Category: Blues Birthdays
Blues Icon Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon – Bassist, Singer and Composer – Born July 1, 1915
Today is the 101st anniversary of the birth of Willie Dixon(July 1, 1915 – January 29, 1992) and I bet somewhere on almost every night of the year someone is playing one of the 500 songs that he wrote! It could be a jazz, blues or rock artist because Willie’s songs appeal to lovers of many genres. He was one of the two artists, the other Muddy Waters, that were the most influential in shaping the sound of Chicago blues in the post World War II years, as well as, rock and roll in the 50s and 60s. I think that my first introduction to the blues of Dixon was Cream’s cover of “Spoonful”, wait maybe it was The Doors “Back Door Man” or maybe Led Zeppelin “I Can’t Quit You” but it was probably Johnnie Rivers covering “Seventh Son” and I didn’t even know it!! Well, you get the picture. Here’s a link to a list songs of Willie Dixon, along with the artists who cover them!! From Wikipedia some of the songs…..
Sonny Terry – Blues Harp Master!!
B.B. King – Blues Icon – Born September 16, 1925
B.B. King – Blues -Born near the town of Itta Bena, Mississippi
(September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015)
Back in May of this year the music world lost the legendary blues boy Riley B.B. King at the age of 89. Today September 16th, B B King would have turned 90! An autopsy performed on the musician, because two of his daughters alleged that he had been poisoned, revealed that King had died of complications of Alzheimer’s disease and congestive heart failure, with no evidence of poisoning. The following was posted last year at Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries…..
Albert King – A “King of the Blues”
Albert King “The Velvet Bulldozer” (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992)
On April 25th in 1923, alphabetically the first of the “Three Kings” of Blues Albert King was born. Albert had a major impact on the blues and rock music. On December 11th, 2012, it was announced that King would be posthumously inducted into the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was never a big Abert King fan in the 70s or 80s. It has only been in the last several years that I really became aware of his impact on blues and rock music. I think that he gets lost in the shadow of B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. And that is kind’a hard when you’re big as he was! From Wikipedia:
Today in Music – B B King was born!!
John Lee Hooker’s birthday!! (August 22, 1917)
This Date in Music – August 7, 1937 – Blues Guitarist Magic Slim was born!!
On this date August 7th in 1937, Morris Holt, better known as Magic Slim was born at Torrance, near Grenada, Mississippi. Magic Slim followed Muddy Water and Howlin’ Wolf to Chicago and became a force in the Chicago blues scene. I discovered his music when I started the blog Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries. Here’s my post about Magic Slim from 2o1o…..after this post Slim released one more album Bad Boy (2012) prior to his passing in February of 2013. From Wikipedia….
Today in Music – July 1, 1915 – Blues Icon Willie Dixon was born!!
Today is the 99th anniversary of the birth of Willie Dixon(July 1, 1915 – January 29, 1992) and I bet somewhere on almost every night of the year someone is
playing one of the 500 songs that he wrote! It could be a jazz, blues or rock artist because Willie’s songs appeal to lovers of many genres. He was one of the two artists, the other Muddy Waters, that were the most influential in shaping the sound of Chicago blues in the post World War II years, as well as, rock and roll in the 50s and 60s. I think that my first introduction to the blues of Dixon was Cream’s cover of “Spoonful”, wait maybe it was The Doors “Back Door Man” or maybe Led Zeppelin “I Can’t Quit You” but it was probably Johnnie Rivers covering “Seventh Son” and I didn’t even know it!! Well, you get the picture. Here’s a link to a list songs of Willie Dixon, along with the artists who cover them!! From Wikipedia some of the songs…..
