Blue Farewells: Those We Lost In 2009

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Blue Farewells: Those We Lost In 2009
December 31, 2009
Rev. Keith A. Gordon
About.com

Sadly, the blues world lost a wealth of talent this year, as too many aging (and more than a few young) artists passed away, leaving behind a lifetime of great music and mourning fans. We honor these bluesmen and women, obscure and well-known alike, with this list of blues artists that died in 2009.

1. Alex 'Easy Baby' Randle

Chicago bluesman Alex "Easy Baby" Randle passed away on September 25, 2009 from pneumonia. The blues harpist was 75 years old. Born in Memphis, Randle lived in Mississippi for several years before returning to the Bluff City. He picked up on the harmonica from his grandmother and uncle, and began playing professionally as a teen in and around the Memphis area. Randle would become friends with future legends like Chester Burnett (a/k/a Howlin' Wolf) and James Cotton while playing juke-joints and gambling houses in the Southeast.
2. Ashton Savoy
Blues singer and guitarist Ashton Savoy, a long-time fixture of the Houston, Texas blues scene, died on Friday, May 22, 2009 after a long illness. Savoy was 80 years old. Born in Sunset, Louisiana in 1928, Savoy gravitated towards the blues as a teen, though he never quite shed his down-home Creole sound. A skilled guitarist and singer that easily mixed elements of Chicago and Texas styled blues music with the influences of his native Louisiana, Savoy seldom ventured into the recording studio.

3. Barry Beckett
Noted session keyboardist and producer Barry Beckett, who had worked with some of the biggest and brightest stars in the rock, blues, soul, and country music worlds, passed away on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 in his Hendersonville, Tennessee home following complications from a stroke. Beckett was 66 years old at the time of his death. Beckett made a name for himself during the late-1960s as keyboardist for the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, known as the "Swampers." Working in the Fame Recording Studio, and later in the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Beckett lent his keyboard skills to recordings by artists as diverse as bluesmen John Hammond, Otis Rush, and Albert King; R&B greats Etta James, Lowell Fulson, and Wilson Pickett.

4. Billy Lee Riley

Billy Lee Riley suffered from stage four bone cancer, and in bad financial straits. Riley passed away on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 at the age of 75 years. “We weren’t thinking the end was coming so soon,” his wife Joyce is quoted as saying in the Commercial Appeal. “He was actually feeling better lately. So the very end was unexpected. But, he went peacefully.” Riley was born in 1933 to a sharecropper's family in Arkansas, and he was taught to play guitar by the African-American farmers he worked alongside.
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5. Dickie Peterson (Blue Cheer)

Founding Blue Cheer bassist and vocalist Dickie Peterson passed away on Monday, October 12, 2009 in Germany. Although no cause of death has been released, Peterson had been fighting a long battle with prostate and liver cancer. He was thought to be 61 years old at the time of his death, although the artist's MySpace page lists his age as 63. Peterson formed Blue Cheer in San Francisco in 1966 with guitarist Leigh Stephens and drummer Paul Whaley. Taking amplified blues-rock to its logical extremes, the band was one of rock's original "power trios," and they played louder and heavier than any of their contemporaries.

6. Eddie Bo

New Orleans blues pianist Edwin Joseph Bocage, better known to his fans as "Eddie Bo," died on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 from a heart attack. An essential ingredient of the New Orleans blues and jazz community for over 50 years, Bo was 79 years old at the time of his death. Eddie Bo was born and raised in New Orleans, and after a stint in the Army, he returned home to attend the Grunewald School of Music, where he became influenced by jazz pianists like Art Tatum.

7. Freddie Everett 'The Texas Legend'

Houston, Texas blues guitarist Freddie Everett, known around the city's thriving blues scene as "The Texas Legend" and, by some folks, as the "Texas Hendrix," died on Thursday, April 2, 2009 from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). The six-string virtuoso was a well-known and beloved fixture of the Houston blues community. A talented singer, songwriter, and blues guitarist, Everett shared the stage during his brief career with artists like Ted Nugent, Sammy Hagar, Alice Cooper, and Bo Diddley, among others. He was offered a contract by Sony Music, but was physically unable to record.
8. Freddy Robinson a/k/a Abu Talib

Blues guitarist Freddy Robinson, who converted to Islam during the 1970s and took the name Abu Talib, died on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 of cancer. Talib was 70 years old at the time of his death. Born in Memphis, young Fred Robinson became enamored of the blues after accompanying his grandfather to area juke-joints; too young to go inside, he would watch the musicians through the window. Robinson began playing a one-string "diddly bow" at the age of nine, and saved enough money to buy his first guitar at age thirteen.

9. Jackie Washington

Beloved Canadian blues artist Jackie Washington died on Saturday, June 27, 2009 following complications from a heart attack. Washington was 89 years old at the time of his death. Born in Hamilton, Ontario as the third of 15 children, Washington's grandfather was a former American slave who had escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad. Washington began performing at the young age of five, and in addition to his unique, raspy voice he taught himself guitar and piano. Through the years Washington held jobs shining shoes, working in factories, and as a railroad porter. Washington also became Canada's first black radio DJ when he went on the air with CHML Radio in Hamilton in 1948.

10. James Gurley

Guitarist James Gurley, a founding member of San Francisco psychedelic blues band Big Brother & the Holding Company, passed away on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 from a heart attack. Gurley was 69 years old at the time of his death and is survived by his wife and two sons. Born and raised in Detroit as the son of a notable stunt driver, Gurley moved to the San Francisco Bay area during the early 1960s to pursue music. Gurley hooked up with fellow guitarists Sam Andrews and Pete Albin and formed Big Brother & the Holding Company in 1965.
Sadly, the blues world lost a wealth of talent this year, as too many aging (and more than a few young) artists passed away, leaving behind a lifetime of great music and mourning fans. We honor these bluesmen and women, obscure and well-known alike, with this list of blues artists that died in 2009.

11. Jesse Fortune

Chicago bluesman Jesse Fortune, whose career stretched from the 1950s until the current day, passed away early Monday morning, August 31, 2009. The singer collapsed on stage during a Sunday night performance at Gene's Playmate Lounge in Chicago, suffering an apparent heart attack. Fortune was 79 years old. A familiar face on the Chicago blues scene, Fortune performed at night at various city blues clubs and worked as a barber at his South Side shop during the day.

12. Jim Dickinson

Legendary Memphis musician and producer James Luther "Jim" Dickinson died on Saturday, August 15, 2009 after suffering complications from triple bypass surgery. Dickinson was 67 years old at the time of his death. Dickinson was probably best-known as the father of Luther and Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars, but his contributions to the formation of the Memphis sound are immeasurable. One of the unheralded MVPs of rock, soul, and blues music, Jim Dickinson was a gifted songwriter, musician, and producer who worked with the likes of Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, and the Replacements, among many others

13. John Cephas

Guitarist John Cephas, one-half of the popular blues duo Cephas & Wiggins, and one of the last of the Piedmont bluesmen, died on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 of natural causes. Cephas was 78 years old. Born in 1930 in Washington, D.C. to a deeply religious family, Cephas' music was seeped in gospel music and the Piedmont blues sound of artists like Blind Blake and Blind Boy Fuller. Cephas toiled outside of the blues for years, working as a professional gospel singer, a carpenter, and an Atlantic fisherman before he began earning a living with his music during the 1960s.

14. Johnny Jones

Nashville blues artist Johnny Jones has died at the age of 73 years old. A familiar figure on the Music City's thriving blues and soul scene of the 1960s, Jones was found dead by an exterminator that was scheduled to spray his apartment. Born in 1936, Jones had living in Memphis as a teen before moving with his mother to Chicago during the early-1950s. A self-taught guitarist, Jones was in a small blues group that played with both harp legend Junior Wells and guitarist Freddie King. Unaccustomed to the cold Chicago winters, however, Jones moved back to the south, landing in Nashville.
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15. Koko Taylor
"Koko Taylor's Old School"Photo courtesy Alligator Records
Chicago blues legend Koko Taylor, known internationally as the "Queen of the Blues," passed away on Wednesday June 3, 2009 as a result of complications from a recent operation. Taylor had undergone surgery in Chicago on May 19th to fix a gastrointestinal bleed, and according to a previous post on her website, was originally expected to make a full recovery. Taylor made her last public appearance a couple of weeks ago, singing her signature Chess Records hit "Wang Dang Doodle" in front of a thrilled audience at the 30th Blues Music Awards show in Memphis, Tennessee.

16. Lester Davenport

We're saddened to have to report on yet another death in the blues world, that of blues harpist Lester "Mad Dog" Davenport. A well-respected figure on the Chicago blues scene, Davenport passed away on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 after a long struggle with prostate cancer. Davenport was born in Tchula, Mississippi in 1932, moving to Chicago at the young age of fourteen. He found work as a harmonica player with bluesmen Homesick James, Snooky Pryor, and Arthur "Big Boy" Spires, but it was his playing behind Bo Diddley on his 1955 recordings "Pretty Thing" and "Bring It To Jerome" that earned Davenport his reputation as a harpist.

17. Macavine Hayes

Piedmont bluesman Macavine Hayes passed away in his sleep on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at the age of 65 years. Born in Tampa, Florida to a farming family, Hayes moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina sometime during the 1960s at the urging of his friend, blues legend Guitar Gabriel. Hayes is best-known for his 2005 CD release Drinkhouse, a collection of juke-joint blues complimented by a couple of spiritual numbers, and including Hayes' own unique take on Chuck Berry's classic rocker "Johnny B. Goode."

18. Mark Sallings

Arkansas blues harpist Mark Sallings tragically died in a two-vehicle accident on February 25, 2009 while driving to a casino gig in Tunica, Mississippi. Born near Helena, Arkansas, Sallings began playing the harp professionally at age 14, and worked in Memphis as a session player with Stax Records right out of high school. He was just 56 years old at the time of his death. As a journeyman musician, Sallings performed with the Coon Elder Band and as part of country star David Lynn Jones' band during the 1980s, appearing in three of Jones' videos.

19. Mel Brown
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Blues guitarist Mel Brown, a long-time staple of R&B singer Bobby "Blue" Bland's band, passed away on Friday, March 20th, 2009 from complications of emphysema. Brown was admitted to the hospital on March 1st with a collapsed lung and, sadly, never went back home. He was 69 years old. Brown enjoyed a lengthy and successful career as an artist and a sideman. Born in October 1939 in Jackson, Mississippi, a childhood bout with meningitis left Brown bedridden for several months. His father, a musician himself, bought young Mel a Gibson Les Paul guitar and he taught himself to play by studying the work of artists like B.B. King, Hank Williams, and T-Bone Walker.

20. Nick Holt

Formers Teardrops bassist Nick Holt, the brother of Chicago blues legend Magic Slim (a/k/a Morris Holt), died in Lincoln, Nebraska on Monday, June 22, 2009 from brain cancer. Holt was 69 years old at the time of his death. Born in Grenada, Mississippi in 1940, Holt accompanied his brother to Chicago in the late-1950s, and helped him form the popular Magic Slim & the Teardrops in 1960. The rock-steady bass player performed with his frontman brother for the next 40 years, both onstage and on the band's recordings through 2000's Blind Pig Records release Snakebite.

21. Norton Buffalo

Blues harpist Norton Buffalo, a mainstay of the Northern California blues scene for better than three decades, lost his short battle with lung cancer on Friday, October 29, 2009 at the age of 58 years. A skilled harmonica player who was equally conversant in blues, rock, folk, and country music, Buffalo's distinctive harp tones can be heard on over 180 albums by artists as diverse as Bonnie Raitt, the Doobie Brothers, Elvin Bishop, Johnny Cash, and many others. Buffalo was a touring member of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, and had been a member of the Steve Miller Band since 1976.

22. Piney Brown

Blues singer Piney Brown passed away on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 after a lengthy illness. A long-time Dayton, Ohio resident, Brown was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1922 and began performing as a young teenager, singing with his sisters as the Blue Jay Singers, a gospel group. Although relatively obscure, even by blues music standards, Brown is remembered as a dynamic performer and talented singer capable of belting out tunes in a variety of styles, from blues and soul to jazz, and even country and western.

23. Rocky Benton

Texas bluesman Rocky Benton, a long-time fixture on the Corpus Christi, Texas blues music scene, died on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at the age of 57 of heart failure. Benton had been in the hospital for about a week, awaiting surgery to install a pacemaker, at the time of his death. Born Harold Ray Benton is Silsbee, Texas, Benton lost his sight at the age of four years old. The blues harpist began playing the harmonica at the age of six, and soon branched out into drums and keyboards. Benton began his musical career at the age of ten, performing as a jazz drummer and singer with a band in Austin while attending the Texas School for the Blind, where he also picked up his "Rocky" nickname.

24. Rocky Hill

Texas blues guitarist Rocky Hill, brother of Z.Z. Top bassist Dusty, died on Friday, April 10th, 2009 from an undisclosed medical condition. The well-known Houston area musician was 62 years old. Hill picked up the guitar at a young age, and by the time he was 15 years old Rocky was playing local Dallas clubs with his band the Starliners. Hill later formed American Blues with his brother Dusty and drummer Frank Beard. The early power trio died their hair blue and performed the psychedelic blues-rock popular in Texas and elsewhere during the mid-to-late-1960s.

25. Sam Carr

Bluesman Sam Carr, one of the premiere blues drummers of the modern era, passed away on Monday, September 21, 2009 after battling health problems over the past few years. Carr had recently lost his wife of over 60 years, Doris, and was living in a nursing facility at the time of his death. Carr was 83 years old. Born in Arkansas as Samuel Lee McCollum in 1926, he was raised by the Carr family on their Mississippi farm. The son of noted blues guitarist Robert Nighthawk, Carr didn't meet his father until he was 7 years old, but by the time he was 16 he was driving Nighthawk to performances, collecting money at the door, and sometimes playing bass with his father.

26. Sam 'The Bluzman' Taylor
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Blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist Sam "The Bluzman" Taylor passed away on Monday, January 5th, 2009 in his Islandia, NY home from complications associated with heart disease. Taylor was 74 years old. A veteran musician with almost five decades experience under his belt, Taylor was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1934 and settled in the Long Island area after a stint in the U.S. Air Force. A talented guitarist with a wide range, Taylor was much in demand throughout the 1960s. He was an early member of Joey Dee & the Starliters, playing on the band's big hit "Peppermint Twist," but he was also a bandleader who worked with legends like Otis Redding, The Isley Brothers, and Sam and Dave, among others.

27. Snooks Eaglin

Blues guitarist and singer Fird "Snooks" Eaglin, Jr. – a true New Orleans R&B legend – died on Wednesday, February 24, 2009 from a heart attack at the age of 73 years after a lengthy illness. Blinded as an infant by glaucoma, Eaglin was a self-taught guitarist, learning to play by listening to songs on the radio. Eaglin possessed a unique finger-picking technique, and by picking with his thumbnail he could bend the strings even faster.

28. Wesley 'Junebug' Jefferson

We're saddened to report the death of Clarksdale, Mississippi blues artist Wesley "Junebug" Jefferson. The popular Delta blues singer, bass player, and band leader passed away on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 from complications due to lung cancer. Jefferson was 65 years old. Jefferson was born the oldest boy of thirteen children in Roundaway, Mississippi, a rural area south of Clarksdale. Raised in abject poverty, Jefferson picked cotton and plowed behind a mule as a young man, and as he got older, he worked the fields with a tractor. He picked up on blues music at an early age, hearing records on the jukebox at the juke joint that his mother ran out in the country.

29. Willie King

Award-winning Alabama bluesman Willie King died at his Old Memphis, Alabama home from a massive heart attack on Sunday, March 8, 2009 at the age of 65 years. Although King wasn't very well known by the blues world at large, his influence as both a blues artist and a social activist loom large in the South, particularly in his home state. King had been playing his unique brand of what he called "struggling blues" for over 30 years at the time of his big league debut, the 2000 Rooster Blues album Freedom Creek. He would release four more albums during the decade, including 2006's One Love, his last recording.