List of blues musicians
Encyclopedia
Performers in the blues
style range from primitive, one-chord Delta players to big band
s to country music
to rock and roll
to classical music.
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
style range from primitive, one-chord Delta players to big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
s to country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
to rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
to classical music.
Early country blues
Name | Birth year | Death year |
---|---|---|
Black Ace Black Ace Black Ace was the most frequently used stage name of the American Texas blues musician, Babe Kyro Lemon Turner , who was also known as B.K... |
1907 | 1972 |
Pink Anderson Pink Anderson "Pink" Anderson was a blues singer and guitarist, born in Laurens, South Carolina.-Life and career:After being raised in Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina, he joined Dr... |
1900 | 1974 |
Kokomo Arnold Kokomo Arnold Kokomo Arnold was an American blues musician.Born as James Arnold in Lovejoy's Station, Georgia, he got his nickname in 1934 after releasing "Old Original Kokomo Blues" for the Decca label; it was a cover of the Scrapper Blackwell blues song about the city of Kokomo, Indiana... |
1901 | 1968 |
Lead Belly | 1889 | 1949 |
Scrapper Blackwell Scrapper Blackwell Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell was an American blues guitarist and singer; best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was an acoustic single-note picker in the Chicago blues and Piedmont blues style, with some critics noting... |
1903 | 1962 |
Blind Blake Blind Blake "Blind" Blake was an American blues and ragtime singer and guitarist.-Biography:... |
1895 | 1937 |
Barbecue Bob Barbecue Bob Robert Hicks, better known as Barbecue Bob was an early American Piedmont blues musician. His nickname came from the fact that he was a cook in a barbecue restaurant. One of the two extant photographs of Bob show him playing his guitar while wearing a full length white apron and cook's hat.-Early... |
1902 | 1931 |
Son Bonds Son Bonds Son Bonds was an American country blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a working associate of both Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon, and was similar in his guitar playing style... |
1909 | 1947 |
Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences... |
1893 | 1958 |
Gabriel Brown Gabriel Brown Gabriel Brown was an American Piedmont blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:Brown was born in Florida, and graduated from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College. In 1934, Brown performed at the first National Folk Festival in St. Louis, Missouri. He was musically discovered by folklorist... |
1910 | 1972 |
Kitty Brown Kitty Brown Kitty Brown was an American classic female blues singer. She sometimes used the pseudonyms of Bessie Williams , Jane White, Dixie Gray, Rosa Green and Mazie Leroy. Brown was active as a recording artist from 1923 to the mid 1930s. Her best known tracks were "I Wanna Jazz Some More" and "It's... |
unknown | unknown |
Rabbit Brown Rabbit Brown Richard "Rabbit" Brown was an American blues guitarist and composer. His music was characterized by a mixture of blues, pop songs, and original topical ballads. He recorded six record sides for Victor Records on May 11, 1927.... |
1880 | 1937 |
Willie Brown Willie Brown (musician) Willie Brown was an American delta blues guitarist and singer.- Life and career :Born Willie Lee Brown in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Brown played with such notables as Charley Patton, and Robert Johnson. He was not known to be a self-promoting frontman, preferring to "second" other musicians... |
1900 | 1952 |
Gus Cannon Gus Cannon Gus Cannon was an American blues musician, who helped to popularize jug bands in the 1920s and 1930s. There is doubt about his birth year; his tombstone gives the date as 1874.... |
1883 | 1979 |
Alice Leslie Carter Alice Leslie Carter Alice Leslie Carter was an American classic female blues singer. She was active as a recording artist in the early 1920s, and her best known tracks were "Decatur Street Blues", and "Aunt Hagar's Children Blues." Although Carter was a contemporary of better known recording artists of the time, such... |
unknown | unknown |
Sam Collins Sam Collins (musician) Sam Collins who was sometimes known as Crying Sam Collins and also, according to one authoritative website, as Jim Foster, Jelly Roll Hunter, Big Boy Woods, Bunny Carter, and Salty Dog Sam, was an early American blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:He was born in Louisiana, United States, and... |
1887 | 1949 |
Martha Copeland Martha Copeland Martha Copeland was an American classic female blues singer, who recorded thirty four songs between 1923 and 1928. Her best known offerings are "Everybody Does It Now," "Good Time Mama Blues," and "Sorrow Valley Blues." Promoted by Columbia Records as 'Everybody's Mammy', her recordings did not... |
unknown | unknown |
Elizabeth Cotten Elizabeth Cotten Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten was an American blues and folk musician, singer, and songwriter.A self-taught left-handed guitarist, Cotten developed her own original style. Her approach involved using a right-handed guitar , not re-strung for left-handed playing, essentially, holding a right-handed... |
1895 | 1987 |
Floyd Council Floyd Council Floyd Council was an American blues guitarist and singer. He became a well-known practitioner of the Piedmont blues sound from that area, popular throughout the southeastern region of the US in the 1930s.... |
1911 | 1976 |
Ida Cox Ida Cox Ida Cox was an African American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and recordings... |
1896 | 1967 |
Reverend Gary Davis Reverend Gary Davis Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was an American blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo and harmonica... |
1896 | 1972 |
Madlyn Davis Madlyn Davis Madlyn Davis was an American classic female blues singer. She was active as a recording artist in the late 1920s, and her best known tracks were "Kokola Blues" and "It's Red Hot"... |
unknown | unknown |
Mattie Delaney Mattie Delaney Mattie Delaney was an American delta blues singer and guitarist. She was active in the 1930s with only two known recordings: "Down the Big Road Blues," and "Tallahatchie River Blues."-Career:... |
1905 | unknown |
Little Buddy Doyle Little Buddy Doyle Little Buddy Doyle was an American Memphis and country blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a working associate of Big Walter Horton and Hammie Nixon.... |
1911 | unknown |
Archie Edwards Archie Edwards Archie Edwards was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, who in a sporadic career spanning several decades, worked variously with Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, and John Jackson. His best known tracks included "Saturday Night Hop", "The Road is Rough and Rocky", and "I Called My Baby Long... |
1918 | 1998 |
Sleepy John Estes Sleepy John Estes John Adam Estes , best known as Sleepy John Estes or Sleepy John, was a American blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, born in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee.-Career:... |
1904 | 1977 |
William Ezell William Ezell William Ezell was an American blues, jazz, ragtime and boogie-woogie pianist and occasional singer. He was also billed as Will Ezell, and was a regular participant in recordings made by Paramount Records in the late 1920s and early 1930s... |
1892 | 1963 |
Blind Boy Fuller Blind Boy Fuller Blind Boy Fuller was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists with rural Black Americans, a group that also included Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss.-Life and career:Fulton Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina,... |
1908 | 1941 |
Jesse Fuller Jesse Fuller Jesse Fuller was an American one-man band musician, best known for his song "San Francisco Bay Blues".-Early life:... |
1896 | 1976 |
Jazz Gillum Jazz Gillum William McKinley Gillum , known as Jazz Gillum, was an American blues harmonica player.He was born in Indianola, Mississippi. After running away from home at the age of seven, Gillum spent the next few years in Charleston, Mississippi, working and playing for tips on local street corners... |
1904 | 1966 |
Lillian Glinn Lillian Glinn Lillian Glinn was an American classic female blues and country blues singer and songwriter. She spent most of her career in black vaudeville... |
c.1902 | unknown |
Ida Goodson Ida Goodson Ida Goodson was an American classic female blues and jazz singer plus pianist.-Biography:Goodson was born in Pensacola, Florida, the youngest of seven sisters, six of whom survived to adulthood. Her father and mother both played piano... |
1909 | 2000 |
Coot Grant Coot Grant Coot Grant was an American classic female blues, country blues, and vaudeville, singer and songwriter. Her own stage craft, plus the double act with her husband and musical partner, Wesley "Kid" Wilson, was popular with African American audiences in the 1910s, 1920s and early 1930s.-Biography:One... |
1893 | unknown |
Arvella Gray Arvella Gray Blind Arvella Gray was an American blues, folk and gospel singer and guitarist.His birth name was James Dixon, and he was born in Somerville, Texas, United States... |
1906 | 1980 |
Shirley Griffith Shirley Griffith Shirley Griffith was an American blues singer and guitarist, mainly based in Indianapolis. He is best known for his recordings, "Walkin' Blues" and "Bad Luck Blues".... |
1908 | 1974 |
Hattie Hart Hattie Hart Hattie Hart was an American Memphis blues singer and songwriter. She was active as a recording artist in the late 1920s to the mid 1930s, and her best known tracks were "I Let My Daddy Do That" and "Coldest Stuff in Town". Hart worked both as a solo artist, and previously as a singer with the... |
unknown | unknown |
Silas Hogan Silas Hogan Silas Hogan was an American blues musician. Hogan most notably recorded "Airport Blues" and "Lonesome La La", was the front man of the Rhythm Ramblers, and became an inductee in the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame.... |
1911 | 1994 |
Smokey Hogg Smokey Hogg Andrew 'Smokey' Hogg was an American post-war Texas and country blues musician.-Life and career:Hogg was born near Westconnie, Texas, United States and grew up on the farm and was taught to play guitar by his father Frank Hogg. While still in his teens he teamed up with a the slide guitarist and... |
1914 | 1960 |
Lightnin' Hopkins Lightnin' Hopkins Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas... |
1912 | 1982 |
Son House Son House Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music... |
1902 | 1988 |
Peg Leg Howell Peg Leg Howell Joshua Barnes Howell, known as Peg Leg Howell , was an African American blues singer and guitarist, who connected early country blues and the later 12-bar style... |
1888 | 1966 |
Alberta Hunter Alberta Hunter Alberta Hunter was an American blues singer, songwriter, and nurse. Her career had started back in the early 1920s, and from there on, she became a successful jazz and blues recording artist, being critically acclaimed to the ranks of Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith... |
1895 | 1984 |
Mississippi John Hurt Mississippi John Hurt John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine... |
1893 | 1966 |
Jim Jackson Jim Jackson (musician) Jim Jackson was an African American blues and hokum singer, songster and guitarist, whose recordings in the late 1920s were popular and influential on later artists.-Career:... |
1884 | 1937 |
John Jackson John Jackson (blues musician) John Jackson was an American Piedmont blues musician; his music did not become primary until his accidental "discovery" by folklorist Chuck Perdue in the 1960s... |
1924 | 2002 |
Skip James Skip James Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter, born in Bentonia, Mississippi, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.... |
1902 | 1969 |
Blind Lemon Jefferson Blind Lemon Jefferson "Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues".... |
1893 | 1929 |
Blind Willie Johnson Blind Willie Johnson "Blind" Willie Johnson was an American singer and guitarist, whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals.... |
1897 | 1945 |
Lonnie Johnson Lonnie Johnson Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson was an American blues and jazz singer/guitarist and songwriter who pioneered the role of jazz guitar and is recognized as the first to play single-string guitar solos... |
1894 | 1970 |
Mary Johnson Mary Johnson (singer) Mary Johnson was an American classic female blues singer, accordionist and songwriter. Her most noted tracks were "Dream Daddy Blues" and "Western Union Blues." She wrote a number of her own tracks including "Barrel House Flat Blues", "Key To The Mountain Blues" and "Black Men Blues." Johnson... |
1900 | 1970 |
Robert Johnson Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson was an American blues singer and musician. His landmark recordings from 1936–37 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced later generations of musicians. Johnson's shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given... |
1911 | 1938 |
Tommy Johnson | 1896 | 1956 |
Lottie Kimbrough Lottie Kimbrough Lottie Kimbrough was an American country blues singer, who was also billed as Lottie Kimborough, Lottie Beaman, and Lena Kimbrough . Kimbrough was a large woman, and was nicknamed "the Kansas City Butterball"... |
1900 | unknown |
Rubin Lacey Rubin Lacey Rubin "Rube" Lacey was an American country blues musician, who played guitar and was a singer and songwriter.Lacey was born in Pelahatchie, Mississippi, United States, and learned guitar in his teens from an older performer, George Hendrix. Working out of the Jackson area in the Mississippi Delta,... |
1901 | 1969 |
Furry Lewis Furry Lewis Furry Lewis was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. Lewis was one of the first of the old-time blues musicians of the 1920s to be brought out of retirement, and given a new lease of recording life, by the folk blues revival of the 1960s.-Life and... |
1899 | 1981 |
Charley Lincoln Charley Lincoln Charley Lincoln , was an early American country blues musician. He often recorded with his brother Robert Hicks .... |
1900 | 1963 |
Mance Lipscomb Mance Lipscomb Mance Lipscomb was an American blues singer, guitarist and songster. Born Beau De Glen Lipscomb near Navasota, Texas, United States, he as a youth took the name of 'Mance' from a friend of his oldest brother Charlie .-Biography:Lipscomb was born April 9, 1895 to an ex-slave father from Alabama and... |
1895 | 1976 |
Virginia Liston Virginia Liston Virginia Liston was an American classic female blues and jazz singer. She spent most of her career in black vaudeville. Liston recorded "You Can Dip Your Bread In My Gravy, But You Can't Have None Of My Chops," and "Just Take One Long Last Lingering Look." She worked with her then husband, Samuel H... |
1890 | 1932 |
Robert Lockwood, Jr. | 1915 | 2006 |
Cripple Clarence Lofton Cripple Clarence Lofton Cripple Clarence Lofton , born Albert Clemens in Kingsport, Tennessee, was a noted boogie-woogie pianist and singer.... |
1887 | 1957 |
Eddie Mapp Eddie Mapp Eddie Mapp was an American country blues harmonicist. He is best known for his accompaniment on record of both Barbecue Bob and Curley Weaver.-Biography:... |
1910 | 1931 |
Mississippi Fred McDowell Fred McDowell Fred McDowell known by his stage name; Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American Hill country blues singer and guitar player.-Career:... |
1904 | 1972 |
Brownie McGhee Brownie McGhee Walter Brown McGhee was a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.-Life and career:... |
1915 | 1996 |
Blind Willie McTell Blind Willie McTell Blind Willie McTell , was an influential Piedmont and ragtime blues singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues, although, unlike his contemporaries, he used exclusively a twelve-string guitar... |
1901 | 1959 |
Big Maceo Merriweather Big Maceo Merriweather Big Maceo Merriweather was an American Chicago blues pianist and singer, active in Chicago in the 1940s.-Career:... |
1905 | 1953 |
Hazel Meyers Hazel Meyers Hazel Meyers was an American classic female blues and country blues singer. She spent most of her career in black vaudeville, although on recordings she was billed as a blues artist... |
unknown | unknown |
Memphis Minnie Memphis Minnie Memphis Minnie was an American blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist.-Career:... |
1897 | 1973 |
Buddy Moss Buddy Moss Eugene "Buddy" Moss was, in the estimation of many blues scholars, one of two the most influential East Coast blues guitarists to record in the period between Blind Blake's final sessions in 1932 and Blind Boy Fuller's debut in 1935... |
1914 | 1984 |
Charlie Patton Charlie Patton Charlie Patton , better known as Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician. He is considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", and is credited with creating an enduring body of American music and personally inspiring just about every Delta blues man... |
1891 | 1934 |
Buster Pickens Buster Pickens Buster Pickens was an American blues pianist. Pickens is best known for his work accompanying Alger "Texas" Alexander and Lightnin' Hopkins, although he did record a solo album in 1960.-Biography:... |
1916 | 1964 |
Joe Pullum Joe Pullum Joe Pullum was an American Texas blues singer and songwriter.-Biography:Pullum, a Houston-born nightclub singer, was one of the more obscure blues stars. He was accompanied on his few recordings by two pianists; Rob Cooper on his earlier discs, and Andy Boy on his later efforts... |
1905 | 1964 |
Ma Rainey Ma Rainey Ma Rainey was one of the earliest known American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. She was billed as The Mother of the Blues.... |
1886 | 1939 |
Bull City Red Bull City Red Bull City Red was an American, Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and predominately washboard player, most associated with Blind Boy Fuller and the Reverend Gary Davis... |
unknown | unknown |
Piano Red Piano Red William "Willie" Lee Perryman , usually known professionally as Piano Red and later in life as Dr. Feelgood, was an American blues musician, the first to hit the pop music charts. He was a self-taught pianist who played in the barrelhouse blues style... |
1911 | 1985 |
Tampa Red Tampa Red Tampa Red , born Hudson Woodbridge but known from childhood as Hudson Whittaker, was an American Chicago blues musician.... |
1904 | 1981 |
Walter Roland Walter Roland Walter Roland was an American blues, boogie-woogie and jazz pianist, guitarist and singer, noted for his association with Lucille Bogan, Josh White and Sonny Scott. Music journalist, Gérard Herzhaft, stated that Roland was "a great piano player..... |
1900 | 1970 |
Washboard Sam Washboard Sam Robert Brown , known professionally as Washboard Sam, was an American blues singer and musician.-Biography:... |
1910 | 1966 |
Dan Sane Dan Sane Dan Sane was an American Memphis and country blues guitarist and songwriter. He was a working associate of Frank Stokes and, according to Allmusic journalist, Jason Ankeny, "they had emerged among the most complementary duos in all of the blues, with Sane's flatpicking ideally embellished by... |
1896 | 1956 |
Irene Scruggs Irene Scruggs Irene Scruggs was an American Piedmont blues and country blues singer, who was also billed as Chocolate Brown and Dixie Nolan... |
1901 | 1981 |
Alec Seward Alec Seward Alec Seward was an American Piedmont and country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. Some of his records were released under pseudonyms, such as Guitar Slim, Blues Servant Boy, King Blues and Georgia Slim... |
1902 | 1972 |
Robert Shaw Robert Shaw (blues musician) Robert Shaw was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist, best known for his 1963 album, The Ma Grinder.-Biography:Shaw was born in Stafford, Texas, the son of farm owners Jesse and Hettie Shaw... |
1908 | 1985 |
Bumble Bee Slim Bumble Bee Slim Amos Easton , better known by the stage name Bumble Bee Slim, was an American Piedmont blues musician.-Biography:Easton was born in Brunswick, Georgia, United States... |
1905 | 1968 |
Bessie Smith Bessie Smith Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s... |
1894 | 1937 |
Laura Smith Laura Smith (blues singer) Laura Smith was an American classic female blues and country blues singer. She is best known for her recordings of "Gonna Put You Right In Jail" and her version of "Don't You Leave Me Here". She led Laura Smith and her Wild Cats, and worked with Clarence Williams and Perry Bradford... |
unknown | 1932 |
Charlie Spand Charlie Spand Charlie Spand was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer, noted for his barrelhouse style. Spand was deemed one of the most influential piano players of the 1920s. Little is known of his life outside of music, and his total recordings comprise only thirty three... |
unknown | unknown |
Victoria Spivey Victoria Spivey Victoria Spivey was an American blues singer and songwriter. She is best known for her recordings of "Dope Head Blues" and "Organ Grinder Blues", and Spivey variously worked with her sister, Addie "Sweet Pease" Spivey, and with Bob Dylan, Lonnie Johnson, Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Clarence... |
1908 | 1976 |
Frank Stokes | 1888 | 1955 |
Baby Tate Baby Tate Baby Tate was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, who in a sporadic career spanning five decades, worked variously with guitarists Blind Boy Fuller, Pink Anderson, and Peg Leg Sam... |
1916 | 1972 |
Sonny Terry Sonny Terry Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry was a blind American Piedmont blues musician. He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.-Career:Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia... |
1911 | 1986 |
Henry Thomas Henry Thomas (blues musician) Henry Thomas was an American pre-World War II country blues singer, songster and musician. He was often billed as "Ragtime Texas".-Life and career:Thomas was born in Big Sandy, Texas, United States.... |
1874 | 1930 |
Ramblin' Thomas Ramblin' Thomas Ramblin' Thomas was an American country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. He was the brother of another blues musician, Jesse Thomas. Thomas is best remembered for his slide guitar playing, and recording several pieces in the late 1920s and early 1930s... |
1902 | 1945 |
Henry Townsend Henry Townsend (musician) Henry 'Mule' Townsend was an American blues singer, guitarist and pianist.-Career:Townsend was born in Shelby, Mississippi and grew up in Cairo, Illinois. He left home at the age of nine because of an abusive father and hoboed his way to St. Louis, Missouri... |
1909 | 2006 |
Bessie Tucker Bessie Tucker Bessie Tucker was an American classic female, country, and Texas blues, singer and songwriter. Her best-known songs are "Penitentiary" and "Fryin' Pan Skillet Blues". Little is known of her life outside the music industry. Her known recording history comprised just twenty-four tracks, seven of... |
unknown | unknown |
Sippie Wallace Sippie Wallace Sippie Wallace was an American singer-songwriter. Her early career in local tent shows gained her the billing "The Texas Nightingale". Between 1923 and 1927, she recorded over 40 songs for Okeh Records, many written by herself or her brothers, George and Hersal Thomas... |
1898 | 1986 |
Curley Weaver Curley Weaver Curley James Weaver was an American blues musician, also known as Slim Gordon.-Early years:He was born in Covington, Georgia, United States, and raised on a farm near Porterdale... |
1906 | 1962 |
Casey Bill Weldon Casey Bill Weldon Casey Bill Weldon was an American country blues musician, born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas who later lived and worked in Chicago was known as one of the great early pioneers of the slide guitar. He played upbeat, hokum and country blues tunes, both as a solo artist and as a member of the Memphis Jug... |
1909 | 1967 |
Peetie Wheatstraw Peetie Wheatstraw Peetie Wheatstraw was the name adopted by the singer William Bunch, an influential figure among 1930s blues singers... |
1902 | 1941 |
Bukka White Bukka White Booker T. Washington White , better known as Bukka White, was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. "Bukka" was not a nickname, but a phonetic misspelling of White's given name Booker, by his second record label .-Biography:Born between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi, White was the... |
1909 | 1977 |
Josh White Josh White Joshua Daniel White , better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names "Pinewood Tom" and "Tippy Barton" in the 1930s.... |
1914 | 1969 |
Sonny Boy Williamson II Sonny Boy Williamson II Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills... |
1914 | 1948 |
Ralph Willis Ralph Willis (blues musician) Ralph Willis was an American Piedmont and country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. Some of his Savoy records were released under pseudonyms, such as Alabama Slim, Washboard Pete and Sleepy Joe.-Biography:... |
1910 | 1957 |
Wesley Wilson Wesley Wilson Wesley Wilson was an American blues and jazz singer and songwriter. His own stage craft, plus the double act with his wife and musical partner, Coot Grant, was popular with African American audiences in the 1910s, 1920s and early 1930s.His stage names included Kid Wilson, Jenkins, Socks, and... |
1893 | 1958 |
Early urban blues
Name | Birth year | Death year |
---|---|---|
Gladys Bentley Gladys Bentley Gladys Bentley was an American blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance.-Biography:Bentley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of American George L. Bentley and his wife, a Trinidadian, Mary Mote... |
1907 | 1960 |
Lucille Bogan Lucille Bogan Lucille Bogan was an American blues singer, among the first to be recorded. She also recorded under the pseudonym Bessie Jackson... |
1897 | 1948 |
Bessie Brown Bessie Brown Bessie Brown also known as "The Original" Bessie Brown, was an American classic female blues, jazz, and cabaret singer. She sometimes recorded under the pseudonyms of Sadie Green, Caroline Lee, and possibly Helen Richards. Brown was active as a recording artist from 1925 to 1929... |
1890 | 1955 |
Reverend Gary Davis Reverend Gary Davis Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was an American blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo and harmonica... |
1896 | 1972 |
Georgia Tom Dorsey Thomas A. Dorsey Thomas Andrew Dorsey was known as "the father of black gospel music" and was at one time so closely associated with the field that songs written in the new style were sometimes known as "dorseys." Earlier in his life he was a leading blues pianist known as Georgia Tom.As formulated by Dorsey,... |
1899 | 1993 |
Lil Green Lil Green Lil Green was an American blues singer and songwriter.-Life and career:Originally named Lillian Green, she was born in Mississippi; after the early deaths of her parents, she went to Chicago, Illinois, where she began performing in her teens and where she would make all of her recordings.Green was... |
1919 | 1954 |
Lucille Hegamin Lucille Hegamin Lucille Nelson Hegamin was an American singer and entertainer, and a pioneer African American blues recording artist.-Life and career:... |
1894 | 1970 |
Alberta Hunter Alberta Hunter Alberta Hunter was an American blues singer, songwriter, and nurse. Her career had started back in the early 1920s, and from there on, she became a successful jazz and blues recording artist, being critically acclaimed to the ranks of Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith... |
1895 | 1984 |
Papa Charlie Jackson Papa Charlie Jackson Papa Charlie Jackson was an early American bluesman and songster. He played a hybrid banjo guitar and ukulele, his recording career beginning in 1924... |
c.1890 | 1938 |
Edith North Johnson Edith North Johnson Edith North Johnson was an American classic female blues singer, pianist and songwriter. Her most noted tracks were "Honey Dripper Blues", "Can't Make Another Day" and "Eight Hour Woman". She wrote another of her songs, "Nickel's Worth of Liver Blues".-Biography:Born Edith North, in 1928 she... |
1903 | 1988 |
James "Stump" Johnson James "Stump" Johnson James "Stump" Johnson was an American blues pianist and singer from St. Louis.-Biography:James "Stump" Johnson was the brother of Jesse Johnson, "a prominent black business man," who around 1909 had moved the family from Clarksville, Tennessee, to St. Louis, where he ran a music store and was a... |
1902 | 1969 |
Maggie Jones Maggie Jones (blues musician) Maggie Jones was an American blues singer and pianist, who recorded thirty-eight songs between 1923 and 1926. She was billed as "The Texas Nightingale." Jones is best remembered for her songs, "Single Woman's Blues," "Undertaker's Blues," and "Northbound Blues."-Biography:She was born Fae Barnes... |
c.1900 | unknown |
Whistlin' Alex Moore Whistlin' Alex Moore Whistlin' Alex Moore was an American blues pianist, singer and whistler. He is best remembered for his recordings of "Across The Atlantic Ocean" and "Black Eyed Peas and Hog Jowls."-Early life:... |
1899 | 1989 |
Ma Rainey Ma Rainey Ma Rainey was one of the earliest known American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. She was billed as The Mother of the Blues.... |
1886 | 1939 |
Bessie Smith Bessie Smith Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s... |
1894 | 1937 |
Clara Smith Clara Smith Clara Smith was an American classic female blues singer. She was billed as the "Queen of the Moaners", although Smith actually had a lighter and sweeter voice than her contemporaries and main competitors.-Career:... |
c.1894 | 1935 |
Mamie Smith Mamie Smith -External links:* African American Registry* with photos* with .ram files of her early recordings* NPR special on the selection on "Crazy Blues" to the 2005... |
1883 | 1946 |
Ruby Smith Ruby Smith Ruby Smith was an American classic female blues singer. She was a niece, by marriage, of the better known Bessie Smith, who discouraged Ruby from a recording career. Nevertheless, following Bessie's death in 1937, Ruby went on to record twenty-one sides between 1938 and 1947... |
1903 | 1977 |
Charlie Spand Charlie Spand Charlie Spand was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer, noted for his barrelhouse style. Spand was deemed one of the most influential piano players of the 1920s. Little is known of his life outside of music, and his total recordings comprise only thirty three... |
unknown | unknown |
Walter Vinson Walter Vinson Walter Vinson was an American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks, worked with Bo Chatmon and his brothers, and co-wrote the blues standard, "Sitting on Top of the World"... |
1901 | 1975 |
Sippie Wallace Sippie Wallace Sippie Wallace was an American singer-songwriter. Her early career in local tent shows gained her the billing "The Texas Nightingale". Between 1923 and 1927, she recorded over 40 songs for Okeh Records, many written by herself or her brothers, George and Hersal Thomas... |
1898 | 1986 |
Ethel Waters Ethel Waters Ethel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",... |
1896 | 1977 |
Jabo Williams Jabo Williams Jabo Williams was an African American boogie-woogie and blues pianist and songwriter. His total recorded output was a mere eight sides, which included his two best-known "stunningly primitive" offerings, "Pratt City Blues" and Jab's Blues"... |
unknown | unknown |
Oscar "Buddy" Woods Oscar "Buddy" Woods Oscar "Buddy" Woods was an American Texas blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.Woods, who was an early blues pioneer in lap steel, slide guitar playing, recorded thirty-five tracks between 1930 and 1940. He recorded solo and as part of the duo, the Shreveport Home Wreckers, and with a six/seven... |
c.1895 | 1955 |
Pre-World War II jazz blues
Name | Birth year | Death year |
---|---|---|
Albert Ammons Albert Ammons Albert Ammons was an American pianist. Ammons was a player of boogie-woogie, a bluesy jazz style popular from the late 1930s into the mid 1940s.-Life and career:... |
1907 | 1949 |
Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.... |
1901 | 1971 |
Sidney Bechet Sidney Bechet Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist... |
1897 | 1959 |
Leroy Carr Leroy Carr Leroy Carr 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. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928.-Life and... |
1905 | 1935 |
Walter Davis Walter Davis (blues) Walter Davis was an African American blues singer and pianist.Davis had a rich singing voice that was as expressive as the best of the Delta blues vocalists... |
1912 | 1963 |
Johnny Dodds Johnny Dodds Johnny Dodds was an American New Orleans based jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Dodds was also the older brother of drummer Warren "Baby"... |
1892 | 1940 |
Champion Jack Dupree Champion Jack Dupree William Thomas Dupree, best known as Champion Jack Dupree, was an American blues pianist. His birth date is disputed, given as July 4, July 10, and July 23, in the years 1908, 1909, or 1910. He died on January 21, 1992.-Biography:... |
c.1909 | 1992 |
Ivory Joe Hunter Ivory Joe Hunter Ivory Joe Hunter was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, and pianist. After a series of hits on the US R&B chart starting in the mid 1940s, he became more widely known for his hit recording, "Since I Met You Baby" . He was billed as The Baron of the Boogie, and also known as The... |
1914 | 1974 |
St. Louis Jimmy Oden St. Louis Jimmy Oden James Burke "St. Louis Jimmy" Oden was an American blues vocalist and songwriter.Born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, Oden sang and taught himself to play the piano in childhood. In his teens, he left home to go to St. Louis, Missouri where piano-based blues was prominent... |
1903 | 1977 |
Meade Lux Lewis Meade Lux Lewis Meade Lux Lewis was a American pianist and composer, noted for his work in the boogie-woogie style. His best known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues", has been recorded in various contexts, often in a big band arrangement... |
1905 | 1964 |
Little Brother Montgomery Little Brother Montgomery Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer.... |
c.1906 | 1985 |
Big Maceo Merriweather Big Maceo Merriweather Big Maceo Merriweather was an American Chicago blues pianist and singer, active in Chicago in the 1940s.-Career:... |
1905 | 1953 |
Kansas Joe McCoy Kansas Joe McCoy Kansas Joe McCoy was an African American Delta blues musician and songwriter.-Career:McCoy played music under a variety of stage names but is best known as "Kansas Joe McCoy". Born in Raymond, Mississippi, he was the older brother of the blues accompanist Papa Charlie McCoy... |
1905 | 1950 |
Papa Charlie McCoy Papa Charlie McCoy Charles "Papa Charlie" McCoy was an African American delta blues musician and songwriter.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, McCoy was best known by the nickname 'Papa Charlie'. He became one of the major blues accompanists of his time... |
1909 | 1950 |
Jay McShann Jay McShann Jay McShann was an American Grammy Award-nominated jump blues, mainstream jazz, and swing bandleader, pianist and singer.... |
1916 | 2006 |
Roy Milton Roy Milton Roy Milton was an American R&B and jump blues singer, drummer and bandleader.-Career:Milton's grandmother was a Chickasaw. He was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, United States, and grew up on an Indian reservation before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma... |
1907 | 1983 |
Jelly Roll Morton Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer.... |
1890 | 1941 |
Jimmy Rushing Jimmy Rushing James Andrew Rushing , known as Jimmy Rushing, was an American blues shouter and swing jazz singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.Rushing was known as "Mr... |
1902 | 1972 |
Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes was an American blues musician, also known as "The Honeydripper". He was a successful and prolific cigar-chomping blues piano player, whose rollicking thundering boogie-woogie was highly influential.-Career:Born in Elmar, Arkansas, Sykes grew up near Helena but at age 15, went on... |
1906 | 1983 |
Big Joe Turner Big Joe Turner Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and... |
1911 | 1985 |
Sam Taylor | 1916 | 1990 |
T-Bone Walker T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was one of the most influential pioneers and innovators of the jump blues and electric blues sound. He is the first musician recorded playing blues with the... |
1910 | 1975 |
Postwar blues
Name | Birth year | Death year |
---|---|---|
Mose Allison Mose Allison Mose John Allison, Jr. is an American jazz blues pianist and singer.-Biography:... |
1927 | |
Buster Benton Buster Benton Buster Benton was an American blues guitarist and singer, who played guitar in Willie Dixon's Blues All-Stars, and is best known for his solo rendition of the Dixon-penned song "Spider in My Stew." He was tenacious and in the latter part of his lengthy career, despite the amputation of parts of... |
1932 | 1996 |
Charles Brown Charles Brown (musician) Charles Brown , born in Texas City, Texas was an American blues singer and pianist whose soft-toned, slow-paced blues-club style influenced the development of blues performance during the 1940s and 1950s... |
1922 | 1999 |
Roy Brown Roy Brown (blues musician) Roy James Brown was an American R&B singer, songwriter and musician, who had an influence on the early development of rock and roll music. His "Good Rocking Tonight" was covered by Wynonie Harris, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Pat Boone, and the rock group Montrose. In addition,... |
1925 | 1981 |
George "Mojo" Buford George "Mojo" Buford George "Mojo" Buford was an American blues harmonica player, best known for his work in Muddy Waters' band.-Biography:... |
1929 | 2011 |
Carolina Slim Carolina Slim Carolina Slim was an American Piedmont blues guitarist and singer. His best known tracks were "Black Cat Trail" and "I'll Never Walk in Your Door". He used various pseudonyms during his relatively brief recording career, including Country Paul, Jammin' Jim, Lazy Slim Jim and Paul Howard... |
1923 | 1953 |
Good Rockin' Charles Good Rockin' Charles Good Rockin' Charles was an American Chicago blues and electric blues harmonicist, singer and songwriter. He released one album in his lifetime, and is best known for his work with Johnny "Man" Young, Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers, Arthur "Big Boy" Spires and Jimmy Rogers.-Biography:He was born Henry... |
1933 | 1989 |
Ray Charles Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records... |
1930 | 2004 |
Gary B.B. Coleman Gary B.B. Coleman Gary B.B. Coleman was an American soul blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer.Originally a local-musician turned-blues promoter and session musician, Coleman recorded his debut album in 1986, which was re-released on Ichiban Records... |
1947 | 1994 |
Pee Wee Crayton Pee Wee Crayton Connie Curtis Crayton , known as Pee Wee Crayton, was an American R&B and blues guitarist and singer.-Career:... |
1914 | 1985 |
James Crutchfield James Crutchfield James Crutchfield was an American St. Louis, Missouri based, barrelhouse blues singer, pianist, and songwriter, whose career spanned seven decades... |
1912 | 2001 |
Larry Davis Larry Davis (blues musician) Larry Davis was an American electric Texas blues and soul blues musician. He is best known for co-composing the song "Texas Flood", later recorded to greater commercial success by Stevie Ray Vaughan.-Biography:... |
1936 | 1994 |
Little Sammy Davis Little Sammy Davis Little Sammy Davis is an American blues musician based in New York's Hudson Valley. Although his musical career began in the 1940s, he was not widely known until the mid-1990s when he began working in radio, singing, playing live on tour, and recording studio albums.-Early life and career:Born in... |
1928 | |
Floyd Dixon Floyd Dixon For the American football player see Floyd Dixon Floyd Dixon was an American rhythm and blues pianist and singer.-Biography:... |
1929 | 2006 |
Champion Jack Dupree Champion Jack Dupree William Thomas Dupree, best known as Champion Jack Dupree, was an American blues pianist. His birth date is disputed, given as July 4, July 10, and July 23, in the years 1908, 1909, or 1910. He died on January 21, 1992.-Biography:... |
c.1909 | 1992 |
Bob Gaddy Bob Gaddy Bob Gaddy was an American East Coast blues and rhythm and blues pianist, singer and songwriter. He is best remembered for his recordings of "Operator" and "Rip and Run," and musical work he undertook with Larry Dale, Wild Jimmy Spruill, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.-Biography:Gaddy was born in... |
1924 | 1997 |
Terry Garland Terry Garland Terry Garland is an American blues guitarist, songwriter and singer. Allmusic journalist, Niles J... |
1953 | |
Larry Garner Larry Garner Larry Garner is an American Louisiana blues musician best known for his 1994 album Too Blues.-Biography:... |
1952 | |
James Harman James Harman James Harman is an American blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter. Music journalist, Tony Russell, described Harman as an "amusing songwriter and an excellent, unfussy harp player".-Biography:... |
1946 | |
Wynonie Harris Wynonie Harris Wynonie Harris , born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. With fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952, Harris is generally considered one of rock and roll's forerunners, influencing Elvis Presley... |
1915 | 1969 |
Duke Henderson Duke Henderson Duke Henderson , born Sylvester C. Henderson, was an American blues shouter and jazz singer in the mid-1940s. His styles included West Coast blues and jump blues. In the late 1940s he renounced his past and began broadcasting as a minister and gospel DJ... |
unknown | 1972 |
Louis Jordan Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the... |
1908 | 1975 |
Booker T. Laury Booker T. Laury Booker T. Laury was an American boogie-woogie, blues, gospel and jazz pianist and singer. Over his lengthy career, Laury worked with various musicians including Memphis Slim and Mose Vinson... |
1914 | 1995 |
Little Willie Littlefield Little Willie Littlefield Little Willie Littlefield is an American R&B pianist and singer.-Career:By 1947, at the age of sixteen, Littlefield was already a local attraction on many of Houston's Dowling Street Clubs and was recording for local record shop proprietor Eddie Henry who ran his own label "Eddies".Influenced by... |
1931 | |
Willie Love Willie Love Willie Love was an American Delta blues pianist. He is best known for his association with, and accompaniment of Sonny Boy Williamson II.-Biography:... |
1906 | 1953 |
Percy Mayfield Percy Mayfield Percy Mayfield was an American songwriter famous for the songs "Hit the Road Jack" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love", as well as a successful rhythm and blues artist known for his smooth vocal style.-Career:... |
1920 | 1984 |
Amos Milburn Amos Milburn Amos Milburn was an African American rhythm and blues singer and pianist, popular during the 1940s and 1950s... |
1927 | 1980 |
Dave Peabody Dave Peabody Dave Peabody is an English singer-songwriter, blues and folk musician, record producer and photographer, active since the late 1960s, who has appeared on more than 60 albums... |
1948 | |
Pinetop Perkins Pinetop Perkins Joseph William Perkins , known by the stage name Pinetop Perkins, was an American blues musician, specializing in piano music... |
1913 | 2011 |
Piano Red Piano Red William "Willie" Lee Perryman , usually known professionally as Piano Red and later in life as Dr. Feelgood, was an American blues musician, the first to hit the pop music charts. He was a self-taught pianist who played in the barrelhouse blues style... |
1911 | 1985 |
Sherman Robertson Sherman Robertson Sherman Robertson is an American blues guitarist, songwriter and singer, who has been described as "one part zydeco, one part swamp blues, one part electric blues and one part classic rhythm and blues."-Biography:Robertson was born in Louisiana and raised in Houston, Texas... |
1948 | |
J.D. Short J.D. Short J.D. Short was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist and harmonicist. He was a multi-instrumentalist, and possessed a distinctive vibrato laden, singing voice. Early in his career, Short recorded under a number of pseudonyms, including Jelly Jaw Short... |
1902 | 1962 |
Frankie Lee Sims Frankie Lee Sims Frankie Lee Sims was an American singer-songwriter and electric blues guitarist. He released nine singles during his career, one of which, "Lucy Mae Blues" was a regional hit... |
1917 | 1970 |
Memphis Slim Memphis Slim Memphis Slim was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, "Every Day I Have the Blues", has become a blues standard, recorded by many other... |
1915 | 1988 |
Smoky Babe Smoky Babe Smoky Babe was an American acoustic blues guitarist and singer. He is variously described as a Louisiana blues, Piedmont blues and blues revival musician, whose recording career was restricted to a couple of recording sessions in the early 1960s... |
1927 | 1975 |
Houston Stackhouse Houston Stackhouse Houston Stackhouse was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. He is best known for his association and work with Robert Nighthawk. Although Stackhouse was not especially noted as a guitarist nor singer, Nighthawk showed gratitude for being taught to play by Stackhouse, by backing him on a... |
1910 | 1980 |
Lonesome Sundown Lonesome Sundown Cornelius Green , known professionally as Lonesome Sundown, was an American blues musician, best known for his recordings for Excello Records in the 1950s and early 1960s.-Biography:... |
1928 | 1995 |
Joe Willie Wilkins Joe Willie Wilkins Joe Willie Wilkins was an American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Whilst he influenced contemporaries such as Houston Stackhouse, Robert Nighthawk, David Honeyboy Edwards, and Jimmy Rogers, Wilkins' bigger impact was on up and coming guitarists, including Little Milton, B.B.... |
1921 | 1981 |
Lester Williams Lester Williams (musician) Lester Williams was an American Texas blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his songs, "Winter Time Blues" and "I Can't Lose with the Stuff I Use". His main influence was T-Bone Walker.Williams released several singles in the 1950s, but remained a stalwart... |
1920 | 1990 |
Smokey Wilson Smokey Wilson Smokey Wilson ) is an American West Coast blues guitarist. He has spent most of his career performing West Coast blues and Juke Joint blues in Los Angeles, California. He has recorded at least eleven albums for record labels such as P-Vine Records, Bullseye Blues and Texmuse Records... |
1936 | |
U.P. Wilson U.P. Wilson U.P. Wilson was an African American electric blues guitarist and singer who performed Texas blues... |
1934 | 2004 |
Jimmy Witherspoon Jimmy Witherspoon Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during... |
1923 | 1997 |
Kansas City blues
Name | Birth year | Death year |
---|---|---|
Scrapper Blackwell Scrapper Blackwell Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell was an American blues guitarist and singer; best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was an acoustic single-note picker in the Chicago blues and Piedmont blues style, with some critics noting... |
1903 | 1962 |
Walter Brown Walter Brown (singer) Walter Brown was a blues shouter who sang with Jay McShann's band in the 1940s and co-wrote their biggest hit, "Confessin' The Blues".... |
1917 | 1956 |
Jay McShann Jay McShann Jay McShann was an American Grammy Award-nominated jump blues, mainstream jazz, and swing bandleader, pianist and singer.... |
1916 | 2006 |
Arnold Moore Arnold Moore Arnold "Gatemouth" Moore was an American blues and gospel singer, songwriter and pastor. A graduate of Booker T... |
1914 | 2005 |
Jimmy Rushing Jimmy Rushing James Andrew Rushing , known as Jimmy Rushing, was an American blues shouter and swing jazz singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.Rushing was known as "Mr... |
c.1902 | 1972 |
Big Joe Turner Big Joe Turner Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and... |
1911 | 1985 |
Later styles
Name | Birth year | Death year |
---|---|---|
Little Hatch Little Hatch Little Hatch was an American electric blues singer, musician and harmonica player. He variously worked with George Jackson and John Paul Drum.-Biography:... |
1921 | 2003 |
Lee McBee Lee McBee Lee McBee is an American electric blues musician, singer and harmonica player.Though he is primarily a regional blues act in the midwest, McBee gained national attention in the late 1980s and early 1990s for his work with Mike Morgan and the Crawl and for his band the Passions... |
1951 | |
Chicago/Detroit blues
Name | Birth year | Death year |
---|---|---|
Luther Allison Luther Allison Luther Allison was an American blues guitarist. He was born in Widener, Arkansas and moved with his family, at age twelve, to Chicago in 1951. He taught himself guitar and began listening to blues extensively. Three years later he began hanging outside blues nightclubs with the hopes of being... |
1939 | 1997 |
Lefty Bates Lefty Bates Lefty Bates was an American Chicago blues guitarist. He led the Lefty Bates Combo, and variously worked with the El Dorados, the Flamingos, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Etta James, the Aristo-Kats, the Hi-De-Ho Boys, the Moroccos, the Impressions, and a latter day version of the Ink Spots... |
1920 | 2007 |
Eddie "Guitar" Burns Eddie "Guitar" Burns Eddie "Guitar" Burns is an American Detroit blues guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter... |
1928 | |
The Butler Twins The Butler Twins The Butler Twins were an American Detroit blues and electric blues duo, comprising the twins Clarence and Curtis Butler . Long time, semi-professional performers in the local blues scene in Detroit, they gained international recognition following the recording of three albums in the late 1990s... |
1942 | 2003 /2004 |
Paul Butterfield Paul Butterfield Paul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival... |
1942 | 1987 |
John Henry Barbee John Henry Barbee John Henry Barbee was an American blues singer and guitarist. He was born William George Tucker in Henning, Tennessee, United States, and changed his name with the commencement of his recording career to reflect his favorite folk song, "The Ballad of John Henry".-Biography:Barbee toured in the... |
1905 | 1964 |
Carey Bell Carey Bell Carey Bell was an American blues musician, who played the harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Bell played harmonica and bass for other blues musicians during the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s before embarking on a solo career... |
1936 | 2007 |
Eddie Boyd Eddie Boyd Edward Riley Boyd known as Eddie Boyd was an American blues piano player, born on Stovall's Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States.-Life and career:... |
1914 | 1994 |
James Cotton James Cotton James Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:... |
1935 | |
Blind John Davis Blind John Davis Blind John Davis was an African American, blues, jazz and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. He is best remembered for his recordings including "A Little Every Day" and "Everybody's Boogie".-Biography:... |
1913 | 1985 |
Bo Diddley Bo Diddley Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor... |
1928 | 2008 |
Willie Dixon Willie Dixon William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters... |
1915 | 1992 |
David "Honeyboy" Edwards | 1915 | 2011 |
Leroy Foster | 1923 | 1958 |
Calvin Frazier Calvin Frazier Calvin Frazier was an American Detroit blues and country blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Despite leaving a fragmented recording history, both as a singer and guitarist, Frazier was an associate of Robert Johnson, and recorded alongside Johnny Shines, Sampson Pittman, T.J... |
1915 | 1972 |
Buddy Guy Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation... |
1936 | |
Phil Guy Phil Guy Phil Guy was an American blues guitarist. He was the younger brother of Buddy Guy.-Biography:Born in Lettsworth, Louisiana, Guy played with the harmonica player Raful Neal for ten years in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area before relocating to Chicago in 1969 where he joined his brothers' band... |
1940 | 2008 |
Shakey Jake Harris Shakey Jake Harris Shakey Jake Harris was an American Chicago blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter. Harris released five albums over a period of almost 25 years, and he was often musically associated with his nephew, Magic Sam.... |
1921 | 1990 |
Earl Hooker Earl Hooker Earl Hooker was an American Chicago blues guitarist, perhaps best known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", Hooker performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and John Lee Hooker as well as fronting his own bands... |
1929 | 1970 |
J. B. Hutto | 1926 | 1983 |
Big Walter Horton Big Walter Horton Walter Horton, better known as Big Walter Horton or Walter "Shakey" Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming and essentially shy man, Horton is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the history of blues... |
1918 | 1981 |
Bobo Jenkins Bobo Jenkins Bobo Jenkins was an American Detroit blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He also built and set up his own recording studio and record label in Detroit... |
1916 | 1984 |
L.V. Johnson L.V. Johnson L.V. Johnson was an American Chicago blues and soul-blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his renditions of "Don't Cha Mess With My Money, My Honey Or My Woman" and "Recipe"... |
1946 | 1994 |
Floyd Jones Floyd Jones Floyd Jones was an American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter, who is significant as one of the first of the new generation of electric blues artists to record in Chicago after World War II. A number of Jones' recordings are regarded as classics of the Chicago blues idiom, and his song "On... |
1917 | 1989 |
Moody Jones Moody Jones Moody Jones was an American blues guitarist, bass player, and singer, who is significant for his role in the development of the post-war Chicago blues sound in the late 1940s.-Life and career:... |
1908 | 1988 |
Elmore James Elmore James Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in... |
1918 | 1963 |
Albert King Albert King Albert King was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing.-Career:... |
1924 | 1992 |
Eddie King Eddie King (musician) Eddie King is an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Living Blues stated "King is a potent singer and player with a raw, gospel-tinged voice and an aggressive, thick-toned guitar sound"... |
1938 | |
Freddie King Freddie King Freddie King , thought to have been born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "the Texas Cannonball", was an influential African-American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert... |
1934 | 1976 |
John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark... |
1917 | 2001 |
Bonnie Lee Bonnie Lee Bonnie Lee was an American Chicago blues singer. Known as 'Sweetheart of the Blues', she is best remembered for her lengthy working relationships with Sunnyland Slim and Willie Kent... |
1931 | 2006 |
Hip Linkchain Hip Linkchain Hip Linkchain was an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.His best known numbers were "Change My Blues" and "That Will Never Do". Allmusic described him as a "solid, no-frills bluesman". Another music journalist noted, "his composer's talents put him much above the average... |
1936 | 1989 |
Little Sonny Little Sonny Little Sonny 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 originated with his mother... |
1932 | 2000 |
Nick Moss Nick Moss Nick Moss is an American Chicago and electric blues musician. He has released eight albums to date, all on his own Blue Bella Records label. He has played alongside or with Buddy Scott, Jimmy Dawkins, Jimmy Rogers and The Legendary Blues Band; as well as more latterly fronting his own group, Nick... |
1972 | |
Charlie Musselwhite Charlie Musselwhite Charlie Musselwhite is an American electric blues harmonica player and bandleader, one of the non-black bluesmen who came to prominence in the early 1960s, along with Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield. Though he has often been identified as a "white bluesman", he claims Native American heritage... |
1944 | |
Robert Nighthawk Robert Lee McCollum Robert Lee McCollum was an American blues musician, who played and recorded under the pseudonyms Robert Lee McCoy and Robert Nighthawk.-Robert Lee McCoy:... |
1909 | 1967 |
Odie Payne Odie Payne Odie Payne was an American Chicago blues drummer. Over his long career Payne worked with a range of musicians including Sonny Boy Williamson II, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Little Johnny Jones, Tampa Red, Otis Rush, Yank Rachell, Sleepy John Estes, Little Brother Montgomery, Memphis... |
1926 | 1989 |
Pinetop Perkins Pinetop Perkins Joseph William Perkins , known by the stage name Pinetop Perkins, was an American blues musician, specializing in piano music... |
1913 | 2011 |
Snooky Pryor | 1921 | 2006 |
Boogie Woogie Red Boogie Woogie Red Boogie Woogie Red was an American Detroit blues, boogie-woogie and jazz pianist, singer and songwriter. He variously worked with Sonny Boy Williamson, Washboard Willie, Baby Boy Warren, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, John Lee Hooker and Memphis Slim.-Biography:He was born Vernon Harrison in Rayville,... |
1925 | 1985 |
Jimmy Reed Jimmy Reed Mathis James "Jimmy" Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter, notable for bringing his distinctive style of blues to mainstream audiences. Reed was a major player in the field of electric blues, as opposed to the more acoustic-based sound of many of his contemporaries... |
1925 | 1976 |
Soko Richardson Soko Richardson Soko Richardson was an American rhythm and blues drummer. His career spanned almost fifty years, during which he performed and recorded with seminal groups including John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the The Ike & Tina Turner Revue... |
1939 | 2004 |
Jimmy Rogers Jimmy Rogers Jimmy Rogers was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters' band of the 1950s.-Career:... |
1924 | 1997 |
Otis Rush Otis Rush Otis Rush is a blues musician, singer and guitarist. His distinctive guitar style features a slow burning sound and long bent notes... |
1934 | |
Magic Sam Magic Sam Samuel "Magic Sam" Gene Maghett was an American Chicago blues musician. Maghett was born in Grenada, Mississippi, United States, and learned to play the blues from listening to records by Muddy Waters and Little Walter... |
1937 | 1970 |
Eddie Shaw Eddie Shaw Eddie Shaw is an African American, Chicago blues tenor saxophonist.-Biography:In his teenage years, Shaw played tenor saxophone with local blues musicians such as Little Milton and Willie Love. At the age of 14, he was involved in a jam session in Greenville, Mississippi with Ike Turner's band... |
1937 | |
Little Mack Simmons Little Mack Simmons Little Mack Simmons was an African American, Chicago blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter.-Biography:... |
1933 | 2000 |
Johnny Shines Johnny Shines Johnny Shines was an American blues singer and guitarist. According to the music journalist Tony Russell, "Shines was that rare being, a blues artist who overcame age and rustiness to make music that stood up beside the work of his youth... |
1915 | 1992 |
Magic Slim Magic Slim Magic Slim is an American blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:Magic Slim was forced to give up playing the piano when he lost his little finger in a cotton gin mishap. He moved first to nearby Grenada. He first came to Chicago in 1955 with his friend and mentor Magic Sam... |
1937 | |
Little Smokey Smothers Little Smokey Smothers Little Smokey Smothers was an African American, Chicago blues guitarist and singer.His elder brother, Otis , was known as the bluesman Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers, with whom he was sometimes confused.... |
1939 | 2010 |
Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers was an African American, Chicago blues guitarist and singer. He was once a member of Howlin' Wolf's backing band, and worked variously with Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, Ike Turner, J. T. Brown, Freddie King, Little Johnny Jones, Little Walter, and Willie Dixon... |
1929 | 1993 |
Otis Spann Otis Spann Otis Spann was an American blues musician, who many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, Spann became known for his distinct piano style.... |
1930 | 1970 |
Arthur "Big Boy" Spires Arthur "Big Boy" Spires Arthur "Big Boy" Spires was an American blues singer and guitarist, who recorded for a number of record labels in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s.-Life and career:... |
1912 | 1990 |
Hound Dog Taylor Hound Dog Taylor Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 . He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20... |
1915 | 1975 |
Eddie Taylor Eddie Taylor Eddie Taylor was an American electric blues guitarist and singer.-Biography:Born Edward Taylor in Benoit, Mississippi, United States, as a boy Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing at venues around Leland, Mississippi, where he taught his friend Jimmy Reed to... |
1923 | 1985 |
Little Walter Little Walter Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs , was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations... |
1930 | 1968 |
Baby Boy Warren Baby Boy Warren Baby Boy Warren was an American blues singer and guitarist, who was a leading figure on the Detroit blues scene in the 1950s.-Early life:... |
1919 | 1977 |
Washboard Willie Washboard Willie 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 Road" plus "Cherry Red Blues", and worked variously with Eddie "Guitar" Burns, Baby Boy Warren, and Boogie Woogie... |
1909 | 1991 |
Muddy Waters Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"... |
1915 | 1983 |
Joe Weaver Joe Weaver Joe Weaver was an American Detroit blues, electric blues and R&B pianist, singer and bandleader. His best known recording was "Baby I Love You So" , and he was a founding member of both The Blue Note Orchestra and The Motor City Rhythm & Blues Pioneers... |
1934 | 2006 |
Carl Weathersby Carl Weathersby Carl Weathersby is a electric blues vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter... |
1953 | |
Junior Wells Junior Wells Junior Wells , born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist... |
1934 | 1998 |
Howlin' Wolf Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.... |
1910 | 1976 |
Jody Williams Jody Williams (blues musician) Joseph Leon Williams , better known as Jody Williams, is an American blues guitarist and singer. His singular guitar playing, marked by flamboyant string-bending, imaginative chord changes and a distinctive tone, was influential in the Chicago blues scene of the 1950s.-Career:In the mid 1950s,... |
1935 | |
Johnny Williams Johnny Williams (blues musician) Johnny Williams was an American Chicago-based blues guitar player and singer, who was one of the first of the new generation of electric blues players to record after World War II.-Early life and career:... |
1906 | 2006 |
Sonny Boy Williamson I Sonny Boy Williamson I Sonny Boy Williamson was an American blues harmonica player and singer, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson.-Biography and career:... |
1918 | 1948 |
Sonny Boy Williamson II Sonny Boy Williamson II Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills... |
c.1912 | 1965 |
Big John Wrencher Big John Wrencher Big John Wrencher , also known as One Arm John, was an American blues harmonica player and singer, well known for playing on Maxwell Street Market, Chicago in the 1960s, and who later toured Europe in the 1970s.-Biography:... |
1923 | 1977 |
Johnny "Man" Young | 1918 | 1974 |
Modern blues (post 1950s)
Name | Birth year | Death year |
---|---|---|
Duane Allman Duane Allman Howard Duane Allman was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band... |
1946 | 1971 |
Gaye Adegbalola Gaye Adegbalola Gaye Adegbalola is an American blues singer and guitarist, teacher, lecturer, activist, and photographer.-Biography:... |
1944 | |
Kip Anderson Kip Anderson Kip Anderson was an American soul blues and R&B singer and songwriter. He is best known for his 1967 single, "A Knife and a Fork." He recorded for a plethora of record labels, worked as a radio DJ, and maintained a career lasting from the late 1950s to the 1990s, despite undertaking a decade long... |
1938 | 2007 |
James Anthony | 1955 | |
Memphis Willie B. Memphis Willie B. Memphis Willie B. was an American Memphis blues guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter.He was known for his work with Jack Kelly's Jug Busters, the Memphis Jug Band, and his resurgence in the 1960s after years away from the music industry. He recorded "The Stuff Is Here" and "Stop... |
1911 | 1993 |
Back Alley John Back Alley John Back Alley John , was a Canadian blues singer, songwriter and harmonica player.-Beginnings, 1969-1971: Ottawa to Venice, California:... |
1955 | 2006 |
Etta Baker Etta Baker Etta Baker was an American Piedmont blues guitarist and singer from North Carolina, United States.-Biography:... |
1913 | 2006 |
Marcia Ball Marcia Ball Marcia Ball is an American blues singer and pianist, born in Orange, Texas but who grew up in Vinton, Louisiana. She was described in USA Today as "a sensation, saucy singer and superb pianist..... |
1949 | |
Johnnie Bassett Johnnie Bassett Johnnie Bassett is an American electric blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Working for decades primarily as a session musician, by the 1990s Bassett had his own backing band and has since released six albums. He has cited Billy Butler, Tiny Grimes, Albert King, B.B... |
1935 | |
Elvin Bishop Elvin Bishop Elvin Bishop is an American blues and rock and roll musician and guitarist.-Career:Bishop was born in Glendale, California, and grew up on a farm near Elliott, Iowa. His family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was ten years old... |
1942 | |
Janis Joplin Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band... |
1943 | 1970 |
Bobby Bland Bobby Bland Robert Calvin Bland better known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, is an American singer of blues and soul. He is an original member of the Beale Streeters, and is sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues"... |
1930 | |
Rory Block Rory Block -Festival appearances:*Long Beach Blues Festival - 1993*San Francisco Blues Festival - 1999*Notodden Blues Festival - 2006-See also:*List of blues musicians*List of contemporary blues musicians*List of Austin City Limits performers-External links:****... |
1949 | |
Mike Bloomfield Mike Bloomfield Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70... |
1943 | 1981 |
The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live... |
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Roy Book Binder Roy Book Binder Roy Book Binder is an American blues guitarist. A student and friend of the Rev. Gary Davis, he is equally at home with blues and ragtime, he is known to shift from open tunings to slide arrangements to original compositions, with both traditional and self-styled licks... |
1943 | |
Delaney Bramlett Delaney Bramlett Delaney Bramlett was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. Bramlett's five decade career reached peaks in creativity, performance, and notoriety in partnership with his then wife Bonnie Bramlett, in a revolving troupe of professional musicians and Rock superstars dubbed Delaney... |
1939 | 2009 |
Freddie Brooks | 1962 | |
Lonnie Brooks Lonnie Brooks Lonnie Brooks is an American blues singer and guitarist. He was born in Dubuisson, Louisiana, United States... |
1933 | |
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown | 1924 | 2005 |
Bob Brozman Bob Brozman Bob Brozman is an American guitarist and ethnomusicologist.He has performed in a number of styles such as Gypsy jazz, calypso, Blues, ragtime, Hawaiian and Caribbean music. Brozman has also collaborated with musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds such as India, Africa, Japan, Papua New Guinea... |
1954 | |
Roy Buchanan Roy Buchanan Roy Buchanan was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan was a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career, and two later solo albums that made it on to the Billboard chart. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still... |
1939 | 1988 |
Eric Burdon Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance... |
1941 | |
Jimmy Burns Jimmy Burns Jimmy Burns is an award winning American soul blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although he was born in the Mississippi Delta, Burns has spent nearly all his life in Chicago... |
1943 | |
Aron Burton Aron Burton Aron Burton is an American electric and Chicago blues singer, bass guitarist and songwriter. In a long career as a sideman he has played with Freddie King, Albert Collins and Junior Wells, and has released a number of solo albums, including Good Blues to You... |
1938 | |
Eric Clapton Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and... |
1945 | |
Albert Collins Albert Collins Albert Collins was an American electric blues guitarist and singer whose recording career began in the 1960s in Houston and whose fame eventually took him to stages across the US, Europe, Japan and Australia... |
1932 | 1993 |
Johnny Copeland Johnny Copeland Johnny Copeland was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Born in Haynesville, Louisiana, United States, while Copeland was becoming interested in music, he also pursued boxing, mostly as an avocation, and it is from his days as a boxer that he got his nickname "Clyde." Also as a... |
1937 | 1997 |
Al Copley Al Copley Al Copley is a blues pianist who co-founded the American jump blues band Roomful of Blues with guitarist Duke Robillard in Westerly, Rhode Island in 1967. In 1974 Count Basie called Roomful "the hottest blues band I've ever heard". In 1975 Roomful signed a recording contract with Island Records,... |
1952 | |
Robert Cray Robert Cray Robert Cray is an American blues guitarist and singer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he has led his own band, as well as an acclaimed solo career.-Career:... |
1953 | |
Yavuz Çetin Yavuz Çetin Yavuz Hilmi Çetin was a Turkish musician as well as songwriter and singer in the blues and psychedelic music genres, who gained renown in his native country for the skill and sensitivity of his guitar performances and, in the wake of his suicide at the age of 30, before the release of his... |
1970 | 2001 |
Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis was an American electric blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. He played with John Lee Hooker, recorded an album for Elektra Records in the mid 1960s, and remained a regular street musician on Maxwell Street, Chicago, for over 40 years.He was also known as Jewtown... |
1925 | 1995 |
Willie Dixon Willie Dixon William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters... |
1915 | 1992 |
Big Joe Duskin Big Joe Duskin Big Joe Duskin was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist. He is best known for his debut album, Cincinnati Stomp , and the tracks "Well, Well Baby" and "I Met a Girl Named Martha".-Biography:... |
1921 | 2007 |
Johnny Dyer Johnny Dyer Johnny Dyer is an American electric blues harmonicist and singer. He has received a nomination for a Blues Music Award, and been involved in a number of recordings in the last three decades, both as a solo performer and with other musicians.-Biography:Dyer grew up on the Stovall Plantation in... |
1938 | |
Snooks Eaglin Snooks Eaglin Snooks Eaglin, born Fird Eaglin, Jr. , was a New Orleans-based guitarist and singer. He was also referred to as Blind Snooks Eaglin in his early years.... |
1936 | 2009 |
Robert Ealey Robert Ealey Robert Ealey was an African American electric blues singer, who performed Texas blues. Among other releases, he recorded a couple of albums for Black Top Records in the 1990s, having earlier formed a duo with U.P. Wilson... |
1925 | 2001 |
Clarence Edwards Clarence Edwards (blues musician) Clarence Edwards was an American blues musician from Louisiana, best known for his recordings of "Lonesome Bedroom Blues" and "I Want Somebody"... |
1933 | 1993 |
John Fahey John Fahey (musician) John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the... |
1939 | 2001 |
The Fabulous Thunderbirds The Fabulous Thunderbirds The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American, Grammy-nominated Blues rock band, formed in 1974.-Career:After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records, and later on signed with Epic Records.Their first two albums,... |
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Robben Ford Robben Ford Robben Ford is an American blues, jazz and rock guitarist.-Biography:Ford was born in Woodlake, California, United States, but raised in Ukiah, California, and began playing the saxophone at age 10, picking up the guitar at age 13... |
1951 | |
Carol Fran Carol Fran Carol Fran is an African American soul blues singer, pianist and songwriter. Fran is best known for her string of single releases in the 1950s and 1960s, and her later musical association with her husband, Clarence Hollimon... |
1933 | |
Denny Freeman Denny Freeman Denny Freeman is an American Texas and electric blues guitarist. Although he is primarily known as a guitar player, Freeman has also played piano and electric organ, both in concert and on various recordings... |
1944 | |
Steve Freund Steve Freund Steve Freund is an American blues guitarist, singer, bandleader and record producer. Although Freund has toured throughout the United States , he is presently based in the San Francisco Bay Area where he is best-known.-Career:His mother initially inspired... |
1952 | |
Earl Gaines Earl Gaines Earl Gaines was an American soul blues and electric blues singer. Born in Decatur, Alabama, he sang lead vocals on the hit single "It's Love Baby ", accredited to Louis Brooks and his Hi-Toppers, before undertaking a low-key solo career... |
1935 | 2009 |
Grady Gaines Grady Gaines Grady Gaines is an American electric blues, Texas blues and jazz blues tenor saxophonist, who recorded with Little Richard in the 1950s. He also backed other musicians such as Dee Clark, Little Willie John, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and Joe Tex... |
1934 | |
Roy Gaines Roy Gaines Roy Gaines is an American Texas blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Gaines recorded work includes his self-penned track, "A Hell of a Night", which first appeared on his 1982 album, Gaineling... |
1934 | |
Rory Gallagher Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher, ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995, was an Irish blues-rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, and raised in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste... |
1948 | 1995 |
Billy F. Gibbons | 1949 | |
Lacy Gibson Lacy Gibson Lacy Gibson was an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He most notably recorded the songs, "My Love Is Real" and "Switchy Titchy", and in a long and varied career worked with Buddy Guy and Son Seals.... |
1936 | 2011 |
Peter Green Peter Green (musician) Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac... |
1946 | |
Guitar Slim, Jr. Guitar Slim, Jr. Guitar Slim, Jr. is an American New Orleans blues guitarist and singer. Over his lengthy playing career, Slim Jr., has worked with various blues musicians... |
1951 | |
Larry Hamilton Larry Hamilton (musician) Larry Hamilton is an American New Orleans blues, rhythm and blues and soul blues singer and songwriter. Although he has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s, his solo debut album was not released until 1997.-Biography:... |
1950 | |
John P. Hammond John P. Hammond John Paul Hammond is an American blues singer and guitarist. The son of record producer John H. Hammond, he is sometimes referred to as "John Hammond, Jr.".-Background:... |
1942 | |
Ernie Hawkins Ernie Hawkins Ernie Hawkins is an American acoustic blues guitar player, singer, recording artist, and educator, who has a Ph.D. in phenomenological psychology.... |
1947 | |
Ted Hawkins Ted Hawkins Ted Hawkins was an American singer-songwriter. He was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, United States.Hawkins was an enigmatic figure through most of his career; he split his time between his adopted hometown of Venice Beach, California where he was a mostly anonymous street performer, and Europe,... |
1936 | 1995 |
Johnny Heartsman Johnny Heartsman Johnny Heartsman was an American electric blues and soul blues musician and songwriter. Heartsman showed musical diversity, playing a number of musical instruments, including the electric organ and flute... |
1937 | 1996 |
Jimi Hendrix Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter... |
1942 | 1970 |
Z.Z. Hill Z.Z. Hill Arzell "Z. Z." Hill was an American blues singer, in the soul blues tradition, known for his 1970s and 1980s recordings for Malaco. His 1982 album, Down Home, stayed on the Billboard soul album chart for nearly two years. The track "Down Home Blues" has been called the best-known blues song of the... |
1935 | 1984 |
John Dee Holeman John Dee Holeman John Dee Holeman is an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His music includes elements of Texas blues, R&B and jazz. In his younger days he was also known for his proficiency as a 'buckdancer'.-Biography:... |
1929 | |
John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark... |
1917 | 2001 |
Lightnin' Hopkins Lightnin' Hopkins Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas... |
1912 | 1982 |
James Hunter James Hunter (singer) James Hunter is a Grammy Award-nominated English R&B musician and soul singer.-Career:Hunter's career began with a band called "Howlin' Wilf and the Vee-Jays," who released their first album in 1986 entitled Cry Wilf. Later he released three more with his own band... |
1962 | |
Long John Hunter Long John Hunter Long John Hunter is an American Texas blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has released seven albums in his own name, and in his later years found critical acknowledgement outside of his homeland... |
1931 | |
Colin James Colin James Colin James is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, who plays in the blues, rock, and neo-swing genres. He grew up as a Quaker.-Early years:... |
1964 | |
Etta James Etta James Etta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer... |
1938 | |
Steve James Steve James (blues musician) Steve James is an American folk blues musician. A multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter, James operates in the fields of acoustic and folk blues... |
1950 | |
Jimmy Johnson Jimmy Johnson (blues guitarist) Jimmy Johnson is an American blues guitarist and singer.-Biography:... |
1928 | |
Little Sonny Jones Little Sonny Jones Little Sonny Jones was an American New Orleans blues singer and songwriter. Over his lengthy career, Jones worked with various blues musicians, most notably Fats Domino.... |
1931 | 1989 |
Jo Ann Kelly Jo Ann Kelly Jo Ann Kelly was an English blues singer and guitarist. "To many American performers", an obituarist wrote, "Jo Ann Kelly was the only British singer to earn their respect for her development of what they would be justified in thinking as 'their' genre".-Life and career:Kelly was born in... |
1944 | 1990 |
B.B. King | 1925 | |
Freddie King Freddie King Freddie King , thought to have been born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "the Texas Cannonball", was an influential African-American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert... |
1934 | 1976 |
Little Freddie King Little Freddie King Little Freddie King is an American Delta blues guitarist. His style was based on Freddie King, although his own approach to country blues is original.-Biography:... |
1940 | |
Sammy Lawhorn Sammy Lawhorn Sammy David Lawhorn was an American Chicago blues guitarist. He is best known for his membership of Muddy Waters band, although his guitar work accompanied many other blues musicians including Otis Spann, Willie Cobbs, Eddie Boyd, Roy Brown, Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, and... |
1935 | 1990 |
Calvin Leavy Calvin Leavy Calvin Leavy was an African American soul blues and electric blues singer and guitarist. He had a hit single in 1970, when "Cummins Prison Farm" peaked at number 40 on the US Billboard R&B chart, and stayed in the chart for five weeks... |
1940 | 2010 |
The Legendary Blues Band The Legendary Blues Band The Legendary Blues Band were an American Chicago blues band, formed in 1980 after the breakup of Muddy Waters' former backing band.-Biography:... |
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John "Juke" Logan John "Juke" Logan John "Juke" Logan is an American electric blues harmonica player, singer, pianist and songwriter. He is best known for his harmonica playing on the theme music for television programs and films... |
1954 | |
Lonnie Mack Lonnie Mack Lonnie Mack is an American rock, blues and country guitarist and vocalist.... |
1941 | |
Cash McCall Cash McCall (musician) Cash McCall is an American electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his 1966 R&B hit, "When You Wake Up". McCall's long career has seen him evolve in musical styles from gospel to soul to the blues... |
1941 | |
Doug Macleod | 1946 | |
Taj Mahal Taj Mahal (musician) Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music... |
1942 | |
J.J. Malone J.J. Malone John Jacob Malone was an American West Coast blues, electric blues and soul blues guitarist, singer and keyboardist. His best known recordings were "It's a Shame" and "Danger Zone"... |
1935 | 2004 |
Johnny Mars Johnny Mars Johnny Mars is an American electric blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter. Over a long career, Mars has worked with Magic Sam, Earl Hooker, B.B. King, Jesse Fuller, Spencer Davis, Ian Gillan, Do-Re-Mi, Bananarama and Michael Roach.-Biography:####Mars was born in Laurens, South Carolina,... |
1942 | |
John Mayall John Mayall John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years... |
1933 | |
Pete Mayes Pete Mayes Pete Mayes was an American Texas blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. He was variously known as Texas Pete Mayes and T-Bone Man; the latter a reference to his guitar playing resembling his hero, T-Bone Walker.Mayes' made few recordings but For Pete's Sake was released in 1998, nearly fifty... |
1938 | 2008 |
Luke "Long Gone" Miles Luke "Long Gone" Miles Luke "Lone Gone" Miles was an American Texas blues and electric blues singer and songwriter. He was a protégé of Lightnin' Hopkins, and variously recorded or performed with Hopkins, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Willie Chambers... |
1925 | 1987 |
Keb' Mo' Keb' Mo' Keb' Mo is an American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.-Early life:From early on he had an appreciation for the blues and gospel music... |
1951 | |
Gary Moore Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer.... |
1952 | 2011 |
Johnny B. Moore Johnny B. Moore Johnny B. Moore 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, but has recorded nine solo albums since 1987... |
1950 | |
Mike Morgan | 1959 | |
Jim Morrison Jim Morrison James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors... |
1943 | 1971 |
Sam Myers Sam Myers Sam Myers was an American blues musician and songwriter. He appeared as an accompanist on dozens of recordings for blues artists over five decades. He began his career as a drummer for Elmore James, but was most famous as a blues vocalist and blues harp player... |
1936 | |
Steve Nardella Steve Nardella Steve Nardella is an American blues, rock and roll, blues rock and rockabilly guitarist and singer... |
1948 | |
Sugar Ray Norcia Sugar Ray Norcia Sugar Ray Norcia is an American electric and soul blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known for his work with his backing band, The Bluetones, with whom he has released seven albums since 1980.-Biography:... |
unknown | |
Darrell Nulisch Darrell Nulisch Darrell Nulisch is an American electric blues singer and harmonica player. Prior to his solo career, he was a member of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets and The Broadcasters... |
1952 | |
Odetta Odetta Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals... |
1930 | 2008 |
Jimmy Page Jimmy Page James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page... |
1944 | |
Rod Piazza Rod Piazza Rod Piazza is an American blues harmonica player and singer. He has been playing with his band The Mighty Flyers since 1980 which he formed with his pianist wife Honey Piazza... |
1947 | |
Lonnie Pitchford Lonnie Pitchford Lonnie Pitchford was an American blues musician and instrument maker from Lexington, Mississippi. He was notable in that he was one of only a handful of young African American musicians from Mississippi who had learned and was continuing the Delta blues and country blues traditions of the older... |
1955 | 1998 |
Gary Primich Gary Primich Gary Primich was an American blues harmonica player, singer, guitarist and songwriter. He is best known for his 1995 album, Mr. Freeze.-Biography:... |
1958 | 2007 |
Kid Ramos Kid Ramos Kid Ramos is an American electric blues and blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Thompson has released four solo albums since 1995 on Black Top and Evidence Records... |
1959 | |
Louisiana Red Louisiana Red Louisiana Red is an African American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who has recorded more than 50 albums... |
1932 | |
Fenton Robinson Fenton Robinson Fenton Robinson was an American blues singer and exponent of the Chicago blues guitar.-Biography:Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States, Robinson left his home at the age of 18 to move to Memphis, Tennessee where he recorded his first single "Tennessee Woman" in 1957. He settled in Chicago... |
1935 | 1997 |
Roomful of Blues Roomful of Blues Roomful Of Blues is an American blues and swing revival big band based in Rhode Island. With a recording career that spans over 40 years, they have toured worldwide and recorded many albums. Roomful of Blues, according to The Chicago Sun-Times, “Swagger, sway and swing with energy and precision... |
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Freddie Roulette Freddie Roulette Frederick Martin "Freddie" Roulette is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He is best known as an exponent of the lap steel guitar. In a lengthy career, he has collaborated with Earl Hooker, Charlie Musselwhite, Henry Kaiser, and Harvey Mandel, and released several... |
1939 | |
Bobby Rush Bobby Rush (musician) Bobby Rush is an American blues and R&B musician, composer and singer. His style incorporates elements of soul blues, rap and funk.-Biography:... |
1940 | |
Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women was a three-woman blues musical ensemble in the Washington, D.C. area. It was founded in 1987 by Ann Rabson, Gaye Adegbalola and Earlene Lewis. Lewis separated from the band in 1992 and was replaced by Andra Faye... |
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Ken Saydak Ken Saydak Ken Saydak is an American Chicago blues pianist and singer-songwriter. In a long career, Saydak has played as a sideman to Lonnie Brooks, Mighty Joe Young, Johnny Winter and Dave Specter. Saydak has released three albums under his own name since 1999... |
unknown | |
Seasick Steve Seasick Steve Steven Gene Wold, commonly known as Seasick Steve, is an American blues musician. He plays guitars, and sings, usually about his early life doing casual work.-Childhood and early life:... |
c.1940 | |
Magic Slim Magic Slim Magic Slim is an American blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:Magic Slim was forced to give up playing the piano when he lost his little finger in a cotton gin mishap. He moved first to nearby Grenada. He first came to Chicago in 1955 with his friend and mentor Magic Sam... |
1937 | |
Son Seals Son Seals Frank "Son" Seals was an American electric blues guitarist and singer.-Career:He was born in Osceola, Arkansas where his father, Jim "Son" Seals, owned a small juke joint. He began performing professionally by the age of 13, first as a drummer with Robert Nighthawk, and later as a guitarist... |
1942 | 2004 |
Harmonica Shah Harmonica Shah Harmonica Shah is an American Detroit and electric blues harmonicist and singer. His playing was influenced by Junior Wells, Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Lazy Lester, and Little Sonny.-Biography:... |
1946 | |
Roscoe Shelton Roscoe Shelton Roscoe Shelton was an American electric blues and R&B singer. He is best remembered for his 1965 hit single, "Strain on My Heart," and his working relationships with both The Fairfield Four and Bobby Hebb. Other notable recordings include "Think It Over" and "Baby Look What You're Doin' To Me"... |
1931 | 2002 |
Lightnin' Slim Lightnin' Slim Lightnin' Slim was an African-American Louisiana blues musician, who recorded for Excello Records and played in a style similar to its other Louisiana artists.-Career:... |
1913 | 1974 |
Drink Small Drink Small Drink Small is an African American soul blues and electric blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is known as the 'Blues Doctor', and has been influenced by gospel and country music and Blind Boy Fuller.-Biography:... |
1933 | |
Barkin' Bill Smith Barkin' Bill Smith Barkin' Bill Smith was an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer and songwriter. Although he was born in Cleveland, Mississippi, Smith spent his latter years in Chicago.-Biography:... |
1928 | 2000 |
Moses "Whispering" Smith Moses "Whispering" Smith Moses "Whispering" Smith was an American blues harmonicist and singer. He recorded tracks including "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere" and "Texas Flood", and worked with both Lightnin' Slim and Silas Hogan... |
1932 | 1984 |
Arbee Stidham Arbee Stidham Arbee Stidham was an American blues singer and multi-instrumentalist, most successful in the late 1940s and 1950s.... |
1917 | 1988 |
Angela Strehli Angela Strehli Angela Strehli is an American electric blues singer and songwriter. She is also a Texas blues historian and impresario. Despite a sporadic recording career, Strehli spends time each year performing in Europe, the US and Canada.-Biography:In the early 1960s, Strehli learned the harmonica and bass... |
1945 | |
Koko Taylor Koko Taylor Koko Taylor sometimes spelled KoKo Taylor was an American Chicago blues musician, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues." She was known primarily for her rough, powerful vocals and traditional blues stylings.... |
1935 | 2009 |
Mick Taylor Mick Taylor Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones... |
1949 | |
Tabby Thomas Tabby Thomas Tabby Thomas also known as Rockin' Tabby Thomas is an American Chicago blues musician... |
1929 | |
Rufus Thomas Rufus Thomas Rufus Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian fromMemphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the... |
1917 | 2001 |
Ron Thompson Ron Thompson (blues guitarist) Ron Thompson is an American electric blues and blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Thompson has released seven albums since 1983 on labels including Blind Pig... |
1953 | |
George Thorogood George Thorogood George Thorogood is an American blues rock vocalist/guitarist from Wilmington, Delaware, United States, known for his hit song "Bad to the Bone" as well as for covers of blues standards such as Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" and John Lee Hooker's "House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One... |
1950 | |
Andrew Tibbs Andrew Tibbs Andrew Tibbs was an American electric and urban blues singer and songwriter. He is best known for his controversial 1947 recording, "Bilbo Is Dead", a song relating to the demise of Theodore G. Bilbo.-Biography:... |
1929 | 1991 |
Ali Farka Touré Ali Farka Touré Ali Ibrahim “Farka” Touré was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent’s most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues... |
1939 | 2006 |
Robin Trower Robin Trower Robin Leonard Trower , known professionally as Robin Trower, is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum during the 1960s, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio.-Biography:... |
1945 | |
Walter Trout Walter Trout Walter Trout is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.-Biography:Trout's career began on the Jersey coast scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then decided to relocate to Los Angeles where he became a sideman for Percy Mayfield and Deacon Jones... |
1951 | |
Titus Turner Titus Turner Titus Turner was an American R&B and East Coast blues singer and songwriter. His best remembered recordings were "We Told You Not To Marry" and "Sound-Off," plus he wrote "Leave My Kitten Alone," and "Tell Me Why."... |
1933 | 1984 |
Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Vaughan James Lawrence "Jimmie" Vaughan is an American blues rock guitarist and singer from Dallas, Texas, United States. He is the older brother of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.... |
1951 | |
Stevie Ray Vaughan Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and... |
1954 | 1990 |
Mose Vinson Mose Vinson Mose Vinson was an American boogie-woogie, blues and jazz pianist and singer. His best known recordings were "Blues With A Feeling" and "Sweet Root Man". Over his lengthy career, Vinson worked with various musicians including Booker T. Laury and James Cotton.-Biography:Vinson was born in Holly... |
1917 | 2002 |
Willie D. Warren Willie D. Warren Willie D. Warren was an American electric blues guitarist, bass player and singer. In a long career, he worked with Otis Rush, Al Benson, Little Sonny Cooper, David Honeyboy Edwards, Baby Boy Warren, Guitar Slim, Freddie King, Jimmy Reed, Morris Pejoe, Bobo Jenkins and Jim McCarty... |
1924 | 2000 |
Kazumi Watanabe Kazumi Watanabe Kazumi Watanabe is a jazz and jazz fusion guitarist, from Tokyo, Japan. He was born on October 14, 1953 Kazumi learned to play guitar from Sadanori Nakamure, one of Japan's grandmaster guitarists. Kazumi released his first recording in 1971, and quickly became a promising guitarist in his own right... |
1953 | |
Boogie Bill Webb Boogie Bill Webb Boogie Bill Webb was an American Louisiana blues and R&B guitarist, singer and songwriter. Webb's own style of music combined Mississippi country blues with New Orleans R&B. His best known recordings were "Bad Dog" and "Drinkin' and Stinkin'"... |
1924 | 1990 |
Stan Webb Stan Webb Stan Webb is the frontman and lead guitarist with the blues band, Chicken Shack.-Career:... |
1946 | |
Valerie Wellington Valerie Wellington Valerie Wellington was an African American, Chicago blues and electric blues singer and actress. Her 1984 album, Million Dollar $ecret saw her work with Sunnyland Slim, Billy Branch, and Magic Slim. In her early years, Wellington also worked with Lee "Shot" Williams... |
1959 | 1993 |
Golden "Big" Wheeler Golden "Big" Wheeler Golden "Big" Wheeler was an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter. He released two albums in his lifetime, and is best known for his recordings of the songs "Damn Good Mojo" and "Bone Orchard"... |
1929 | 1998 |
Lil' Ed Williams Lil' Ed Williams Lil' Ed Williams is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. With his backing band, the Blues Imperials, slide guitarist Williams has built up a loyal following.-Biography:... |
1955 | |
Johnny Winter Johnny Winter John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters... |
1944 | |
Alan Wilson Alan Wilson (musician) Alan "Blind Owl" Christie Wilson was the leader, singer, and primary composer in the American blues band Canned Heat. He played guitar and harmonica, and wrote most of the songs for the band.-Early years:... |
1943 | 1970 |
Mitch Woods Mitch Woods Mitch Woods is an American modern day boogie-woogie, jump blues and jazz pianist and singer. Since the early 1980s he has been touring and recording with his band, the Rocket 88s... |
1951 | |
Blues since 1990
Name | Birth year | Death year |
---|---|---|
Grego Anderson Grego Anderson Grego Anderson is an American blues musician and folk artist, living in Austin, Texas.-Art:His artwork has been exhibited in galleries from Boston, Massachusetts to San Diego, California, and is featured in the Mojohand online gallery... |
1968 | |
James Anthony | 1955 | |
James Armstrong James Armstrong (musician) James Armstrong is an American soul blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has released three albums to date on HighTone Records... |
1957 | |
Gwyn Ashton Gwyn Ashton Gwyn Ashton is a blues/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Biography:Welsh-born singer/songwriter/guitarist Gwyn Ashton migrated to Adelaide, South Australia in the 1960s, picked up a guitar at 12 and at 16 started his musical journey, playing bars and festivals across the country.He relocated... |
1961 | |
Dan Auerbach Dan Auerbach Daniel Quine Auerbach is an American musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known as the guitarist and vocalist for The Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. He is married to Stephanie Gonis, with whom he has a daughter, Sadie Little Auerbach, born in 2008.- Childhood and early... |
1979 | |
Chico Banks Chico Banks Chico Banks was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer. Banks released one album in 1997 on Evidence Records, but played with plenty of other blues musicians, from his late teens to his death at the age of 46.... |
1962 | 2008 |
Tab Benoit Tab Benoit Tab Benoit is an American blues guitarist, musician and singer. He plays a style that is a combination of blues styles, primarily Delta blues. He plays a Fender Telecaster electric guitar and writes his own musical compositions. Benoit graduated from Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma,... |
1967 | |
Scott H. Biram Scott H. Biram Scott H. Biram, aka Scott Biram, SHB, Hiram Biram, or The Dirty Old One Man Band is an American blues, punk and country music musician, based in Austin, Texas.-Biography:... |
1974 | |
Deanna Bogart Deanna Bogart Deanna Bogart is an American blues singer, pianist, and saxophone player.She began her career in the Maryland-area with the ensemble Cowboy Jazz, and following that band's breakup in 1986, a stint playing with Root Boy Slim... |
1960 | |
Joe Bonamassa Joe Bonamassa Joe Bonamassa is an American blues rock guitarist and singer.-Early life:Bonamassa was born and raised in New Hartford, United States. His parents owned and ran a guitar shop. He is a fourth-generation musician... |
1977 | |
Pat Boyack Pat Boyack Pat Boyack is an American electric blues guitarist and songwriter. Boyack performs modern electric blues and blues rock. He has released four albums since 1994, for both the Bullseye Blues and Doc Blues record labels.-Biography:Boyack was born in Price, but grew up in Helper, Utah... |
1967 | |
Wayne Baker Brooks Wayne Baker Brooks Wayne Baker Brooks is an American blues and blues-rock guitarist and singer.-Biography:... |
1970 | |
Kenny Brown | 1953 | |
R. L. Burnside R. L. Burnside Not to be confused with R. H. Burnside, stage director.R. L. Burnside , born Robert Lee Burnside, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention... |
1926 | 2005 |
Tommy Castro Tommy Castro Tommy Castro is an American blues, R&B and rock guitarist and singer. He has been recording since the mid 1990s. His music has taken him from local stages to national and international touring. His popularity was marked by his winning the 2008 Blues Music Award for Entertainer Of The Year... |
1959 | |
Claudia Carawan Claudia Carawan Claudia Carawan is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Although she has been creating and performing music for more than 20 years, it took until 2003 before she released her debut album, Out of the Blue. It derives its sound from several styles including soul, R&B, reggae and jazz... |
1959 | |
Michael Coleman Michael Coleman (blues musician) Michael Coleman is an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was voted one of the top 50 bluesmen in the world by Guitar World magazine... |
1956 | |
Joanna Connor Joanna Connor Joanna Connor is an American Chicago-based blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist.Connor was drawn to the Chicago blues scene in the early 1980s, eventually sharing the stage with James Cotton, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and A.C. Reed... |
1962 | |
Shemekia Copeland Shemekia Copeland Shemekia Copeland is an American electric blues vocalist.-Career:Copeland was born in Harlem, New York City, United States. She is the daughter of Texas blues guitarist and singer Johnny Copeland... |
1979 | |
Murali Coryell Murali Coryell Murali Coryell is an American blues guitarist and singer. Best known for performing live in small venues in New York State, Coryell has also opened for George Thorogood, Gregg Allman, B.B. King and Wilson Pickett... |
1969 | |
Sean Costello Sean Costello Sean Costello was an American blues musician, renowned for his fiery guitar playing and soulful singing. He released five critically acclaimed albums before his career was cut short by his sudden death at the age of 28. Tinsley Ellis called him ‘the most gifted young blues guitarist on the scene..... |
1979 | 2008 |
Boo Boo Davis Boo Boo Davis James "Boo Boo" Davis is an American electric blues musician. Davis is one of the few remaining blues musicians that got experience singing the blues based on first-hand experience in the Mississippi Delta, having sung to help pass the time while picking the cotton fields.-Early life:Davis was... |
1943 | |
Guy Davis Guy Davis (musician) Guy Davis is an American blues guitarist and banjo player, actor, and musician. He is the son of actors Ruby Dee and the late Ossie Davis.-Davis' roots:Davis says his blues music is inspired by the southern speech of his grandmother... |
1952 | |
Thornetta Davis Thornetta Davis Thornetta Davis is an American Detroit blues and rhythm and blues singer. She has opened for Bonnie Raitt, Gladys Knight, and Etta James, and sang backing vocals on Bob Seger's 1991 album, The Fire Inside... |
1969 | |
Chris Duarte Chris Duarte Chris Duarte is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Duarte plays a style of Texas blues-rock that draws on elements of jazz, blues, and rock and roll.-Biography:... |
1964 | |
Ronnie Earl Ronnie Earl Ronnie Earl is an American blues guitarist and music instructor.-Career:Earl collected blues, jazz, rock and soul records while growing up. He studied American History at C.W... |
1953 | |
Tinsley Ellis Tinsley Ellis Tinsley Ellis is an American blues and rock musician, who grew up in southern Florida.-Biography:... |
1957 | |
Sue Foley Sue Foley Sue Foley is a Canadian blues singer and guitarist.-Career:Foley has been writing and playing professionally since 1984. She has recorded ten albums, for both Antone's Records and Shanachie Records. She has spent over fourteen years on the road as a bandleader, lead vocalist, guitarist and... |
1968 | |
Anson Funderburgh Anson Funderburgh Anson Funderburgh is an American blues guitar player and bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978... |
1954 | |
Anthony Gomes Anthony Gomes Anthony Gomes is a Canadian blues and blues rock guitarist and singer. He was born to a Portuguese father and a French-Canadian mother... |
1975 | |
Otis Grand Otis Grand Otis Grand is an American blues musician, best known for his album, Perfume and Grime .-Biography:Although born in Beirut, Grand has spent much of his life in the United States... |
1950 | |
Alvin Youngblood Hart Alvin Youngblood Hart Alvin Youngblood Hart is a Grammy Award-winning American musician.-Career:Born in Oakland California, Hart had family connections with Carroll County, Mississippi, and spent time there in his childhood, hearing his relatives stories of Charlie Patton, "being around these people who were there when... |
1965 | |
Jeff Healey Jeff Healey Norman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:... |
1966 | 2008 |
Ron Holloway Ron Holloway Ronald Edward "Ron" Holloway is an American tenor saxophonist. He is listed in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz where veteran jazz critic Ira Gitler described Holloway as a "bear-down-hard-bopper who can blow authentic R&B and croon a ballad with warm, blue feeling." Holloway is the recipient... |
1953 | |
Rick Holmstrom Rick Holmstrom Rick Holmstrom is an American electric blues and rhythm and blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Holmstrom has released five albums since 1996, and previously worked with William Clarke and Rod Piazza. In addition, Holmstrom has played and recorded with Jimmy Rogers, Billy Boy Arnold, Jody... |
1965 | |
Colin James Colin James Colin James is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, who plays in the blues, rock, and neo-swing genres. He grew up as a Quaker.-Early years:... |
1964 | |
Paul "Wine" Jones Paul "Wine" Jones Paul "Wine" Jones was an American contemporary blues guitarist and singer.One commentator noted that Jones, along with R. L... |
1946 | |
Gene Kelton Gene Kelton Gene Kelton was an American guitarist, harmonica player and singer-songwriter, based in Houston, Texas. He played Americana, blues-rock, Southern rock and rockabilly music.-Blues roots:... |
c.1955 | |
Junior Kimbrough Junior Kimbrough David "Junior" Kimbrough was an American blues musician. His best known work included "Keep Your Hands Off Her" and "All Night Long". Music journalist Tony Russell stated "his raw, repetitive style suggests an archaic forebear of John Lee Hooker, a character his music shares with that of fellow... |
1930 | 1998 |
Chris Thomas King Chris Thomas King Chris Thomas King is an American New Orleans, Louisiana-based blues musician and actor.-History:King was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. He is the son of blues musician Tabby Thomas. He has won awards including "Album of the Year" for both Grammy Award and Country Music Awards. King... |
1964 | |
Davy Knowles Davy Knowles Davy Knowles is a blues guitarist and singer. Knowles, formerly of the blues-rock band Back Door Slam, is now working as a solo artist under the name Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam. With Back Door Slam, he played lead guitar and sang on their debut album, Roll Away... |
1987 | |
Paul Lamb Paul Lamb (musician) Paul Lamb is a British blues harmonica player and bandleader. He has had a four decade long career as a blues harmonicist and bandleader, with fans around the world.-Biography:... |
1955 | |
Jonny Lang Jonny Lang Jonny Lang is a Grammy award-winning American blues, gospel, and rock singer, songwriter and recording artist. Lang's music is notable for both his unusual voice, which has been compared to that of a forty-year-old blues veteran, and for his guitar solos... |
1981 | |
Larry McCray Larry McCray Larry McCray is an American blues guitarist and singer.-Biography:McCray, the second youngest of nine siblings, grew up living on a farm. McCray learned guitar from his sister, Clara. "She used to play real low-down and dirty", McCray recalled years later... |
1960 | |
Harry Manx Harry Manx Harry Manx is a musician who blends blues, folk music, and Hindustani classical music. He was born in the Isle of Man where he spent his childhood and now lives on Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada.... |
unknown | |
John Mayer John Mayer John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his... |
1977 | |
Coco Montoya Coco Montoya Coco Montoya is an American blues guitarist and former member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.-Musical career:... |
1951 | |
Kenny Neal Kenny Neal Kenny Neal , son of Raful Neal, is an american blues guitar player, singer and band member. Neal comes from a musical family and has often performed with his brothers in his band.-Career:... |
1957 | |
North Mississippi Allstars North Mississippi Allstars North Mississippi Allstars is a Southern rock/blues jam band from Hernando, Mississippi, founded in 1996. The band is composed of brothers Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson , and Chris Chew... |
||
Blind Mississippi Morris Blind Mississippi Morris Blind Mississippi Morris is an American blues artist.Cummings lost his sight at the age of four, but that did not stop him from learning the blues. Morris has become a popular blues act on Beale Street. Morris and his band, the Pocket Rockets, are known as the "real deal from Beale"... |
1955 | |
Charlie Parr Charlie Parr Charlie Parr is an American country blues musician, born in Austin, Minnesota, United States. He started his music career in Duluth, Minnesota. His influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, and Dave Van Ronk. He plays a National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back... |
unknown | |
Neal Pattman Neal Pattman Neal Pattman was an American electric blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Sometimes billed as Big Daddy Pattman, he is best known for his self-penned tracks, "Prison Blues" and "Goin' Back To Georgia"... |
1926 | 2005 |
Asie Payton Asie Payton Asie Reed Payton ) was an American blues musician, who lived most of his life in Holly Ridge, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta... |
1937 | 1997 |
Kelly Joe Phelps Kelly Joe Phelps Kelly Joe Phelps is an American musician and songwriter. His music has been characterized as a mixture of delta blues and jazz.-Career:... |
1959 | |
Ana Popović Ana Popovic Ana Popović is a Serbian blues guitarist and singer.-Biography:Ana Popović's father first introduced her to the blues, through an extensive record collection and sessions hosted at the family home. Popović founded her first band at age nineteen... |
1976 | |
Roxanne Potvin Roxanne Potvin Roxanne Potvin is a Canadian bilingual Gatineau, Quebec-based singer, blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist. Born in Regina, where her father was a TV reporter for CBC, Potvin moved to the Ottawa area when she was two... |
1982 | |
Del Rey | 1959 | |
Matt Schofield Matt Schofield Matt Schofield is an English blues guitarist and singer, whose music blends blues with rock and funky jazz rhythms.... |
1977 | |
Todd Sharpville Todd Sharpville Todd Sharpville is the younger son of the 3rd Viscount St Davids and younger brother of 4th Viscount St Davids. Sharpville is a British musician, singer-songwriter and lead guitarist, mainly in the blues field... |
1970 | |
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced a rare level of commercial success both as a blues artist and a young musician.-Biography:Shepherd graduated Caddo Magnet High School in Shreveport, Louisiana... |
1976 | |
Ian Siegal Ian Siegal Ian Siegal is a British blues singer and guitarist, whose style reflects the more rootsy side of the genre, drawing on influences such as Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Son House, Junior Kimbrough and Tom Waits.... |
1971 | |
Bobby Sowell Bobby Sowell Bobby Sowell is an American musician, pianist and composer. He spent much of his early years playing rockabilly piano in the late 1950s, playing organ in rock and roll bands in the 1960s and playing piano in numerous country music bands in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s... |
1947 | |
Dave Specter Dave Specter Dave Specter is an American Chicago blues and jazz guitarist.-Biography:Hailing from Chicago's Northwest side, Specter began to learn to play the guitar at the age of 18. His teacher was Steve Freund, who taught Specter between the latter's duties at Jazz Record Mart, and Delmark Records... |
1963 | |
Cootie Stark Cootie Stark Cootie Stark was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His best remembered recordings were "Metal Bottoms" and "Sandyland." Stark was known as the 'King of the Piedmont blues.'-Biography:... |
1927 | 2005 |
Otis Taylor Otis Taylor (musician) Otis Taylor is an American blues musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist whose talents include the guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and vocals. In 2001, he was awarded a fellowship to the Sundance Film Composers Laboratory.-Music:Taylor moved at a young age to Denver, Colorado where he grew up... |
1948 | |
Susan Tedeschi Susan Tedeschi Susan Tedeschi is an American blues and soul musician, who has received multiple Grammy Award nominations, and is well-known for her singing voice, guitar playing, stage presence, and marriage to blues guitarist Derek Trucks... |
1970 | |
Jimmy Thackery Jimmy Thackery Jimmy Thackery is an American blues singer and guitarist.-Career:Thackery spent fourteen years as part of The Nighthawks, the Washington, D.C. based blues and roots rock ensemble... |
1953 | |
Earl Thomas | 1960 | |
T-Model Ford T-Model Ford James Lewis Carter Ford is an American blues musician, using the name T-Model Ford. Unable to remember his exact date of birth, he began his musical career in his early seventies, and has continuously recorded for the Fat Possum label, then switched to Alive Naturalsound Records. His musical style... |
1924 | |
Derek Trucks Derek Trucks Derek Trucks is a Grammy Award-winning, American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. He founded The Derek Trucks Band and worked as a session musician when he was still in his early teens. Throughout those teenage years, he toured with The Allman Brothers Band primarily as a slide... |
1979 | |
Redd Velvet Redd Velvet is an American blues and soul singer, best known for her unconventional entrance into the music industry .... |
1968 | |
Joe Louis Walker Joe Louis Walker Joe Louis Walker, also known as JLW is an American musician, best known as a electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. A feature of his work is his recourse to older material or playing styles, which revealed his knowledge of blues history.-Career:Joe Louis Walker was born in San... |
1949 | |
Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne is an American blues, boogie-woogie and jazz pianist, singer and songwriter... |
1944 | |
Jack White Jack White (musician) Jack White , often credited as Jack White III, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor... |
1975 | |
William Elliott Whitmore William Elliott Whitmore William Elliott Whitmore is an American blues singer and musician from Lee County, Iowa. He has recorded a number of albums released on Southern Records, and now is a member of the Anti Records family. His act consists mostly of playing the banjo or guitar while singing, though on occasion he... |
1978 | |
Rusty Zinn Rusty Zinn Rusty Zinn is an American electric blues and reggae guitarist and singer-songwriter. Zinn released six albums between 1996 and 2009, on Black Top, Alligator, Bad Daddy, and 9 Above Records... |
1970 | |
Blues in conventional pop music
Name | Birth year | Death year | Song(s) / Work |
---|---|---|---|
Harold Arlen Harold Arlen Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the... |
1905 | 1986 | "Blues in the Night Blues in the Night "Blues in the Night" is a popular song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun with the working title Hot Nocturne, but finally released as Blues... " and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", also sung as "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?", is one of the best-known American songs of the Great Depression. Written in 1931 by lyricist E. Y. "Yip" Harburg and composer Jay Gorney, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" was part of the 1932 musical New Americana; the... " |
Wayne Baker Brooks Wayne Baker Brooks Wayne Baker Brooks is an American blues and blues-rock guitarist and singer.-Biography:... |
1970 | "Something Going Down" | |
Duke Ellington Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions... |
1899 | 1974 | "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) "I Got It Bad " is a pop and jazz standard with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster published in 1941... " |
George Gershwin George Gershwin George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known... |
1898 | 1937 | Porgy and Bess Porgy and Bess Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward... |
John Mayer Trio John Mayer Trio In February 2005, the trio played Mayer's single "Daughters" at the 47th Grammy Awards, for which Mayer went on to win the award for Best Male Vocal Performance later that night . The Trio released "Come When I Call" exclusively to iTunes... |
Try! | ||
Blues in country music
Name | Birth year | Death year |
---|---|---|
Johnny Cash Johnny Cash John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century... |
1932 | 2003 |
Charlie Daniels Charlie Daniels Charles Edward "Charlie" Daniels is an American musician known for his contributions to country and southern rock music. He is known primarily for his number one country hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", and multiple other songs he has performed and written. Daniels has been active as a singer... |
1936 | |
Merle Haggard Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,... |
1937 | |
Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The... |
1937 | |
Jimmie Rodgers Jimmie Rodgers (country singer) James Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling... |
1897 | 1933 |
Hank Williams | 1923 | 1953 |
Blues influence in classical music
Name | Birth year | Death year | Work(s) |
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George Gershwin George Gershwin George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known... |
1898 | 1937 | "Rhapsody in Blue Rhapsody in Blue Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects.... " and "Concerto in F Concerto in F (Gershwin) Concerto in F is a composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and orchestra which is closer in form to a traditional concerto than the earlier jazz-influenced Rhapsody in Blue... " |
Honegger Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born... |
1892 | 1955 | "Pacific 231 Pacific 231 Pacific 231 is an orchestral work by Arthur Honegger, written in 1923. It is one of his most frequently performed works today.The popular interpretation of the piece is that it depicts a steam locomotive, an interpretation that is supported by the title of the piece. Honegger, however, insisted... " |
William Grant Still William Grant Still William Grant Still was an African-American classical composer who wrote more than 150 compositions. He was the first African American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major... |
1895 | 1978 | "Afro-American Symphony" |
Blues in African music
Name | Birth year | Death year |
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Ramon Goose Ramon Goose Ramon Goose is an English blues rock guitarist, singer and producer, who is known for his work with the hip hop blues band NuBlues, his mastery of the slide guitar, and for producing other American blues artists' albums... |
1977 | |
Ali Farka Toure Ali Farka Touré Ali Ibrahim “Farka” Touré was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent’s most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues... |
1939 | 2006 |
Blues in contemporary rock and pop music
Name | Birth year | Death year |
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The Animals The Animals The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London... |
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Wayne Baker Brooks Wayne Baker Brooks Wayne Baker Brooks is an American blues and blues-rock guitarist and singer.-Biography:... |
1970 | |
The Black Keys The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American rock duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. The band was formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. As of October 2011, the band has sold over 2 million albums in the U.S.... |
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, now based in Los Angeles. BRMC is known for their garage rock, blues, folk revival, neo-psychedelia sound. They are influenced by bands such as: The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Verve, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, T... |
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Blues Explosion | ||
Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise is an American band. It formed in 1994 when former members of the band Second Self met a blind street performer by the name of Robert Bradley. Robert Bradley was born in Alabama, but gained musical experience and spirit by singing as a child at The Alabama... |
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Nick Cave Nick Cave Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and... |
1957 | |
Clutch Clutch (band) Clutch is an American rock band from Germantown, Maryland, formed in 1990. The band's first release was an EP entitled Pitchfork, which debuted in October 1990. Their first studio album, Transnational Speedway League, was released three years later in 1993. To date, Clutch has released nine studio... |
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Bob Dylan Bob Dylan Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly... |
1941 | |
The Kinks The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a... |
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G. Love & Special Sauce G. Love & Special Sauce G. Love & Special Sauce is an alternative hip-hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are known for their unique, "sloppy", and "laid back" blues sound that encompasses classic R&B. The band features Garrett Dutton, better known as G... |
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Ben Harper Ben Harper Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents... |
1969 | |
Richard Johnston Richard Johnston (musician) Richard Johnston is a country blues musician who won the 2001 International Blues Talent competition award, and the 2001 Albert King Award for most promising blues guitarist. His work as a street musician on Beale Street in Memphis, TN was documented in the Alabama PBS film Richard Johnston: Hill... |
unknown | |
Norah Jones Norah Jones Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies... |
1979 | |
Chris Thomas King Chris Thomas King Chris Thomas King is an American New Orleans, Louisiana-based blues musician and actor.-History:King was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. He is the son of blues musician Tabby Thomas. He has won awards including "Album of the Year" for both Grammy Award and Country Music Awards. King... |
1962 | |
Lenny Kravitz Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads... |
1964 | |
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham... |
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Los Lonely Boys Los Lonely Boys Los Lonely Boys is a Chicano rock power trio from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music they call "Texican Rock n' Roll," combining elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown eyed soul, country, and Tejano.... |
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Hans Olson Hans Olson Hans Olson is an American musician and songwriter, originally from San Bernardino, California, though he now resides in Scottsdale, Arizona. Olson usually performs solo, although he has played with several bands throughout his career. Olson combines a blend of blues, country, folk music and... |
unknown | |
Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially... |
1949 | |
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up... |
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Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums... |
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Tom Waits Tom Waits Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."... |
1949 | |
The White Stripes The White Stripes The White Stripes was an American rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consisted of the songwriter Jack White and drummer Meg White . Jack and Meg White were previously married to each other, but are now divorced... |
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The Who The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction... |
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ZZ Top ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969... |
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Blues from Europe
Name | Birth year | Death year |
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Cuby + Blizzards | ||
Herman Brood Herman Brood Hermanus "Herman" Brood was a Dutch musician, painter and media personality. Initially a musician who achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, and called "the Netherlands' greatest and only rock 'n' roll star," later in life he became a well-known painter.Known for his... |
1946 | 1991 |
Oli Brown | 1990 | |
Eric Burdon Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance... |
1941 | |
Yavuz Çetin Yavuz Çetin Yavuz Hilmi Çetin was a Turkish musician as well as songwriter and singer in the blues and psychedelic music genres, who gained renown in his native country for the skill and sensitivity of his guitar performances and, in the wake of his suicide at the age of 30, before the release of his... |
1970 | 2001 |
Eric Clapton Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and... |
1945 | |
Cyril Davies Cyril Davies Cyril Davies was one of the first British blues harmonica players and blues musician.-Biography:Born at St Mildred's, 15 Hawthorn Drive, Willowbank, Denham, Buckinghamshire, near London, he was the son of William Albert Davies, a labourer, and his wife Margaret Mary... |
1932 | 1964 |
Christian Dozzler Christian Dozzler Christian Dozzler is a blues, boogie woogie and zydeco multi-instrumentalist and singer from Austria, now based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He plays piano, harmonica, accordion and organ, and writes most of his recorded material. He has been nicknamed "Vienna Slim".- Biography :Dozzler took... |
1958 | |
Elmore D Elmore D Elmore D is a Belgian blues musician. His is also a professor at the University of Liège, where he gives lectures on the history and culture of Wallonia.... |
1946 | |
Peter Green Peter Green (musician) Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac... |
1946 | |
Rory Gallagher Rory Gallagher William Rory Gallagher, ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995, was an Irish blues-rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, and raised in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste... |
1948 | 1995 |
Jo Ann Kelly Jo Ann Kelly Jo Ann Kelly was an English blues singer and guitarist. "To many American performers", an obituarist wrote, "Jo Ann Kelly was the only British singer to earn their respect for her development of what they would be justified in thinking as 'their' genre".-Life and career:Kelly was born in... |
1944 | 1990 |
John Kirkbride John Kirkbride John Kirkbride is a Scottish singer, guitarist, songwriter and entertainer, currently residing in Germany.Kirkbride plays blues and jazz standards from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, as well as compositions of his own... |
1946 | |
Davy Knowles Davy Knowles Davy Knowles is a blues guitarist and singer. Knowles, formerly of the blues-rock band Back Door Slam, is now working as a solo artist under the name Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam. With Back Door Slam, he played lead guitar and sang on their debut album, Roll Away... |
1987 | |
Alexis Korner Alexis Korner Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"... |
1928 | 1984 |
Alvin Lee Alvin Lee Alvin Lee is an English rock guitarist and singer. He began playing guitar at the age of 13, and with Leo Lyons formed the core of the band Ten Years After in 1960... |
1944 | |
John Mayall John Mayall John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, whose musical career spans over fifty years... |
1933 | |
Gary Moore Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer.... |
1952 | 2011 |
Neal Pattman Neal Pattman Neal Pattman was an American electric blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Sometimes billed as Big Daddy Pattman, he is best known for his self-penned tracks, "Prison Blues" and "Goin' Back To Georgia"... |
1926 | 2005 |
Ana Popović Ana Popovic Ana Popović is a Serbian blues guitarist and singer.-Biography:Ana Popović's father first introduced her to the blues, through an extensive record collection and sessions hosted at the family home. Popović founded her first band at age nineteen... |
1976 | |
Matt Schofield Matt Schofield Matt Schofield is an English blues guitarist and singer, whose music blends blues with rock and funky jazz rhythms.... |
1977 | |
Todd Sharpville Todd Sharpville Todd Sharpville is the younger son of the 3rd Viscount St Davids and younger brother of 4th Viscount St Davids. Sharpville is a British musician, singer-songwriter and lead guitarist, mainly in the blues field... |
1970 | |
Ian Siegal Ian Siegal Ian Siegal is a British blues singer and guitarist, whose style reflects the more rootsy side of the genre, drawing on influences such as Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Son House, Junior Kimbrough and Tom Waits.... |
1971 | |
Mick Taylor Mick Taylor Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones... |
1949 | |
Hans Theessink Hans Theessink Hans Theessink is a Dutch guitarist, singer and songwriter, living in Vienna, Austria. He performs blues and roots music, particularly in a Delta blues style. Theessink has released 20 albums, a songbook, a blues-guitar instruction video and a DVD.-External links:* official website* myspace... |
1948 | |
Fabio Treves Fabio Treves Fabio Treves is an Italian blues musician. Treves's nickname is "il Puma di Lambrate" , mimicking the British bluesman John Mayall, known as the "Manchester's Lion"... |
1949 | |
Axel Zwingenberger Axel Zwingenberger Axel Zwingenberger is a blues and boogie-woogie pianist, and songwriter. He is considered one of the finest boogie-woogie music masters in the world.-Biography:... |
1955 | |
Blues from Latin America
Name | Birth year | Death year |
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Nuno Mindelis Nuno Mindelis Nuno Mindelis , nicknamed "The Beast", is an Angolan-born Brazilian blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.... |
1957 | |
Pappo Pappo -, 1968:-, 1969:# # # # # # # # # -Rock de la mujer perdida, 1970:... |
1950 | 2005 |
Carlos Santana Carlos Santana Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion... |
1947 | |
Blues from Russia
Name | Birth year | Death year |
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Blackmailers Blackmailers Blackmailers Rekord Orkestr — the wedding and funeral orchestra.-History:The band was created in 1997 by Aleksey Baryshev, a well-known Russian guitar player. At first it was a classical “guitar hero” blues band with an undiluted blues-rock repertoire... |
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Mike Naumenko Mike Naumenko Mike Naumenko was a Soviet rock and blues musician, the leader of Zoopark rock group.Born in Leningrad, in the 1970s he was a member of Akvarium Russian rock-group, and in 1981 he formed Zoopark, which became one of the most outstanding blues rock groups of USSR... |
1955 | 1991 |