Lovie Lee (March 17, 1909 – May 23, 1997) Various birth years have been reported for Lee, including 1917 and 1923. was 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 ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and

singer 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 ...

. He is best known for his work accompanying

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 ...

. He also recorded a solo album, in 1992. He was the "adoptive stepfather" of the bluesman Carey Bell and thus the "grandfather" of Lurrie Bell.

Biography

He was born Edward Lee Watson in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

, and grew up in Meridian, Mississippi. He taught himself to play the piano and began performing in various churches and at rodeos and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

shows. He had already acquired the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

Lovie from a doting aunt. He found part-time employment playing with the Swinging Cats in the early 1950s. The group included Carey Bell, who Lee took under his "fatherly" protection, and together they moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, in September 1956. Lee worked during the day in a woodworking factory, and for many years played in the evening in numerous Chicago blues

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 ...

s, including Porter's Lounge. He was well known around Chicago for his blues piano playing. He later worked as an upholsterer, but he kept together his backing band, the Sensationals. After he retired from full-time day work, Lee joined

's band in 1979, replacing

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 ...

on the piano. He was recommended to Muddy Waters by George "Mojo" Buford, who had worked with Lee in

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

. Lee stayed with the band until Muddy Waters's death, in 1983, and then returned to playing in Chicago clubs. Lee made some private recordings in 1984 and 1989, and this work plus later contemporary tracks were released as the

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

''Good Candy'' (1992). His backing musicians for the album included

Eddie Taylor Eddie Taylor (January 29, 1923 – December 25, 1985) was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. Biography Born Edward Taylor in Benoit, Mississippi, as a boy Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing ...

, Odie Payne, Carey Bell and Lurrie Bell. Lee died in Chicago in May 1997.

Discography

*''Living Chicago Blues Vol. 3'' (1980),

Alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

*''Good Candy'' (1992),

Earwig Music Company Earwig Music Company is an American blues and jazz independent record label, founded by Michael Frank in October 1978 in Chicago. From 1975 until 1977 Frank was employed by the Jazz Record Mart, like Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records and Jim O ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Lovie 1909 births 1997 deaths African-American pianists American blues pianists American male pianists American blues singers Singers from Tennessee People from Chattanooga, Tennessee Songwriters from Tennessee Chicago blues musicians Electric blues musicians Songwriters from Illinois 20th-century American pianists Earwig Music artists Alligator Records artists African-American male songwriters 20th-century African-American male singers

Biography

Discography

See also

References