William "Big Bill" Morganfield (born June 19, 1956) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer and guitarist, who is the son of legendary McKinley Morganfield, also known as

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...

Biography

Morganfield was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. He had little contact with his father. Instead he was raised in Southern Florida by his grandmother, and now lives in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. As a child he listened to his father's records, but also to more popular fare such as

The Jackson Five The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

. He came to music later in life, having first worked as a teacher after earning a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in English from

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was de ...

and another in Communications from

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

. He did not begin playing music seriously until after his father's death in 1983, and then spent six years studying guitar. A well-received performance with

Lonnie Mack Lonnie McIntosh (July 18, 1941 – April 21, 2016), known as Lonnie Mack, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was an influential trailblazer of blues rock music and rock guitar soloing. Mack emerged in 1963 with his breakthroug ...

at Atlanta's Center Stage convinced Morganfield that his career move was a good one, but dissatisfied with his craft, he returned to studying traditional blues forms and songwriting while continuing work as a teacher. He got his first break in 1996 when he and his band ("The Stone Cold Blues Band" 1996-1998) played at the Blue Angel Cafe in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The band consisted of professional Atlanta based musicians who helped launch his career. In 1998 he then began to play the east coast that led to bigger shows like "The Stan Rogers Folk Fest" and "Montreal Jazz fest" . His first independent album,"Rising Son", was released in 1999 by Blind Pig Records. The album was recorded in Chicago, and featured

Paul Oscher Paul Allan Oscher (February 26, 1947 – April 18, 2021) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist. Primarily a harmonica player, he was the first permanent white member of Muddy Waters' band.Norman Darwen, "Obituary: Paul ...

Willie "Big Eyes" Smith Willie Lee "Big Eyes" Smith (January 19, 1936 – September 16, 2011) was an American electric blues vocalist, harmonica player, and drummer. He was best known for several stints with the Muddy Waters band beginning in the early 1960s. Biograp ...

, and

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Life ...

. In 2000, he won the W.C. Handy Award for Best New Blues Artist. The title cut was featured in the 2004 film ''

A Love Song for Bobby Long ''A Love Song for Bobby Long'' is a 2004 American psychological drama film directed and written by Shainee Gabel, based on the novel ''Off Magazine Street'' by Ronald Everett Capps. It stars John Travolta as the title character, an aging alcoho ...

''. (In 1997 Taxium Records released a demo-intended recording of Big Bill Morganfield called "Nineteen Years Old" without the consent of Big Bill Morganfield. American laws do not apply as this recording was taken to Germany for release.) In 1999, Morganfield appeared at the

San Francisco Blues Festival The San Francisco Blues Festival was active from 1973 until 2008, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was the one of the longest running blues festival in the United States. History Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the ...

. ''Ramblin' Mind'', Morganfield's next album, included

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

on two songs, plus his song "Strong Man Holler".

Billy Branch Billy Branch (born William Earl Branch, October 3, 1951) is an American blues harmonica player and singer of Chicago blues. Branch is a three-time Grammy nominee, a retired two-term governor of the Chicago Grammy Chapter, an Emmy Award winner, a ...

played harmonica on the album. In 2009, Morganfield released the album ''Born Lover'', produced by

Bob Margolin Bob Margolin (born May 9, 1949) is an American electric blues guitarist. His nickname is Steady Rollin'. Biography Margolin started playing guitar in 1964, and his first appearance on record was with Boston psychedelic band The Freeborne, and t ...

and Brian Bisesi. During the 2000s, Morganfield headlined many festivals and performed at venues around the world. In concert, Morganfield performs his own material with an occasional number from his father's work. He also performed at a Kennedy Center Honors tribute to his father. His version of Waters' "

Got My Mojo Working "Got My Mojo Working" is a blues song written by Preston "Red" Foster and first recorded by R&B singer Ann Cole in 1956. Foster's lyrics describe several amulets or talismans, called ''mojo'', which are associated with hoodoo, an early African ...

" has been said to be as potent as the original. Tours in Spain that band member Max Drake accompanied him on were particularly popular due to the legacy connection to Waters.

Discography

*1997 - ''Nineteen Years Old'' *1999 - ''Rising Son'' *2001 - ''Ramblin' Mind'' *2003 - ''Blues in the Blood'' *2009 - ''Born Lover'' *2013 - ''Blues With a Mood'' *2016 - ''Bloodstains on the Wall''

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morganfield, Big Bill 1956 births Living people Singers from Chicago Tuskegee University alumni Auburn University alumni American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singer-songwriters Blues musicians from Illinois Guitarists from Chicago 20th-century American guitarists Blind Pig Records artists African-American male singer-songwriters African-American guitarists 20th-century African-American male singers 21st-century African-American male singers Singer-songwriters from Illinois

Biography

Discography

See also

References

External links