Billy Branch (born William Earl Branch, October 3, 1951) is an American blues harmonica player and singer of

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

. Branch is a three-time Grammy nominee, a retired two-term governor of the Chicago Grammy Chapter, an Emmy Award winner, and a winner of the

Addy Award The American Advertising Federation (AAF), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the oldest national advertising trade association in the United States. The AAF also has 15 district operations, each located in and representing a different region o ...

. In addition, he has received numerous humanitarian and music awards.

Early life and career

Branch was born at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital in North Chicago, Illinois, United States. His family moved from Chicago to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

when he was five years old. At ten years of age he bought his first harmonica at a Los Angeles Woolsworth store. He immediately began playing simple tunes and melodies. After that initial purchase, Billy was never without a harmonica. In 1969 he moved back to Chicago to attend the University of Illinois. eventually he graduated from UIC with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois ...

. In August 1969, Branch attended the first Chicago Blues Festival, which was produced by Willie Dixon. Six years later, after graduating from the University of Illinois, he was touring with the Chicago Blues All-Stars, led by Dixon. Branch soon took the place of Carey Bell, Dixon's long time Harp player, when Bell left the All-Stars to form his own band. In the 1970s, Branch founded his own group, the Sons of Blues, with

Lurrie Bell Lurrie Bell (born Lurrie C. Bell, December 13, 1958, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American blues guitarist and singer. His father was renowned blues harmonica player Carey Bell. Career Bell started playing guitar at the age of six ...

(the son of Carey Bell) on guitar and Freddie Dixon (the son of Willie Dixon) on bass guitar. They recorded for

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 ...

and, after a change in personnel, for Red Beans Records. The new band consisted of Carlos Johnson on

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

and J. W. Williams on

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

and

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

. Branch has also recorded for

Verve Records Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simon ...

and Evidence Records. Since then, Branch has played on over 250 different recordings, including 12 under his own name. He has recorded with Willie Dixon, Keb Mo, Johnny Winter, Lou Rawls,

Koko Taylor Koko Taylor (born Cora Anna Walton, September 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009) was an American singer whose style encompassed Chicago blues, electric blues, rhythm and blues and soul blues. Sometimes called "The Queen of the Blues", she was known f ...

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 s ...

Honeyboy Edwards Honey Boy may refer to: People * Honeyboy Edwards (1915–2011), American Delta blues guitarist and singer from Mississippi *George "Honey Boy" Evans George Evans (10 March 1870 – 5 March 1915) known as "Honey Boy" Evans was a Welsh-born songw ...

Syl Johnson Sylvester Johnson (born Sylvester Thompson; July 1, 1936 – February 6, 2022) was an American blues and soul singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. His most successful records included "Different Strokes" (1967), " Is It Because I' ...

, Lurrie Bell, Ronnie Baker Brooks, and

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 ...

. He has received three Grammy nominations (losing one nomination to B.B. King and Eric Clapton). He served two consecutive terms on the Grammy Board of Governors and currently is chairman of the Grammy Blues Committee. He has won multiple Blues Music Awards, an Emmy Award, an Addy Award, two Chicago Music Awards, and numerous humanitarian and achievement awards. The 2007 Chicago Blues Festival honored the 30th anniversary of Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues. Likewise, in 2017 the Chicago Blues Fest celebrated the 40th anniversary of Billy Branch and the SOBs. Branch annually appears at major festivals around the world, including the Montreux Blues Festival, the North Sea Blues Festival, the Cognac Blues Festivals and

Long Beach Blues Festival The Long Beach Blues Festival, in Long Beach, California, United States, was established in full in 1980, and was one of the largest blues festivals and was the second oldest on the West Coast (first being the San Francisco Blues Festival). It ...

, the Chicago Blues Festival, 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 ...

and the North Sea Jazz Festival. The current lineup of the Sons of Blues consists of Branch (harmonica and vocals), Andrew "Blaze" Thomas. (drums and vocals), Sumito Ariyoshi (keyboards and vocals), Marvin Little (bass and vocals), and Giles Corey (guitar and vocals). His 2019 recording, ''Roots and Branches: The Songs of Little Walter'', was chosen as a 'Favorite Blues Album' by

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 databa ...

. He can also be seen in several

Playing for Change Playing For Change is a multimedia music project, featuring musicians and singers from across the globe, co-founded in 2002 by American Grammy award-winning music producer/engineer and award-winning film director Mark Johnson and film producer/ph ...

music clips."Billy Branch"
Playing for Change

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branch, Billy Harmonica blues musicians Chicago blues musicians Blues musicians from Illinois American blues harmonica players American blues singers Electric blues musicians 1951 births Living people People from Great Lakes, Illinois Alligator Records artists

Early life and career

See also

References