William "Billy Boy" Arnold (born September 16, 1935,

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

, Illinois)

AllMusic biography AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

/ref> 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 ...

harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Arnold is a self-taught harmonica player and has worked with blues legends such as

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, incl ...

Johnny Shines John Ned Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist. Biography Shines was born in the community of Frayser, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was taught to play the guitar by his mother and spent most of h ...

Otis Rush Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of other 1950s art ...

Earl Hooker Earl Zebedee Hooker (January 15, 1930 – April 21, 1970) was a Chicago blues guitarist known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", he performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and ...

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

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 b ...

and others.

Biography

Born in Chicago as one of 16 children, he began playing harmonica as a child, and in 1948 received informal lessons from his near neighbour John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, shortly before the latter's death. Arnold made his recording debut in 1952 with "Hello Stranger" on the small Cool label, the record company giving him the nickname "Billy Boy". In the early 1950s, he joined forces with street musician

and played harmonica on the March 2, 1955 recording of the Bo Diddley song " I'm a Man" released by

Checker Records Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary of Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded ...

. The same day as the Bo Diddley sessions, Billy Boy recorded the self-penned "You Got to Love Me" which was not released until the box set ''Chess Blues 1947–1967'' in 1992. Arnold signed a solo recording contract with

Vee-Jay Records Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a h ...

, recording the originals of " I Wish You Would" and "I Ain’t Got You". Both were later covered by

the Yardbirds The Yardbirds are an English rock band, formed in London in 1963. The band's core lineup featured vocalist and harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist and later bassist Chris Dreja and bassist/producer Paul Samwell ...

. "I Wish You Would" was also recorded by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

on his 1973 album ''

Pin Ups ''Pin Ups'' (also referred to as ''Pinups'' and ''Pin-Ups'') is the seventh studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 19October 1973 through RCA Records. Devised as a "stop-gap" album to appease his record label, it is a cover ...

'' and by

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones ...

on their 1982 album, ''

Identity Crisis In psychology, identity crisis is a stage theory of identity development where it involves resolution of a conflict over the 8 stages of the lifespan.(Schultz, 216) The term was coined by German psychologist Erik Erikson. The stage of psychosoci ...

''. In the late 1950s Arnold continued to play in Chicago clubs and in 1963 he recorded an LP, ''More Blues From The South Side'', for the

Prestige Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett ...

label, but as playing opportunities dried up he pursued a parallel career as a bus driver and, later parole officer. By the 1970s, Arnold had begun playing festivals, touring Europe and recording again, including as part of the American Blues Legends '75 package organised by Big Bear Music. He recorded a session for

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

disc jockey

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

on October 5, 1977. He also recorded in 1979 the tracks that later became the ''Catfish'' album of 1999, in London with

Tony McPhee Anthony Charles McPhee (born 23 March 1944) is an English guitarist, and founder of the blues rock band Groundhogs. An early version of this band backed Champion Jack Dupree and John Lee Hooker on UK concerts in the mid-1960s. He is often credit ...

and

the Groundhogs Groundhogs are an English blues and rock band founded in late 1963, that toured extensively in the 1960s, achieved prominence in the early 1970s, and continued sporadically into the 21st century. Tony McPhee (guitar and vocals) is the sole co ...

. In 1993, he released the album ''Back Where I Belong'' on

Alligator Records Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the ''Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970. History Iglauer started the label using hi ...

, followed by ''Eldorado Cadillac'' (1995) and on Stony Plain Records with the

Duke Robillard Michael John "Duke" Robillard (born October 4, 1948) is an American guitarist and singer. He founded the band Roomful of Blues and was a member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Although Robillard is known as a rock and blues guitarist, he also play ...

Band ''Boogie ’n’ Shuffle'' (2001). In 2012, Arnold released ''Blue and Lonesome'' featuring Tony McPhee and the Groundhogs. Another tribute to Sonny Boy was the album ''The Blues Soul of Billy Boy Arnold'' (Stony Plain - SPCD 1378, 2014). In 2014, he was nominated for a

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

in the "Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year" category. In November 2021, the University of Chicago Press published Billy Boy Arnold's first-person memoir, "The Blues Dream of Billy Boy Arnold," written in collaboration with Kim Field. His younger brother is bassist

Jerome Arnold Jerome Arnold (born Romeo Maurice Arnold; November 12, 1936, Chicago) is an American bassist, known for his work with Howlin' Wolf, and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 1960s. As an original member of the Butterfield band, he was subsequentl ...

, with whom he has recorded.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' More Blues on the South Side'' (Prestige, 1966) * ''Kings of Chicago Blues Vol. 3'' (Vogue, 1973) * ''Blow the Back Off It'' (Red Lightnin', 1975) * ''Checkin' It Out'' (Red Lightnin', 1979) * ''Ten Million Dollars'' (Blue Phoenix, 1984) * ''Back Where I Belong'' (Alligator, 1993) * ''Eldorado Cadillac'' (Alligator, 1995) * ''Boogie 'n' Shuffle'' (Stony Plain, 2001) * ''Consolidated Mojo'' (Electro-Fi, 2005) * ''Billy Boy Arnold Sings Sonny Boy'' (Electro-Fi, 2008) * ''Billy Boy Arnold Sings Big Bill Broonzy'' (Electro-Fi, 2012) * ''The Blues Soul of Billy Boy Arnold'' (Stony Plain, 2014)

Live albums

* ''Live at the Venue 1990'' (Catfish, 2000)

Compilation albums

* ''American Blues Legends '75'' (with various artists, Big Bear, 1975) *''Crying and Pleading'' (Charly, 1980) * ''Goin' to Chicago'' (Testament, 1995) * ''Catfish'' (Catfish, 1999) * ''

Mark Hummel Mark Hummel (born December 15, 1955) is an American blues harmonica player, vocalist, songwriter, and long-time bandleader of the Blues Survivors. Since 1991, Hummel has produced the Blues Harmonica Blowout tour, of which he is also a featured p ...

's Blues Harmonica Blowouts "Still Here and Gone" 1993–2007'' (live with various artists, Electro-Fi, 2007) * ''Remembering Little Walter'' (with various artists, Blind Pig, 2013)

References

External links

Billy Boy Arnold on Alligator Records site
* Arnold biographyat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Billy Boy 1935 births Living people Harmonica blues musicians Chicago blues musicians Blues revival musicians American blues harmonica players Singers from Chicago Songwriters from Illinois American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American male singers Vee-Jay Records artists Guitarists from Chicago 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male musicians Stony Plain Records artists American male songwriters