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Sonny Boy Williamson
Artist Biography For Sonny Boy Williamson
There Are Two Harmonica Playing Bluesmen Known As Sonny Boy Williamson. They Are Colloquially Referred To As Sonny Boy Williamson I And Sonny Boy Williamson II Respectively But Are Of No Relation.
The Two Are Easy To Distinguish. Williamson I Played The Harmonica Acoustically And Was Essentially A Pre-War Artist. Williamson II Was Entirely An Electrified Harpist In The Style Of Little Walter Reflecting The Advent Of The Jukebox And Electrified Instruments Following World War II. Compare The Albums Sonny Boy Williamson I ~~ Sonny Boy Williamson II --------------------------------------------
Sonny Boy Williamson I 30 March 1914 - 1 June 1948 Also Known As John Lee Curtis Williamson Was An American Blues Harmonica Player Born In Jackson Tennessee Whose First Record Good Morning Little School Girl Was A Hit In 1937. He Was Widely Popular Throughout The Whole Southeast Of The U.S. And Was Practically Synonymous With The Blues Harmonica For The Next Decade Making His A Commonly Used Stage Name By The Time He Was Murdered In 1948. He Is Buried At The Old Blairs Chapel Church South West Of Jackson Tennessee.
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Sonny Boy Williamson II 11 March 1908 - 25 May 1965 Also Known As Willie Williamson Willie Miller Little Boy Blue The Goat And Footsie.
Aleck "Rice" Miller Was An American Blues Harmonica Player Singer And Songwriter. Born As Aleck Ford To Millie Ford On The Sara Jones Plantation In Tallahatchie County Mississippi His Date And Year Of Birth Are A Matter Of Uncertainty. He Claimed To Have Been Born On December 5 1899 But One Researcher David Evans Claims To Have Found Census Record Evidence That He Was Born Around 1912. His Gravestone Lists His Date Of Birth As March 11 1908. He Lived And Worked With His Sharecropper Stepfather Jim Miller Whose Last Name He Soon Adopted And Mother Millie Ford Until The Early 1930s. Beginning In The 1930s He Traveled Around Mississippi And Arkansas And Encountered Big Joe Williams Elmore James And Robert Lockwood Jr. Also Known As Robert Junior Lockwood Who Would Play Guitar On His Later Checker Records Sides. He Was Also Associated With Robert Johnson During This Period. Miller Developed His Style And Raffish Stage Persona During These Years. Willie Dixon Recalled Seeing Lockwood And Miller Playing For Tips In Greenville Mississippi In The 1930s. He Entertained Audiences With Novelties Such Inserting One End Of The Harmonica Into His Mouth And Playing With No Hands. In 1941 Miller Was Hired To Play The King Biscuit Time Show Advertising The King Biscuit Brand Of Baking Flour On Radio Station KFFA In Helena Arkansas With Lockwood. It Was At This Point That The Radio Program's Sponsor Max Moore Began Billing Miller As Sonny Boy Williamson Apparently In An Attempt To Capitalize On The Fame Of The Well Known Chicago-Based Harmonica Player And Singer John Lee Williamson Sonny Boy Williamson I . Although John Lee Williamson Was A Major Blues Star Who Had Already Released Dozens Of Successful And Widely Influential Records Under The Name "Sonny Boy Williamson" From 1937 Onward Aleck Miller Would Later Claim To Have Been The First To Use The Name And Some Blues Scholars Believe That Miller's Assertion He Was Born In 1899 Was A Ruse To Convince Audiences He Was Old Enough To Have Used The Name Before John Lee Williamson Who Was Born In 1914 This Is Made Somewhat Less Likely However By The Fact That Miller Was Certainly Older Than Williamson Even If One Does Not Accept The 1899 Birthdate. Whatever The Methodology Miller Became Commonly Known As "Sonny Boy Williamson" And Lockwood And The Rest Of His Band Were Billed As The King Biscuit Boys. In 1949 He Relocated To West Memphis Arkansas And Lived With His Sister And Her Husband Howlin' Wolf Later For Checker Records He Did A Parody Of Howlin' Wolf Entitled "Like Wolf" . Sonny Boy Started His Own KWEM Radio Show From 1948 To 1950 Selling The Elixir Hadacol. Sonny Boy Also Brought His King Biscuit Musician Friends To West Memphis Elmore James Houston Stackhouse Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup Robert Nighthawk And Others To Perform On KWEM Radio. In The 1940s Williamson Married Mattie Gordon Who Remained His Wife Until His Death. Williamson's First Recording Session Took Place In 1951 For Lillian McMurry Of Jackson Mississippi's Trumpet Records Three Years After The Death Of John Lee Williamson Which For The First Time Allowed Some Legitimacy To Miller's Carefully Worded Claim To Being "the One And Only Sonny Boy Williamson" . McMurry Later Erected Williamson's Headstone Near Tutwiler Mississippi In 1977. When Trumpet Went Bankrupt In 1955 Sonny Boy's Recording Contract Was Yielded To Its Creditors Who Sold It To Chess Records In Chicago Illinois. Sonny Boy Had Begun Developing A Following In Chicago Beginning In 1953 When He Appeared There As A Member Of Elmore James's Band. It Was During His Chess Years That He Enjoyed His Greatest Success And Acclaim Recording About 70 Songs For Chess Subsidiary Checker Records From 1955 To 1964. In The Early 1960s He Toured Europe Several Times During The Height Of The British Blues Craze Recording With The Yardbirds And The Animals And Appearing On Several TV Broadcasts Throughout Europe. According To The Led Zeppelin Biography 'Hammer Of The Gods' While In England Sonny Boy Set His Hotel Room On Fire While Trying To Cook A Rabbit In A Coffee Percolator. Robert Palmer's "Deep Blues" Mentions That During This Tour He Allegedly Stabbed A Man During A Street Fight And Left The Country Abruptly. Sonny Boy Took A Liking To The European Fans And While There Had A Custom-Made Two-Tone Suit Tailored Personally For Him Along With A Bowler Hat Matching Umbrella And An Attaché Case For His Harmonicas. He Appears Credited As "Big Skol" On Roland Kirk's Live Album 'Kirk In Copenhagen' 1963 . One Of His Final Recordings From England In 1964 Featured Him Singing "I'm Trying To Make London My Home" With Hubert Sumlin Providing The Guitar. Due To His Many Years Of Relating Convoluted Highly Fictionalized Accounts Of His Life To Friends And Family Upon His Return To The Delta Some Expressed Disbelief Upon Hearing Of Sonny Boy's Touring Across The Atlantic Visiting Europe Seeing The Eiffel Tower Big Ben And Other Landmarks And Recording There. Upon His Return To The U.S. He Resumed Playing The King Biscuit Time Show On KFFA And Performed Around Helena Arkansas. As Fellow Musicians Houston Stackhouse And Peck Curtis Waited At The KFFA Studios For Williamson On May 25 1965 The 12 15 Broadcast Time Was Closing In And Sonny Boy Was Nowhere In Sight. Peck Left The Radio Station And Headed Out To Locate Williamson And Discovered His Body In Bed At The Rooming House Where He'd Been Staying Dead Of An Apparent Heart Attack Suffered In His Sleep The Night Before. Williamson Is Buried On New Africa Rd. Just Outside Tutwiler Mississippi At The Site Of The Former Whitman Chapel Cemetery.
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50 Top Music Tracks For Sonny Boy Williamson - Frogtoon Music
Sonny Boy Williamson - Bring It On Home
Sonny Boy Williamson - Help Me
Sonny Boy Williamson - Nine Below Zero
Sonny Boy Williamson - Keep It To Yourself
Sonny Boy Williamson - Don't Start Me To Talkin'
Sonny Boy Williamson - Fattening Frogs For Snakes
Sonny Boy Williamson - Your Funeral And My Trial
Sonny Boy Williamson - One Way Out
Sonny Boy Williamson - All My Love In Vain
Sonny Boy Williamson - Mighty Long Time
Sonny Boy Williamson - Checkin' Up On My Baby
Sonny Boy Williamson - Don't Start Me Talkin'
Sonny Boy Williamson - Ninety Nine
Sonny Boy Williamson - Born Blind
Sonny Boy Williamson - Bye Bye Bird
Sonny Boy Williamson - Too Close Together
Sonny Boy Williamson - Cross My Heart
Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Moring Little Schoolgirl
Sonny Boy Williamson - Got The Bottle Up And Gone
Sonny Boy Williamson - Eyesight To The Blind
Sonny Boy Williamson - Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide
Sonny Boy Williamson - I Don't Know
Sonny Boy Williamson - Let Me Explain
Sonny Boy Williamson - The Key To Your Door
Sonny Boy Williamson - Too Young To Die
Sonny Boy Williamson - Trust My Baby
Sonny Boy Williamson - Pontiac Blues
Sonny Boy Williamson - Decoration Day
Sonny Boy Williamson - Sad To Be Alone
Sonny Boy Williamson - The Goat
Sonny Boy Williamson - Down Child
Sonny Boy Williamson - Lonesome Cabin
Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Evening Everybody
Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Sonny Boy Williamson - Dissatisfied
Sonny Boy Williamson - Sugar Mama
Sonny Boy Williamson - Come On Back Home
Sonny Boy Williamson - Wake Up Baby
Sonny Boy Williamson - Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues
Sonny Boy Williamson - Help Me - Mono Version
Sonny Boy Williamson - Santa Claus
Sonny Boy Williamson - Stop Crying
Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Morning, School Girl
Sonny Boy Williamson - West Memphis Blues
Sonny Boy Williamson - Sugar Mama Blues
Sonny Boy Williamson - Don't Start Me Talking
Sonny Boy Williamson - Early In The Morning
Sonny Boy Williamson - Decoration Blues
Sonny Boy Williamson - It's Sad To Be Alone
Sonny Boy Williamson - I Cross My Heart
50 Top Music Lyrics For Sonny Boy Williamson - Frogtoon Music
Sonny Boy Williamson - Bring It On Home | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Help Me | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Nine Below Zero | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Keep It To Yourself | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Don't Start Me To Talkin' | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Fattening Frogs For Snakes | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Your Funeral And My Trial | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - One Way Out | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - All My Love In Vain | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Mighty Long Time | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Checkin' Up On My Baby | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Don't Start Me Talkin' | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Ninety Nine | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Born Blind | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Bye Bye Bird | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Too Close Together | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Cross My Heart | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Moring Little Schoolgirl | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Got The Bottle Up And Gone | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Eyesight To The Blind | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - I Don't Know | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Let Me Explain | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - The Key To Your Door | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Too Young To Die | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Trust My Baby | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Pontiac Blues | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Decoration Day | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Sad To Be Alone | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - The Goat | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Down Child | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Lonesome Cabin | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Evening Everybody | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Dissatisfied | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Sugar Mama | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Come On Back Home | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Wake Up Baby | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Help Me - Mono Version | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Santa Claus | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Stop Crying | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Morning, School Girl | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - West Memphis Blues | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Sugar Mama Blues | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Don't Start Me Talking | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Early In The Morning | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - Decoration Blues | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - It's Sad To Be Alone | Lyrics
Sonny Boy Williamson - I Cross My Heart | Lyrics
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