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Willie James Lyons
Willie James Lyons (December 5, 1938 – December 26, 1980) was an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He worked primarily in the West Side of Chicago from the late 1950s up to his death. Lyons was an accompanist to many musicians who included Luther Allison, Jimmy Dawkins and Bobby Rush. A noted performer in his own right, Lyons work was influenced by B.B. King and Freddie King, T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulson. His only solo album was ''Chicago Woman'', recorded in France in 1979. Biography Lyons was born in Alabama, United States. He was, according to the 1940 United States Census, living in Aliceville, Alabama, with his parent, brother, and sister. Details of his early life are sketchy, but he had relocated to Chicago, Illinois, by the mid-1950s. In 1971, Willie Kent took up residence at Ma Bea's Lounge in West Madison, Chicago. The house band became known as Sugar Bear and the Beehives, headed by Kent (the Sugar Bear) with guitarist Willie James Lyons an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Alabama, Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Birmingham metropolitan area, Alabama, Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 , area_total_sq_mi = 52,419 , area_land_km2 = 131,426 , area_land_sq_mi = 50,744 , area_water_km2 = 4,338 , area_water_sq_mi = 1,675 , area_water_percent = 3.2 , area_rank = 30th , length_km = 531 , length_mi = 330 , width_km = 305 , width_mi = 190 , Latitude = 30°11' N to 35° N , Longitude = 84°53' W to 88°28' W , elevation_m = 150 , elevation_ft = 500 , elevation_max_m = 735.5 , elevation_max_ft = 2,413 , elevation_max_point = Mount Cheaha , elevation_min_m = 0 , elevation_min_ft = 0 , elevation_min_point = Gulf of Mexico , OfficialLang = English language, English , Languages = * English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1940 United States Census
The United States census of 1940, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 132,164,569, an increase of 7.3 percent over the 1930 population of 122,775,046 people. The census date of record was April 1, 1940. A number of new questions were asked including where people were five years before, highest educational grade achieved, and information about wages. This census introduced sampling techniques; one in 20 people were asked additional questions on the census form. Other innovations included a field test of the census in 1939. This was the first census in which every state (48) had a population greater than 100,000. Census questions The 1940 census collected the following information: * address * home owned or rented ** if owned, value ** if rented, monthly rent * whether on a farm * name * relationship to head of household * sex * race * age * marital status * school attendance * educational attainment * birthplace * if f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert "Big Mojo" Elem
Robert "Big Mojo" Elem (January 22, 1928 – February 5, 1997) was an American Chicago blues bass guitarist and singer. Although he recorded only one studio album in his long career, Elem was a part of the Chicago blues scene for over forty years. He variously backed Arthur "Big Boy" Spires, Lester Davenport, Freddie King, Magic Sam, Junior Wells, Shakey Jake Harris, Jimmy Dawkins, Luther Allison, and Otis Rush. He was noted as a "born entertainer whose joking and acting on stage appeal to club audiences". Elem's energetic on-stage persona underpinned his lengthy performing career. Biography Elem was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, United States. He studied both Robert Nighthawk and Ike Turner playing live, which inspired his own early rhythm guitar playing. By 1948, Elem had relocated to Chicago, Illinois, where he spent the rest of his life. Shortly after arriving, Elem picked up employment backing Arthur "Big Boy" Spires and then Lester Davenport. To avoid being in a l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lacy Gibson
Lacy Gibson (May 1, 1936 – April 11, 2011) was an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He notably recorded the songs "My Love Is Real" and "Switchy Titchy" and in a long and varied career worked with Buddy Guy and Son Seals. One commentator noted that Gibson "developed a large and varied repertoire after long stays with numerous bands, many recording sessions, and performances in Chicago nightclubs". Biography Gibson was born in Salisbury, North Carolina, and relocated with his family to Chicago in 1949. His mother gave him his first lessons in playing the guitar. His early influences included Sunnyland Slim, Muddy Waters, Lefty Bates, Matt Murphy, and Wayne Bennett. Gibson's earliest work was as a session musician, playing mainly rhythm guitar. In 1963 alone, he recorded backing for Willie Mabon, Billy "The Kid" Emerson and Buddy Guy. Gibson's own recording debut was also in 1963, with Chess Records, which recorded his song "My Love Is Real", with Budd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mighty Joe Young (musician)
Joseph Young Jr. (September 23, 1927 – March 24, 1999), known as Mighty Joe Young, was an American Chicago blues guitarist. Biography Young was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, moving to Milwaukee in about 1945. He was an amateur boxer in the 1940s, but he later recalled that "It was nothing to write home about... I decided that music was the best thing to do." He began his music career in the early 1950s, singing on the Milwaukee nightclub circuit and taking his stage name after the film of the same name. In 1955, he returned to Louisiana to make his recording debut, for Jiffy Records. He then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a sideman, notably with Joe Little & his Heart Breakers and later Billy Boy Arnold. After recording "Why Baby" / "Empty Arms" for Bobby Robinson's Fire Records in 1961, he performed with Otis Rush in the early 1960s, playing on Rush's album ''Cold Day in Hell''. He also continued to record under his own name for small labels such as Webcor, Celt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Casey Jones (musician)
Casey Jones (July 26, 1939 – May 3, 2017) was an American drummer who recorded with blues artists such as Albert Collins, appearing on his ''Frostbite'' and ''Ice Pickin''' albums and Johnny Winter appearing on Winters '' Serious Business'', '' Guitar Slinger'', '' True to the Blues: The Johnny Winter Story'' albums. He is also a singer and record producer. Background He was born in Nitta Yuma, Mississippi on July 26, 1939. He was raised in Greenville. In 1956 he moved to Chicago to live with his sister. It was here that his sister and her husband bought him his first drum set. He had his first gig in 1956 from which he made $5. In 1961 he married Bernice who had come to hear his group play. Prior to being married by the minister they had attempted to get married by a priest who refused to marry them because he said they wouldn't last six months as Bernice was white and Casey was black. Casey and Bernice raised their family in Morgan Park with a household filled with cat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Littlejohn
John Wesley Funchess (April 16, 1931 – February 1, 1994) known professionally as John (or Johnny) Littlejohn, was an American electric blues slide guitarist. He was active on the Chicago blues circuit from the 1950s to the 1980s. Biography Born in Lake, Mississippi, Littlejohn first learned to play the blues from Henry Martin, a friend of his father's. In 1946 he left home and traveled widely, spending time in Jackson, Mississippi; Arkansas; Rochester, New York; and Gary, Indiana. He settled in Gary in 1951, playing whenever possible in the nearby Chicago area. Through his connections in Gary, he was acquainted with Joe Jackson, the patriarch of the musical Jackson family, and Littlejohn and his band reputedly served as an occasional rehearsal band for the Jackson 5 in the mid- to late 1960s. Littlejohn played regularly in Chicago clubs (he was filmed by drummer Sam Lay playing with Howlin' Wolf's band about 1961) but did not make any studio recordings until 1966, when he c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buster Benton
Arley "Buster" Benton (July 19, 1932 – January 20, 1996) was an American blues guitarist and singer. He played guitar in Willie Dixon's Blues All-Stars and is best known for his solo rendition of Dixon's song "Spider in My Stew." Benton was tenacious, and despite the amputation of parts of both legs in the latter part of his lengthy career, he never stopped playing his own version of Chicago blues. Biography He was born Arley Benton, in Texarkana, Arkansas. While residing in Toledo, Ohio, in the mid-1950s, and having been influenced by Sam Cooke and B.B. King, Benton began playing blues. By 1959, he was leading his own band in Chicago. During the 1960s, the local record labels Melloway, Alteen, Sonic, and Twinight released several singles by Benton. However, because of a lack of opportunities in the early 1960s, he gave up playing professionally for several years and worked as an auto mechanic. His earlier work was an amalgam of blues and soul. According to the music jou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carey Bell
Carey Bell Harrington (November 14, 1936 – May 6, 2007) was an American blues musician who played harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Bell played harmonica and bass guitar for other blues musicians from the late 1950s to the early 1970s before embarking on a solo career. Besides his own albums, he recorded as an accompanist or duo artist with Earl Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, Lowell Fulson, Eddie Taylor, Louisiana Red and Jimmy Dawkins and was a frequent partner with his son, the guitarist Lurrie Bell. ''Blues Revue'' called Bell "one of Chicago's finest harpists.". The ''Chicago Tribune'' said Bell was "a terrific talent in the tradition of Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter.". Career Early life Bell was born Carey Bell Harrington in Macon, Mississippi. As a child, he was intrigued by the music of Louis Jordan and wanted a saxophone to be like his hero Jordan. His family could not afford one, so he had to settle for a harmonica, colloquially known as a "Mississippi saxo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Johnson (blues Guitarist)
James Earl Thompson (November 25, 1928 – January 31, 2022), known professionally as Jimmy Johnson, was an American blues guitarist and singer. Early life Johnson was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on November 25, 1928. Several of his brothers had careers in music, among them soul musician Syl Johnson and bassist Mack Thompson, who played with Magic Sam. In his younger years, he played piano and sang in gospel groups. He and his family moved to Chicago in 1950, where he worked as a welder and played guitar in his spare time. He began playing professionally with Slim Willis in 1959, changing his last name to Johnson, as did his brother Syl. As a guitarist he was influenced by Buddy Guy and Otis Rush. He played with Freddie King, Albert King, Magic Sam, Otis Rush, and Eddy Clearwater, among others. Career In the 1960s, Johnson began to focus on soul, working with Otis Clay, Denise LaSalle, and Garland Green. He had his own group from the early 1960s, and by the mid-196 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddy Clearwater
Edward Harrington (January 10, 1935 – June 1, 2018), better known by his stage name Eddy Clearwater, was an American blues musician who specialized in Chicago blues. ''Blues Revue'' said he plays "joyous rave-ups…he testifies with stunning soul fervor and powerful guitar. One of the blues' finest songwriters." Early life Edward Harrington was born in Macon, Mississippi, on January 10, 1935. He was raised by his part-Cherokee grandmother in Mississippi. His family moved to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1948. He was a cousin of the blues harmonica player Carey Bell. He began playing guitar at age 13, teaching himself left-handed and upside down. He began performing with gospel groups, including the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. He moved to Chicago in 1950, playing predominantly gospel, and later developed his blues artistry after working with Magic Sam, Otis Rush, and others. Career Clearwater is best known for his activity in the Chicago blues scene since the 1950s. He performe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin' Wolf's band. He was ranked number 43 in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Biography Sumlin was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, and raised in Hughes, Arkansas. He got his first guitar when he was eight years old. As a boy, he met Howlin' Wolf by sneaking into a performance. Wolf relocated from Memphis to Chicago in 1953, but his longtime guitarist Willie Johnson chose not to join him. In Chicago, Wolf hired the guitarist Jody Williams, but in 1954 he invited Sumlin to move to Chicago to play second guitar in his band. Williams left the band in 1955, leaving Sumlin as the primary guitarist, a position he held almost continuously (except for a brief spell playing with Muddy Waters around 1956) for the remainder of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
