Little Sonny (born Aaron Willis; October 6, 1932, in
Greensboro, Alabama) is an American
electric blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter.
His early mentor and inspiration was
Sonny Boy Williamson II. Nevertheless, Little Sonny stated that his nickname was originated by his mother: "
hecalled me 'Sonny boy' from the time I can remember."
He has released eight albums, including three for a subsidiary of
Stax Records.
His 1973 release, ''Hard Goin' Up'', reached the
Top 50 in 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 ...
''
R&B chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
.
Biography
Willis was born in 1932 and raised solely by his mother.
He relocated to Detroit in 1953.
He had no real interest in music, he said, "But then I saw
Sonny Boy Williamson II." Willis was "spellbound at the way he played. After the show I went home and practiced for hours. Every day after that I would practice until I got the sound I wanted." His daytime job was working in a
used car lot.
His first professional appearance was at the Good Times Bar in Detroit, playing in
Washboard Willie
William Paden Hensley (July 24, 1906 or 1909 – August 24, 1991), known as Washboard Willie, was an American Detroit blues musician, who specialised in playing the washboard. He recorded tracks including "A Fool on a Mule in the Middle of The ...
's backing group. He put together his first band in March 1956.
For the following fifteen years he performed in numerous Detroit
clubs
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises
...
, often boosting his earnings by
photographing customers between his performances on stage.
He often performed with
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...
,
Eddie Kirkland and
Baby Boy Warren
Baby Boy Warren (August 13, 1919 – July 1, 1977) was an American blues singer and guitarist who was a leading figure on the Detroit blues scene in the 1950s.
Early life
He was born Robert Henry Warren in Lake Providence, Louisiana, in 1919, a ...
.
Another club stalwart,
Eddie "Guitar" Burns, accompanied him on Little Sonny's debut single, "I Gotta Find My Baby" (1958), released by
Duke Records
Duke Records was an American record label, started in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1952 by David James Mattis (WDIA program director and DJ) and Bill Fitzgerald, owners of Tri-State Recording Company. Their first release was Roscoe Gordon singing "Hey ...
. It was co-written by Little Sonny's wife, Maggie.
His follow-up release, "Love Shock", was for
Excello Records.
He received $25 for that track. He then established his own label, Speedway Records, and sold enough copies of his next single, "The Mix Up", to pay his production costs.
Home-recording his own tracks, in 1966 he leased "The Creeper" and "Latin Soul" to Revilot Records.
A later track, "Sonny's Bag", became his first
Top 20 hit in Detroit. By late 1969, Little Sonny recorded his debut album, the predominantly
instrumental ''New King of Blues Harmonica,'' which he cut in less than six hours.
It was released by Enterprise, a subsidiary of
Stax Records.
Despite their reputation for
soul music productions, Little Sonny released three albums for the label in the early 1970s. He also briefly appeared in the Stax stadium
concert film, ''
Wattstax''.
''Black & Blue'' (1971) and ''Hard Goin' Up'' (1973) followed, with Little Sonny using an Old Standby 34B harmonica.
A lean period ensued, until the British label
Sequel Records issued ''Sonny Side Up'' in 1995. His accompanists included the keyboard player Rudy Robinson, a regular session musician in Detroit in the 1960s and 1970s, and the guitarist Aaron Willis, Jr., Little Sonny's son, who had both played on ''Hard Goin' Up'' over 20 years earlier.
Little Sonny performed at
Black Hills State University on June 24, 2000.
His photograph collection, housed in the basement of his Detroit home, includes shots of John Lee Hooker, Eddie "Guitar" Burns, Eddie Kirkland,
Joe Hunter,
Eddie Willis,
Bobby Bland, Washboard Willie, and Sonny Boy Williamson II. Little Sonny performed on October 4, 2008, at the Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival, in Detroit, with Eddie "Guitar" Burns,
Otis Clay and
Bobby Rush.
Discography
*''New King of Blues Harmonica'' (1970), Enterprise/
Stax
*''Black & Blue'' (1971), Enterprise/Stax (reissued in 1992)
*''Hard Goin' Up'' (1973), Enterprise/Stax (number 42, ''
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 ...
''
R&B chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
)
*''Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, Vol. 2: Blues with a Feeling'' (1995), Schoolkids (live album)
*''Sonny Side Up'' (1995),
Sequel (UK)
*''Blues with a Feeling'' (1996), Sequel (UK)
*''Live in Japan 1994'' (1997),
P-Vine
*''The Best Love I've Ever Had'' (2003), P-Vine
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Sonny
1932 births
Living people
American blues harmonica players
American blues singers
American male singers
American male songwriters
Blues musicians from Alabama
Detroit blues musicians
Harmonica blues musicians
People from Greensboro, Alabama
Songwriters from Alabama