Edward Riley Boyd (November 25, 1914 – July 13, 1994)Dahl, Bill. Eddie Boyd: Biography AllMusic. Retrieved October 13, 2016. was 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 ...

pianist, singer and songwriter, best known for his recordings in the early 1950s, including the number one

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

hit "

Five Long Years "Five Long Years" is a song written and recorded by blues vocalist and pianist Eddie Boyd in 1952. Called one of the "few postwar blues standards hat hasretained universal appeal", Boyd's "Five Long Years" reached number one on the '' Billboa ...

Life and career

Boyd was born either on Stovall's Plantation, near

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establishe ...

, or on Frank Moore's Plantation, near

Stovall, Mississippi Stovall, also known as Prarieville, is an unincorporated community in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States, along Mississippi Highway 1, north of Sherard and approximately south of Friars Point. History Stovall is named after the Stovall ...

. He learned to play the guitar and the piano. His piano playing was influenced by the styles of

Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper". Career Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...

and

Leroy Carr Leroy Carr (March 27, 1904 or 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. Mus ...

. Boyd moved to the

Beale Street Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, t ...

district of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, in 1936, where he played with his group, the Dixie Rhythm Boys. He then joined the Great Migration of African Americans north to the factories of Chicago in 1941. He recorded for

Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is a record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of kids' music, blues and jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. It was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced RCA Victor subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebird became known ...

, accompanying such musicians as Sonny Boy Williamson,

Jazz Gillum William McKinley "Jazz" Gillum (September 11, 1902 or 1904 – March 29, 1966) was an American blues harmonica player. Biography Gillum was born in Indianola, Mississippi. He ran away from home at age seven and for the next few years lived in ...

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

Tampa Red Hudson Whittaker (born Hudson Woodbridge; January 8, 1903March 19, 1981), known as Tampa Red, was a Chicago blues musician. His distinctive single-string slide guitar style, songwriting and bottleneck technique influenced other Chicago blues gu ...

, before making his first recordings under his own name, in 1947. He decided to produce his own recordings, and took two

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * plural for Demo (computer programming) ...

to Joe Brown at J.O.B. Records, who agreed to re-record the tracks. In May 1952 he recorded "

", which became a huge hit, topping the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

for seven weeks late in the year. He signed with

Parrot Records Parrot Records was an American record label, a division of London Records, which started in 1964. The label usually licensed (or leased) recordings made by Decca Records, England, for release in the United States and Canada, most notably by the ...

, which then sold his contract to Chess Records. Boyd had two further hits for Chess in 1953, "24 Hours" and "Third Degree" (co-written by Willie Dixon), both of which reached number three on the R&B chart. He went on to record for a series of smaller labels in the 1950s, but an automobile accident in 1957 in which he was injured put his career on hold for a while. Boyd toured Europe with

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...

's band in 1965 as part of the

American Folk Blues Festival The American Folk Blues Festival was a music festival that toured Europe as an annual event for several years beginning in 1962. It introduced audiences in Europe, including the UK, to leading blues performers of the day such as Muddy Waters, Howl ...

. He later toured and recorded with

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

and

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are an English blues rock band led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall. While never producing a hit of their own, the band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues ...

. Unhappy with the racial discrimination faced in the United States, Boyd moved to Belgium, where he recorded with the Dutch band

Cuby and the Blizzards Cuby + Blizzards, also known as Cuby & the Blizzards, were a Dutch blues group, founded in 1964 by vocalist Harry Muskee and guitarist Eelco Gelling.Larkin C ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'' (Muze UK Ltd, 1997) p 137 During the 1960s, ...

. He moved again, in 1970, to

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland, where he continued to perform and recorded ten blues records, the first being ''Praise to Helsinki'' (1970). He married his wife, Leila, in 1977. Boyd died in 1994 at the Meilahti Hospital in Helsinki. He was buried in the St. Lawrence Church's cemetery in

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...

.Eddie Boyd's Grave – Finnish Blues Magazine's Blues News
(in Finnish) A few months later,

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

's chart-topping blues album ''

From the Cradle ''From the Cradle'' is the twelfth solo studio album by Eric Clapton released on 13 September 1994 by Warner Bros. Records. A blues cover album and Clapton's follow-up to his successful 1992 live album, ''Unplugged,'' it is his only UK numbe ...

'', which includes interpretations of Boyd's "Five Long Years" and "Third Degree", was released.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Five Long Years'' ( Fontana, 1966) *''Praise the Blues - Cuby + Blizzards & Eddie Boyd'' (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, 1967) *''Eddie Boyd and His Blues Band Featuring Peter Green'' (

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

, 1967) *''7936 South Rhodes'' ( Blue Horizon, 1968) *''Praise to Helsinki'' (

Love Records Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent directo ...

, 1970) *''The Legacy of the Blues'', vol. 10 (

Sonet Synchronous optical networking (SONET) and synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) are standardized protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams synchronously over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diode ...

, 1974) *''Brotherhood'' (Finnish Blues Society, 1975) *''My Lady'' (Lobo, 1978) *''Soulful'' (Magic Angel, 1980) *''A Sad Day'' (Paris, 1980) *''Lover's Playground'' (Stockholm, 1984)

Live album

*''Eddie Boyd Live'' ( Storyville, 1976)

Compilations

*''Vacation from the Blues'' (Jefferson, 1976) *''Rattin' and Runnin' Around'' (Crown Prince, 1981) *''No More of This Third Degree'' (

Teldec Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group. History Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...

, 1982) *''The Best of Eddie Boyd'' (

P-Vine P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

, 1984) *''Third Degree'' (Orbis/

Charly ''Charly'' (marketed and stylized as ''CHAЯLY'') is a 1968 American drama film directed and produced by Ralph Nelson and written by Stirling Silliphant. It is based on ''Flowers for Algernon'', a science-fiction short story (1958) and subseque ...

, 1993) *''The Complete Recordings'', vols. 1 and 2 ( EPM, 2001, 2004) *''Eddie Boyd in Finland'' ( Blue North, 2005) *''The Blues Is Here to Stay'' ( Jasmine, 2013) *''Vacation from the Blues'' (Mojo, 2015)

Charting singles

" ( J.O.B., 1952) *"24 Hours" (

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

, 1953) *"Third Degree" (Chess, 1953)

Guest appearances

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 ...

*'' Give Me Time'' (Delmark, 1991; recorded 1968)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Eddie 1914 births 1994 deaths Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi Chicago blues musicians American blues pianists American male pianists Blues musicians from Mississippi African-American pianists Columbia Records artists Chess Records artists 20th-century American pianists People from Shelby, Mississippi American expatriates in Finland Deaths in Finland 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American musicians