Bob Stroger (born December 27, 1930) is an American

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930 ...

bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has worked with many blues musicians, including Eddie King, Otis Rush,

Jimmy Rogers Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and recorded several pop ...

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Sunnyland Slim Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906March 17, 1995), "Blues pianist and singer Sunnyland Slim was born Albert Luandrew in Vance, Mississippi, September 5, 1906 (most sources say 1907, but the Social Security Death Index and 1920 census data give t ...

Louisiana Red Iverson Minter (March 23, 1932 – February 25, 2012), known as Louisiana Red, was an American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who recorded more than 50 albums. He was best known for his song "Sweet Blood Call". Biography Born ...

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 ...

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, Odie Payne,

Fred Below Frederick Below, Jr. (September 6, 1926 – August 13, 1988) was an American blues drummer, best known for his work with Little Walter and Chess Records in the 1950s. According to Tony Russell, Below was a creator of much of the rhythmic struc ...

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, and

Billy Davenport Billy Davenport (April 23, 1931 – December 24, 1999) was an American drummer known for his work with blues musicians such as Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, and Paul Butterfield. He played on the Butterfield album '' Eas ...

. In 2011 and 2013, Stroger was granted a Blues Music Award as Best Blues Bassist.

Life and career

Stroger was born on a farm outside of

Hayti, Missouri Hayti (pronounced "HAY-tie") is a city in eastern Pemiscot County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,493 at the 2020 census. History Hayti was platted in 1894, when the railroad was extended to that point. According to one tradition, ...

. In 1955, at the age of 16, he relocated with his family to

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 state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. His family settled on the West Side, in an apartment in back of Silvio's

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

. Stroger was inspired by the sights and sounds from the club. He was further encouraged to try for a career in music, after being employed driving his brother-in-law to play in a blues band with J. B. Hutto. A self-taught guitarist, he formed a family-based band, the Red Tops (the band members wore black berets with a red circle daubed on top). Willie Kent was drafted to boost their proficiency, and the combo was renamed Joe Russell and the Blues Hustlers (Stroger had adopted the stage name Joe Russell, but the name did not endure). He went on to play

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

with Rufus Forman, but it was his meeting with Eddie King which started his lengthy career playing blues. Having started playing the bass guitar, Stroger played on King's single "Love You Baby" (1965). He backed King for fifteen years before King relocated, after which Stroger stopped playing for a couple of years. His interest was rekindled when he was recommended to Otis Rush, whom he backed in the late 1970s and 1980s. He toured Europe with Rush and played on two of his albums, ''Live in Europe'' and ''Lost in the Blues''. Stroger next was a session musician for a while. He worked with

and

in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He then joined Odie Payne in the regular rhythm section for the series of American Blues Folk Festivals. Encouraged by Sunnyland Slim, Stroger began singing and writing his own material. In 1996, Stroger played on

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 album, ''Heart of Chicago''. In 1997, he played bass on Golden "Big" Wheeler's album ''Jump In''. The following year, he played with a group of musicians at the Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland. This led to the recording of his debut solo album, ''In the House: Live at Lucerne, Vol. 1'', on which he was accompanied by Ken Saydak and Billy Flynn. In 2007, Stroger recorded ''Bob Is Back in Town'' in Chicago, backed by Steve Freund (guitar),

(harmonica), Deitra Farr (backing vocals), and Juli Wood (baritone saxophone). The same year he backed Carey Bell on his final recorded work, ''Gettin' Up: Live at Buddy Guy's Legends, Rosa's and Lurrie's Home'' ( Delmark). He also played on Willie "Big Eyes" Smith's albums ''Born in Arkansas'' (2008) and ''Joined at the Hip'' (with

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 ...

, 2010). In 2011, the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs the ...

presented Stroger with a Blues Music Award in the category Best Blues Bassist. He was nominated in the same category in 2013. He won the Best Bassist Award again in 2013.

Discography

Solo albums

Collaboration albums

References

External links