Sonny Boy Williamson I
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John Lee Williamson (March 30, 1914- June 1,1948) was an American blues harmonica player and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson. He was born somewhere near Jackson, Tennessee on March 30, 1914. His original harmonica recordings were considered to be in the country style, but he soon demonstrated skill at making harmonica a lead instrument for blues. He has been called "the father of modern blues harp".
His very first recording, "Good Morning, School Girl", was a hit on the 'race records' market in 1937. He was hugely popular among black audiences throughout the whole southern US as well as in the midwestern industrial cities such like Detroit and his home base in Chicago, and his name was synonymous with the blues harmonica for the next decade. Other well-known recordings of his is are "Shake the Boogie", "You Better Cut That Out", "Sloppy Drunk", and "Early In The Morning". John Lee's style influenced a number of blues harmonica performers, including Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells, Sonny Terry, and Snooky Pryor among many others. He was easily the most widely heard and influential blues harmonica player of his generation. His music was also influential on many of his non-harmonica playing contemporaries and successors, including Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers.
He was popular enough that by the 1940s, another blues harp player, Aleck/Alex "Rice" Miller began also using the name Sonny Boy Williamson. John Lee objected to this, though no legal action took place. On June 1, 1948, John Lee Williamson was killed in a mugging on Chicago's South Side.
External links
- http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/sonnyboywilliamson1st.txt
- http://www.island.net/~blues/johnlee.html
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