Boston, New York and London: Little, Brown and Company, 2002. Memphis author never met Muddy Waters but came up with plenty of material to work with, including a number of interviews done by other researchers [...]
One of the few blues queens of the prewar vaudeville era to enjoy a new round of celebrity in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, Sippie Wallace began her recording career in 1923. Billed as the [...]
Dinah Washington enjoyed great renown in her later years for her ballad singing and jazz stylings, as well as for her catchy pop/R&B duets with Brook Benton, but in her day she was hailed as [...]
As a staff record producer -- back when the common industry term was 'A&R man' -- Ralph Bass was responsible for many important blues, jazz and R&B singles and albums during his storied career. Bass [...]
Little Johnny Taylor (1943-2002) enjoyed popularity on the soul-blues circuit in the 1960s and '70s but today his songs seem to be better known than his name. His biggest hit, one since performed by many [...]
Cut from the same cloth as Wells' classic Hoodoo Man Blues LP from the same period, It's My Life, Baby! captured the Junior Wells-Buddy Guy team in great form, both in the studio and live [...]
Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins got a late start as a solo artist, after supplying the piano background for the likes of Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2, and Earl Hooker for decades. But his [...]
Lifelong New Orleans resident Antoine “Fats” Domino turned the infectious piano rhythms of the Crescent City into Top 40 hits as one of the few African American performers to cross over to the top ranks [...]