Benjamin Joe "Bennie" Houston (November 6, 1943 – July 11, 1993), known by his stage name of Boston Blackie, was an American

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 ...

guitarist, singer, and bandleader. Houston was born in

Panola, Sumter County, Alabama Panola is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Sumter County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 144. Panola is north-northeast of Geiger. Panola has a post office with ZIP code 35477. The ...

in the

Black Belt Black Belt may refer to: Martial arts * Black belt (martial arts), an indication of attainment of expertise in martial arts * ''Black Belt'' (magazine), a magazine covering martial arts news, technique, and notable individuals Places * Black B ...

. The ninth of eleven children, he grew up in the farmhouse built by his father, a farmer, barber, carpenter, and bricklayer. He began playing guitar by age six. In 1962 he moved to Chicago where three of his brothers had already relocated and formed a band (Sweetman and the Sugar Boys), which he joined. The band broke up following the death of his brother Nathanial, and Houston – briefly taking the stage name Dog Man – worked various gigs as he honed his craft in the 1960s and 1970s. He backed

Johnny B. Moore Johnny B. Moore (born Johnny Belle Moore, January 24, 1950, Clarksdale, Mississippi) is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a member of Koko Taylor's backing band in the mid-1970s. He has recorde ...

and

Lee "Shot" Williams Henry Lee "Shot" Williams (May 21, 1938 – November 25, 2011) was an American blues singer. He got the nickname "Shot" from his mother at a young age, owing to his fondness for wearing suits and dressing up as a "big shot." Biography Williams ...

at the Majestic Lounge,

Little Milton James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include "Baby, I Love ...

at Pepper's Lounge, and played at various times with

Magic Sam Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

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 ...

Freddie King Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Mos ...

Kansas City Red Arthur Lee Stevenson (May 7, 1926 – May 7, 1991), known as Kansas City Red, was an American blues drummer and vocalist who played a major role in the development of urban blues. He performed and recorded with many notable blues artists, such as ...

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 ...

Homesick James Homesick James (April 30, 1910December 13, 2006 was an American blues musician known for his mastery of the slide guitar. He worked with his cousin, Elmore James, and with Sonny Boy Williamson II. Early years Homesick James was born in Somervil ...

Jimmy Dawkins James Henry “Jimmy” Dawkins (October 24, 1936 – April 10, 2013) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He is generally considered to have been a practitioner of the "West Side sound" of Chicago blues. Career ...

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

, and

Eddie Shaw Eddie Shaw (March 20, 1937 – January 29, 2018) was an American Chicago blues tenor saxophonist, arranger and bandleader. He led Howlin' Wolf's band, the Wolf Gang, from 1972, both before Wolf's death in 1976 and subsequently. Biography ...

. His stage name is based on fictional pulp noir hero

Boston Blackie Boston Blackie is a fictional character created by author Jack Boyle (1881–1928). Blackie, a jewel thief and safecracker in Boyle's stories, became a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television—an "enemy to those who make him an ...

; Houston was also exceptionally dark-skinned, given to playfully challenging the audience to send up a blacker person, a game he never lost. Houston developed an aggressive, raw, and hard-edged style, informed by the work of Magic Sam, Otis Rush,

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

, Little Milton, and

Bobby Blue Bland Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was des ...

. He performed at all the

West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...

delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

clubs. At the time of his death his Boston Blackie Blues Band was regularly appearing at Mr. Tee's Lounge, the Delta Fish Market, and the Guess Who Lounge. Houston was shot dead in Chicago by blues singer

Tail Dragger Jones James Yancey Jones (born September 30, 1940), known professionally as Tail Dragger Jones, is an American Chicago blues singer. He has performed since the 1960s and released four albums to date. Jones gained a certain notoriety in 1993, after be ...

. Jones claimed self-defense and that Houston, who claimed that Jones owed him money, had confronted him with a knife, but Jones was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served seventeen months in prison.

Discography

*''Boston Blackie & Otis 'Big Smokey' Smothers – Chicago Blues Session, Volume 1'' (1998, Wolf #120.847). Boston Blackie and Smothers did not play together on the record; rather it is a compilation, consisting of half Boston Blackie tracks and half Smothers tracks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackie, Boston 1943 births 1993 deaths American blues singers Blues musicians from Alabama Chicago blues musicians Electric blues musicians Murdered African-American people American murder victims 20th-century American singers 1993 murders in the United States 20th-century African-American singers