dwgd,bbcards,lomax,ils,prok,brhc,nclc,matpc
Sources of Information:
?Bessie Smith, "The Empress of Blues," was born on April 15, 1894 in
Chattanooga, Tennessee. Bessie Smith was born poor and before she
reached adulthood both her mother and father had died. Smith's career
began on the street corners of Chattanooga where she and one of her
brothers were buskers. As an adult she stood six feet tall and weighed
approximately 200 pounds, an opposing figure she took no guff from
anyone, man or woman. For many blacks she became a symbol of
emancipation.?
?Bessie Smith's huge sweeping voice was capable of strength and
tenderness. She could convey the entire meaning of a line by a subtle
accent on a syllable. She could precisely render a note, or "bend" a
note to express her feelings.?
(..)
Smith was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980
and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
Oreenscott.com
http://www.oreenscott.com/bessie_smith.htm
?Known as the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith was born in
Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her date of birth is uncertain and is
variously given as 1894-6, 1898, and 1900. Bessie's career began when
she was 'discovered' by none other than Ma Rainey when Ma's revue, the
Rabbit Foot Minstrels, was passing through Chattanooga around 1912 and
she had the occasion to hear young Bessie sing?
(..)
?On the eve of John Hammond's departure to Mississippi to bring her
back to New York, September 27, 1937, to record again, Bessie Smith
was in an automobile accident just below Clarksdale, Mississippi on
the main road to Memphis. Her right arm was nearly severed in the
crash, and Bessie died from loss of blood.?
(..)
?Bessie Smith had a huge sweeping voice, capable of strength and
tenderness, which she left behind on 160 recordings. She could convey
the entire meaning of a line by a subtle accent on a syllable. She
could precisely render a note, or "bend" a note to express her
feelings.?
Blues Online
http://mathrisc1.lunet.edu/blues/Bessie_Smith.html
?Bessie Smith was a rough, crude, violent woman. She was also the
greatest of the classic Blues singers of the 1920s. Bessie started out
as a street musician in Chattanooga.?
?By the early 1920s she was one of the most popular Blues singers in
vaudeville. In 1923 she made her recording debut on Columbia,
accompanied by pianist Clarence Williams. They recorded "Gulf Coast
Blues" and "Down Hearted Blues." The record sold more than 750,000
copies that same year, rivaling the success of Blues singer Mamie
Smith (no relation). Throughout the 1920s Smith recorded with many of
the great Jazz musicians of that era, including Fletcher Henderson,
James P. Johnson, Coleman Hawkins, Don Redman and Louis Armstrong. Her
rendition of "St. Louis Blues" with Armstrong is considered by most
critics to be one of finest recordings of the 1920s. Bessie Smith was
one of the biggest stars of the 1920s and was popular with both Whites
and African-Americans.?
Red Hot Jazz
http://www.redhotjazz.com/bessie.html
?Born in 1894, Bessie Smith was the greatest and most influential
blues singer of the 20s. With her talent, her excessive personality
and her wild ways, she became a huge black cultural symbol. Her
enormous success represented triumph over the white domination of the
entertainment industry. Her death in 1937 was at the prime of her
career. She died after an auto accident that left her too badly
injured to recover. The lore surrounding her death at the time was
that she was taken to a white hospital and refused treatment, instead
letting her bleed to death. Apparently what really happened was that
she was taken to a colored hospital where she received treatment that
included amputation of one arm. She died the next day..?
Rhino: Blues
http://www.rhino.com/blackhistory/blues.lasso
?Known as the "Empress of the Blues," Bessie Smith was born in
Chattanooga, Tenn. on April. 15, 1894 and died Sept. 26, 1937. She was
the most successful female blues singer of the 1920s. Smith began her
career as a singer in honky-tonks and tent shows, but in 1923 went to
New York for her first recording session. She was an immediate
sensation, and during the succeeding decade she recorded and toured
extensively. She was hearty, forthright, and totally uninhibited in
her performance as well as in her life.?
http://www.uic.edu/depts/quic/history/bessie_smith.html
?Known as the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith was the greatest of
the classic blues singers of the 1920s; she laid the foundation for
all subsequent women's blues and jazz singing. Her singing combined an
array of vocal embellishments, including scoops, slides, and blue
notes (notes that bridge the musical relationship between the major
and minor modes), and a rhythmic freedom that heightened the emotional
effect of her lyrics.?
?Smith was born in 1894 in a poor section of Chattanooga, Tennessee.?
Among her important recordings are "Jailhouse Blues," recorded in
1923; "Cold in Hand Blues," "J. C. Holmes Blues," and "You've Been a
Good Old Wagon," which were recorded in 1925; "Gin House Blues" and
"Young Woman's Blues," both of which were recorded in 1926; and
"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," recorded in 1929.
Throughout her career she also recorded popular songs and standards
that were not blues based, including "After You've Gone" (1927) and
"Gimme a Pigfoot" (1933).
Africana
http://www.africana.com/research/encarta/tt_493.asp
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John Lee Hooker ? 79 words
John Lee Hooker, one of the greatest bluesmen was born in Clarksdale,
Mississippi in 1917. His recording career began in 1948 with the hit
single "Boogie Chillen", followed by "I'm In the Mood.? During his
sixty year career Hooker recorded over 100 albums and influenced
countless generations of musicians. The Rhythm and Blues Foundation
awarded him with the Lifetime Achievement Award on February 25, 1999.
On June 21, 2001, at age 83 John Lee Hooker died in his sleep.
Images:
John Lee Hooker: http://w1.191.telia.com/~u19104970/images/hookweb.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://w1.191.telia.com/~u19104970/johnnielee.html
John Lee Hooker: http://guitar-masters.com/Players/GP-John_Lee_Hooker.JPG
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://240plan.ovh.net/~echolali/wiki/index.php?ListedeGratteux
John Lee Hooker: http://www.msu.edu/~luciwmat/john_lee_hooker.jpg
John Lee Hooker: http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/0007f/0007fa05.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://encarta.msn.com/media_701508137_761561248_-1_1/John_Lee_Hooker.html
Additional images can be found using Google Image Search:
http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22John+Lee+Hooker%22
Sources of Information:
?John Lee Hooker is in the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.?
?John Lee Hooker died in his sleep in San Fransisco in June of 2001.?
http://blues.about.com/cs/halloffame/p/blproHooker.htm
?Bluesman John Lee Hooker made his first recordings in the late 1940s.
His boogie guitar rhythms made him a popular performer in the 1950s
and 1960s, but he faded from the spotlight in ensuing decades. He
returned to prominence with the The Healer (1989), an album filled
with guest stars who paid tribute to Hooker.?
Encarta
http://encarta.msn.com/media_701508137_761561248_-1_1/John_Lee_Hooker.html
Born near Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1917 to a sharecropper family,
John Lee Hooker was one of the last links to the blues of the deep
South. He move to Detroit in the early 1940's and by 1948 had scored
his first number-one jukebox hit and million-seller, "Boogie Chillun."
Other hits soon followed, "I'm In The Mood," "Crawling Kingsnake," and
"Boom Boom" among the biggest. During the 1950s and '60s, Vee Jay
Records released a remarkable string of more than 100 of John Lee's
songs.
http://www.johnleehooker.com/home.asp
?Hooker's 1991 induction into the Rock n' Roll Hall Of Fame was
fitting for the man who has influenced countless fans and musicians
who have in turn influenced many more. Honors continue, with recent
inductions into Los Angeles' Rock Walk, The Bammies Walk Of Fame in
San Francisco, and, in 1997, a star in the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. ?
?John Lee's style has always been unique, even among other performers
of the real deep blues, few of whom remain with us today. While
retaining that foundation he has simultaneously broken new ground
musically and commercially. At the age of 80, John Lee Hooker received
his third and fourth Grammy Awards, for Best Traditional Blues
Recording (Don't Look Back) and for Best Pop Collaboration for the
song "Don't Look Back" which Hooker recorded with his long time friend
Van Morrison. This Friendship and others are celebrated on Hooker's
newest Pointblank / Virgin album, The Best Of Friends. The album also
celebrates a return, exactly 50 years later, to Hooker's first hit,
Boogie Chillen and serves as a perfect bookend for Hooker's first
fifty years in the business.?
John Lee Hooker: Biography
http://www.johnleehooker.com/biography.asp
?John Lee Hooker, the greatest of all bluesmen passed away peacefully
in his sleep in the morning of June 21, 2001 at his home in the San
Francisco Bay area, at the age of 83. Hooker influenced countless
generations of musicians and inspired music fans around the world
during his sixty year career. He was loved dearly by millions and we
will all miss him greatly. We thank everyone for their kind wishes and
condolences.
In February of 2000 John Lee received a Lifetime Achievement Award
from the National Academy of Recording Sciences (The Grammys).?
Rosebuds
http://www.rosebudus.com/hooker/
?John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 - June 21, 2001) was an influential
American blues singer and guitarist, born in Clarksdale, Mississippi.?
?Another career highlight came in 1989 when he joined up with a number
of guest stars, including Keith Richards and Carlos Santana to record
The Healer, which won a Grammy award.?
?Hooker recorded over 100 albums and lived the last years of his life
in San Francisco, where he owned a nightclub called the "Boom Boom
Room", after one of his hits.?
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lee_Hooker
?John Lee Hooker is one of the original innovators and kings of
African American popular music, commonly called the blues. He was born
on August 22, 1917, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, to a Baptist
minister.?
http://www.shs.starkville.k12.ms.us/mswm/MSWritersAndMusicians/musicians/Hooker.html
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Howlin' Wolf ? 82 words
Chester Arthur Burnett ?Howlin' Wolf?, American blues singer,
songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player was born in Mississippi.
His 1962 album Howlin' Wolf is one of the most famous and influential
blues records containing the songs "Wang Dang Doodle," "Goin' Down
Slow," "Spoonful" and "The Red Rooster. Many artists were influenced
by Wolf including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Captain Beefheart, and
the Rolling Stones. Howlin' Wolf died of cancer in 1976 and was
inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980.
Images:
Howlin' Wolf Pictures
These are thumbnails of larger pictures- click on the image to get the
bigger picture.
http://www.furious.com/perfect/wolf/pictures.html
Sources of Information:
?Chester Arthur Burnett was born on 10th June 1910 in West Point,
Mississippi. At 13 he moved with his family across the state to
Ruleville and began working on the Young and Mara plantation. He
became known as a 'difficult child' which earned him the nickname
"Howlin' Wolf". Five years later, his father bought him a guitar and
he began playing for country functions and also 'busking' on the
streets of small local towns.?
?By 1975 he was tired and ill. He had had several heart attacks at the
beginning of the decade and was now suffering from cancer. At the end
of 1975 he went into the Veteran Administration Hospital in Illinois
and died on 10th January 1976.?
Howlin' Wolf - His Life
http://www.furious.com/perfect/wolf/hislife.html
Howlin' Wolf
(Born Chester Arthur Burnett)
June 10, 1910 - January 10, 1976
Birthplace: West Point, Mississippi
?Howlin' Wolf was possibly the most electrifying performer in modern
blues history and a recording artist whose only rivals among his
contemporaries were Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), Little Walter,
and Muddy Waters. Like these artists, Wolf was a dean of electric
Chicago blues during the genre's heyday in the l950s and early l960s.!
?Wolf was born Chester Arthur Burnett, named after the late-nineteenth
century American president. He was nicknamed "Howlin' Wolf" as a
child, supposedly a reflection of his mischievous behavior. Wolf
learned of the blues early in his life; Charley Patton and Willie
Brown, in particular, often played plantation picnics and area juke
joints that Wolf frequented.?
http://www.wpnet.org/wolf_bio.htm
?His 1962 album Howlin' Wolf is one of the most famous and influential
blues records, known for its cover illustration of a rocking chair.
This album contained "Wang Dang Doodle," "Goin' Down Slow," "Spoonful"
and "The Red Rooster," songs which found their way into the
repertoires of British and American bands infatuated with Chicago
blues. In 1965 he appeared on the television show Shindig along with
the Rolling Stones, who had covered "The Red Rooster" on an early
album.?
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howlin%27_Wolf
Artists Influenced By Wolf:
Eric Clapton
Jimi Hendrix
Captain Beefheart
Rolling Stones
http://www.furious.com/perfect/wolf/links.html
?In terms of sales, Wolf's recording career peaked in 1956, however he
remained a featured artist at Chess.15 He enjoyed a resurgence in
popularity during the mid-1960s, when he toured Europe extensively as
part of a Chess blues revival show.16 During this period, popular
British rock and roll bands such as the Rolling Stones began recording
his songs and asking him to be the 'warm up' act on their tours.?
?Howlin' Wolf was a seminal figure in the development of the Chicago
blues style. His fierce, growling voice, punctuated by his trademark
falsetto 'howl,' carried with it the primitive energy of the country
blues he learned as a young man on the Delta.?
?Literally hundreds of artists (his contemporaries included) have
claimed him as an influence, and equal numbers have recorded their own
versions of his songs.?
Novia Net
http://www.novia.net/~cedmunds/hwbio.htm
CHESTER ARTHUR BURNETT.
( Howlin' Wolf )
1910 - 1976
?Chester Arthur Burnett is born on 10th June 1910 in West Point, south
of Tupelo, Mississippi. When he was 13 his family moved westwards
across the state to Ruleville in the Delta county of Sunflower. By
1923 on the Young and Mara plantation near Ruleville, Chester becomes
known as a difficut child, and this earns him the nickname Howlin'
Wolf.?
?Wolf records two of his greatest successes in 1960, 'Wang Dang
Doodle' and 'Black Door Man' and the in 1961 he records 'The Red
Rooster' ( later to be covered by the Rolling Stones ) and 'I Ain't
Superstitious'.
?In 1964 Wolf travels to Europe for the American Folk Blues Festival.
Together with Muddy Waters, and Bo Diddley, Wolf records the fine
album The Super Super Blues Band in 1967.
Then in 1970 in London Wolf teams up with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood,
Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts to record The London Howlin' Wolf
Sessions.
Howlin' Wolf dies of cancer at the Veteran Administration Hospital,
Illinois, on 10th January 1976.?
http://www.john-meekings.co.uk/caburnett.html
?Howlin' Wolf served to influence such blues-based rock musicians as
the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton.?
?1991: Howlin' Wolf is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.?
Rockhall
http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=121
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Robert Johnson ? 81 words
Born in Hazelhurst, Mississippi in 1911, Robert Johnson gifted
lyricist, composer and guitarist was one of the most influential
bluesman of all time. He recorded only 29 songs in his brief career
including his first and most popular, "Terraplane Blues,? followed by
?Sweet Home Chicago? and ?Cross Road Blues.? His influence on blues,
from Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton to the Rolling Stones and Led
Zeppelin, is legendary. Robert Johnson was inducted into the Blues
Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980.
Images:
Robert Johnson: http://www.blues.co.nz/images/news/robert-johnson.gif
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.blues.co.nz/news/article.php?id=166
Robert Johnson:
http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Graphics/BluesRoots/RobertJohnsonBio.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/ArtisticInfluences/Blues/Bios/RbtJohnson.html
Sources of Information:
Robert Johnson
Born: May 8, 1911, Hazelhurst, Mississippi
Died: August 28, 1938, Greenwood, Mississippi
?A young Robert Johnson hung around the Saturday night dances in the
Delta watching Son House, Willie Brown and Charley Patton play and, to
their amusement, trying to play guitar during the breaks. Years later
Johnson ran into House and Brown, and Johnson's skill on the
instrument stunned them. He had acquired his skill in such a short
time that it inspired a rumor that became legend.?
?In addition to being a gifted lyricist and composer and innovative
guitarist, Johnson transferred "boogie woogie" from the piano to the
guitar, playing the bottom guitar strings to accompany himself with a
bass line, a technique that has become standard in blues composition.
His influence on blues, from Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton to the
Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, is legendary.?
PBS
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/songsartists/songsbioalpha.html
Born: May 8, 1911
Died: August 16, 1938
?No other artist has influenced modern music with so few songs as the
enigmatic Robert Johnson. In just two recording sessions, one in 1936
in San Antonio, Texas and one in 1937 in Dallas, Texas, he cut 29
songs. That's all it took to make him a cultural legend.?
?Among his gems are: I Believe I'll Dust My Broom, Terraplane Blues,
Sweet Home Chicago, Cross Road Blues, Come on in My Kitchen, Stones In
My Passway and Walkin' Blues.?
Blues About
http://blues.about.com/cs/halloffame/p/blprorbtjohnson.htm
?All his music fits on two CDs, yet this small collection of songs has
moved more listeners and inspired more musicians than any other blues
legacy. ?
http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/ArtisticInfluences/Blues/Bios/RbtJohnson.html
?Born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, in 1911, Johnson was ill-suited for
sharecropping and gravitated instead toward the itinerant life of the
musician. He picked up the guitar in his teens and numbered among his
tutors such esteemed blues figures as Charley Patton and Son House.?
(..)
?Though he recorded only 29 songs in his brief career - 22 of which
appeared on 78 rpm singles released on the Vocalion label, including
his first and most popular, "Terraplane Blues" - Johnson nonetheless
altered the course of American music. In the words of biographer
Stephen C. LaVere, "Robert Johnson is the most influential bluesman of
all time and the person most responsible for the shape popular music
has taken in the last five decades." Such classics as "Cross Road
Blues," "Love In Vain" and "Sweet Home Chicago" are the bedrock upon
which modern blues and rock and roll were built. ?
Rockhall.com
http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=134
?One of the most celebrated Blues figures in history is Robert
Johnson. Born in 1911, he lived only 27 years old and produced a grand
total of 29 tracks, but his legacy is one that is still felt in the
blues today. Both scholars and critics agree that even with so little
material to study, Johnson was a blues genius. According to the myth,
Johnson sold his soul to the Devil to obtain his amazing guitar
skills. Arguably, no one has been able to surpass his unconvential
approach to the guitar since. Johnson's only two recording sessions
occured only a couple of years before his death. Not long after those
sessions, he resumed his wandering and was poisoned with
strychnine-laced whiskey after having an affair with the wife of a
local bar-owner. He was inducted into the Rock Roll Hall of Fame in
1986.?
Rhino
http://www.rhino.com/blackhistory/blues.lasso
?Robert Johnson, certainly the most celebrated figure in the history
of the blues. Of course, his legend is immensely fortified by the fact
that Johnson also left behind a small legacy of recordings that are
considered the emotional apex of the music itself. These recordings
have not only entered the realm of blues standards ("Love in Vain,"
"Crossroads," "Sweet Home Chicago," "Stop Breaking Down"), but were
adapted by rock & roll artists as diverse as the Rolling Stones, Steve
Miller, Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton.?
Blues Cities
http://www.bluescities.net/robert_johnson.html
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Muddy Waters ? 83 words
McKinley Morganfield "Muddy Waters", blues legend was born in 1915, in
Rolling Fork, Mississippi and is generally considered the Father of
Chicago Blues. He modernized the Mississippi Delta blues by adding an
electric guitar. Many of the songs that went on to become classics are
"I Can?t Be Satisfied," "Hootchie Cootchie Man," "Honey Bee," "Mannish
Boy," and "Baby Please Don?t Go," Muddy Waters was inducted into the
Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980. He died April 30, 1983, and
is buried in Chicago.
Images:
Muddy Waters: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ek867/muddy-waters.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ek867/?C=S;O=A
Muddy Waters:
http://www.bobgruen.com/files/asst/R.243%20MUDDY%20WATERS%20LIVE%20RADIO%20C.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.bobgruen.com/files/muddywaters.html
Muddy Waters:
http://www.humblepress.com/Concert/graphics/gallery/muddy.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.humblepress.com/Concert/muddy.html
Muddy Waters:
http://www.blindpigrecords.com/artists/photos/Waters,+Muddy.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.blindpigrecords.com/artists/Waters,+Muddy.html
http://www.fenderplayersclub.com/artists_lounge/hall_of_legends/images/muddy_pict.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.fenderplayersclub.com/artists_lounge/hall_of_legends/muddy.htm
Muddy Waters:
http://www.muddywaters.com/art/mud_bio.gif
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.muddywaters.com/bio.html
Sources of Information:
McKinley Morganfield "Muddy Waters"
?Born April 4, 1915, in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, to a sharecropping
family, Morganfield moved to the Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale to
live with his grandmother after the death of his mother in 1918. As a
toddler he acquired the nickname Muddy from his grandmother because he
loved to play in the muddy water of nearby Deer Creek. At age seven,
Morganfield began playing the harmonica and became proficient enough
to play fish fries, picnics, and parties by age thirteen. His family
attached "Waters" to his nickname when he began playing harmonica, and
the name stuck.?
(..)
"I Can?t be Satisfied" incorporates all the elements that would make
Muddy Waters famous. His strong, rich tenor, sung slightly behind the
beat, had a drawl that appealed to southern-born black record buyers.
Waters?s dark, bass-laden slide guitar conjured shades of blue that
stood in stark contrast to the jazzy, single-string guitarists such as
T. Bone Walker who were then in vogue. He also became a noted
bandleader whose groups became a spawning ground for later blues stars
"Little" Walter Jacobs, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Spann, James Cotton, and
Junior Wells.?
(..)
?Muddy Waters died April 30, 1983, and is buried in Chicago.?
National Park Service
http://www.cr.nps.gov/delta/blues/people/muddy_waters.htm
?Muddy Waters was born April 4, 1915 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi by
the name of McKinley Morganfield. (..) He earned his stage name
during these years, when his grandmother used to chastise him for
playing in the dirty water when he was little. She started calling him
"Muddy." "Waters" was added by the local kids as a playful slang
insult later. Muddy Waters was born.?
?It was this association with Sunnyland Slim that led Muddy Waters to
Aristocrat Records which recorded and released his first hit, "I Can?t
Be Satisfied," in 1947. This release proved to be an incredible hit,
bringing the amplified Chicago Blues onto the scene.?
?His career continued on strong until his death. He was one of our
most influential artists in almost every genre of music (excepting the
classics), including traditional, blues, R & B, folk, country, jazz,
and rock. He recorded dozens of albums and earned shelfuls of awards.
Muddy Waters died in Chicago, April 30, 1984. ?
Mudcat Cafe
http://www.mudcat.org/muddy.cfm
?The blues has produced thousands of fine musicians over the past
century but none have surpassed the power, artistry, and influence of
this man. Starting in the late '40s, Muddy and his great Chicago bands
transformed the acoustic blues of the Mississippi Delta into today's
electrified, band-oriented urban blues. A regal and dignified man, his
combination of skills as a singer, songwriter, bandleader, and
guitarist put him in a class by himself.?
Humblepress.com
http://www.humblepress.com/Concert/muddy.html
?McKinley Morganfield, born April 4, 1915 in born in Rolling Fork,
Mississippi - died April 30, 1983 in Westmont, Illinois, is known best
as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally
considered the Father of Chicago blues.?
?His influence has been enormous across many music genres, blues,
rhythm and blues, rock, folk, jazz, and country. Waters helped Chuck
Berry get his first record contract.?
?Other songs for which he is known include "I Just Want to make Love
to You," "Long Distance Call," "Mannish Boy," and the rock/blues
anthem "I Got My Mojo Working."
Muddy Waters died at the age of 68 and is interred in the Restvale
Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois, near Chicago.?
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muddy_Waters
?From his roots in the Mississipi delta where the blues was born,
Muddy Waters carried the blues of Son House and Robert Johnson to
Chicago in the 1940s. In those days, the South Side of Chicago was
where acoustic delta blues was being transformed to modern electric
blues, and Muddy (along with bluesman Jimmy Rogers) was at the
forefront of this electrification of the music.?
?Beginning in the late Forties, Muddy Waters cut a series of records
for Chess Records. Many of these went on to become classics: "I Can?t
Be Satisfied," "Hootchie Cootchie Man," "Honey Bee," "Mannish Boy,"
and "Baby Please Don?t Go," to name just a few. Not only did he
produce a stream of blues hits, but he also made it a point to nurture
the careers of talented up-and-coming bluesmen such as Buddy Guy, Otis
Spann, Little Walter, and rock & roller Chuck Berry.?
Fender Players Club
http://www.fenderplayersclub.com/artists_lounge/hall_of_legends/muddy.htm#bio
?And the world's gonna know, what it's all about" -- Muddy Waters,
singing "Hoochie Coochie Man"
When Muddy Waters first sang these words in 1954, his potent music had
made him a "known person" as he put it. By 1971, when these tapes were
recorded, Muddy was a blues legend, and the world certainly knew it.
He was in his mid-50's touring the globe, and recognized as an icon of
American music.?
Blind Pig Records
http://www.blindpigrecords.com/artists/Waters,+Muddy.html
Muddy Waters
Born: April 4, 1915, Rolling Forks, Mississippi
Died: April 30, 1983, Westmont, Illinois
Also known as: McKinley Morganfield
?Muddy Waters grew up in the Mississippi Delta, singing as he worked
in the cotton fields as a boy and playing near his favorite muddy
creek ? thus the nickname. He picked up a guitar when he was 17.
Influenced by the deeply emotional performer Son House as well as
Robert Johnson, Waters became an accomplished bluesman himself. In the
early 1940s he took the raw depth of the Delta blues to Chicago, and
in a few years he had revolutionized the city's blues scene. His many
contributions to Chicago blues include his skill with an electric
guitar, his tough, powerful vocals, and his evocative, compelling
songwriting. ?
PBS
http://www.pbs.org/theblues/songsartists/songsbioalpha.html
?Muddy Waters: Born McKingley Morganfield (Rolling Form, Mississippi),
the most influential Chicago bluesman modernized the Mississippi Delta
blues by adding an electric guitar, developing the now-ubiquitous
ensemble-driven Chicago style, revolutionizing the music's sound. The
son of a sharecropper, Waters played harmonica and sang at family
gatherings.?
http://www.guitarsite.com/newsletters/990719/3.shtml
?A childhood love for a local muddy creek earned him the "Muddy
Waters" title. The name served him well, as it became synonymous with
the Blues.?
Blues: About
http://blues.about.com/cs/halloffame/p/blmuddy.htm
?Born in 1915, Muddy Waters was the king of Postwar Chicago Blues. One
of 10 children and the son of a sharecropper, he got his nickname
because he loved to play down by a muddy creek as a child. He learned
to sing out in the cotton fields he worked in and started playing the
guitar when he was 17. Inspired by Son House and Robert Johnson, he
began to build his style. Waters left his mark on untold numbers of
bluesmen and blues rockers, both American and British. He was
responsible for the melding of the Mississippi Delta Blues and the
urban Chicago Blues. To many blues fans, he IS the blues. His first
recording was in 1941. Muddy Waters died of a heart attack in his
sleep in 1983.
Rhino
http://www.rhino.com/blackhistory/blues.lasso
?He carried his message to countless listeners, first in Chicago, then
all the rest of the U.S. and finally, the world. When he died quietly
in his sleep on April 30, 1983, in his home in suburban Westmont
Illinois, America lost one of the greatest, most influential and
enduringly important musicians of the century, one who had reshaped
the course of the blues, set it on a new path and, through the
influence he exerted on so many other who followed in his trailblazing
wake, completely altered the sound, substance and very character of
all modern popular music.?
Muddy Waters Website
http://www.muddywaters.com/bio.html
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W.C. Handy
William Christopher Handy, musician, composer, conductor, and
publisher was born in Florence, Alabama in 1873 and is often referred
to as The Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the first trained
musicians to take blues tunes and styles and present them in modern
style with bands and singers. Some of the successful blues
compositions he wrote were: "St. Louis Blues," "Yellow Dog Blues" and
?Beale Street Blues." The Blues Foundation recognizes the genre's
achievements annually with the prestigious W.C. Handy award.
Images:
W.C. Handy: http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/art/ohandyw001p1.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/micro/257/86.html
W.C. Handy: http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/pic/1997/95.124.2.gif
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/pic/1997/97.feb.html
W.C. Handy: http://www.riverwalk.org/images/wchan-s.gif
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.riverwalk.org/profiles/wchandy.htm
W.C. Handy: http://www.pereroma.com/crosscountry/imatgesdelviatge/handyfatherofblues.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.pereroma.com/crosscountry/day5.htm
W.C. Handy:
http://www.detroitsrvfanclub.com/Images/WC%20Handy%20photo%20from%20book%202.jpg
Below is the image in its original context on the page:
http://www.detroitsrvfanclub.com/misc_blues_items.htm
Sources of Information:
?WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER HANDY (b. Nov. 16, 1873, Florence, Ala., U.S.--d.
March 28, 1958, New York, N.Y.), black American composer who changed
the course of popular music by integrating the blues idiom into the
then-fashionable ragtime. Among his best-known works is the classic
"St. Louis Blues."
?Drawing on the vocal blues melodies of Negro folklore, he added
harmonizations in his orchestral arrangements. His work helped develop
the conception of the blues as a harmonic framework within which to
improvise. With his "Memphis Blues" (1911) and especially his "St.
Louis Blues" (1914), he introduced a nostalgic element peculiar to the
music of Southern blacks.?
Black History
http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/micro/257/86.html
?Dubbed "The Father of the Blues" although perhaps somewhat
erroneously, W. C. Handy is largely responsible for the form of blues
we know today. Musician, composer, conductor, and publisher, Handy,
although he didn't invent the blues, did faithfully and accurately
transcribe the power of this musical expression.
William Christopher Handy was born in Florence, Alabama November 16,
1873. Denied permission to learn the guitar by his pastor father,
Handy bought an old trumpet which he stole away to practice. He
eventually became a freelance musician, and then a leader of his own
band in 1896. His travels as a struggling musician throughout the
South exposed him to two new emerging forms of music, ragtime and more
importantly jazz.?
The Henry Ford
http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/pic/1997/97.feb.html
Born: November 16, 1873, Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Died: March 28, 1958, New York, New York
Also known as: William Christopher Handy
?W.C. Handy is widely recognized by his self-proclaimed moniker,
"Father of the Blues" due to his steadfast and pioneering efforts to
document, write and publish blues music and his life-long support of
the genre. Although much of his musical taste leaned toward a more
sophisticated and polished sound, Handy was among the first to
recognize the value of the blues, and Southern black music in general,
as an important American legacy. Handy was an accomplished bandleader
and songwriter who performed throughout the South before continuing
his career in New York. He came across the Delta blues in the late
1890s, and his composition "Memphis Blues," published in 1912, was the
first to include "blues" in the title.?
W.C. Handy - The "Father" of the Blues
http://blues.about.com/cs/halloffame/p/blproHandy.htm
?William Christopher (W.C.) Handy was born on November 16, 1873 in
Florence, Alabama.?
(..)
?One of the most popular songs ever published was Handy?s ?St. Louis
Blues,? released in 1914. Some of the other successful blues
compositions he wrote were ?Yellow dog Blues,? ?Harlem Blues,?
?Mississippi Blues,? and ?Beale Street Blues.?
?In addition to writing music, Handy wrote and edited five
publications: Negro Authors and Composers of the United States, Blues:
An Anthology, Book of Negro Spirituals, Father of the Blues (his
autobiography) and Unsung Americans Sung.?
?W.C. Handy died on March 28, 1958. Over twenty-five thousand people
were seated inside Harlem?s Abyssinian Baptist Church where his
funeral was held.?
Riverwalk
http://www.riverwalk.org/profiles/wchandy.htm
"W.C. Handy was one of the first trained musicians to take blues tunes
and styles and present them in modern style with bands and singers. He
also wrote some of the most important blues, notably the "St. Louis
Blues".
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues
William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 - March 28, 1958) was an
African-American blues composer and sometimes referred to as The
Father of the Blues.He is most remembered for his composition "Saint
Louis Blues".
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Christopher_Handy
W. C. Handy
"Father of the Blues?
?W.C. Handy has been called "the Father of the Blues" having
single-handedly introduced a new style of music to the world. He
acknowledged that he did not invent the blues but merely transcribed
them and presented them to a worldwide audience. There have been many
honors bestowed upon Handy since his death. In Memphis, a city park
is named after him and in his hometown of Florence, Alabama, the log
cabin where he was born has been restored and turned into a museum
which houses mementos from his life. The city of Florence also holds
an annual music festival in his honor.?
University of North Alabama Libraries
http://www2.una.edu/library/handy/biography.htm
?Known as the Father of the Blues, William Christopher Handy (W.C.),
was born in Florence, Alabama on November 16, 1873. He attended public
schools in Alabama and after graduating, became a school teacher and
then worked in iron mills throughout the south. ?W.C. Handy died in
New York City on March 29, 1958. His legacy continues through the
annual W.C. Handy Awards and the W.C. Handy Blues Festival held in his
home town of Florence.?
The Songwriters Hall of Fame
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibit_bio.asp?exhibitId=263
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