The Best Blues Music Singers of All Time
Contents
Looking for the best blues singers of all time? Look no further! We’ve compiled a list of the all-time greats, from legends like B.B. King and Muddy Waters to contemporary stars like Ben Harper and Koko Taylor. Check out our picks for the best blues singers of all time!
Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson was an American blues singer and musician. His recordings in 1936 and 1937 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced later generations of musicians. Johnson’s scanty biography adds to the mystery surrounding his life and career.
Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who is considered the “father of modern Chicago blues”. He was a major inspiration for the British blues explosion of the 1960s, and his songs such as “Hoochie Coochie Man”, “I Just Wanna Make Love to You” and “Got My Mojo Working” have been recorded by many artists. Waters was born in Mississippi in 1915 and raised in the Louisiana Delta region. He migrated to Chicago in the 1940s, where he began his recording career for Chess Records in 1947.
B.B. King
B.B. King was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He is one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, and is often referred to as “The King of the Blues”. King was born in Mississippi and later moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he began his career as a disc jockey in the late 1940s. He then started recording songs under his own name in the early 1950s. In 1955, he recorded “The Thrill Is Gone”, which became a major hit and one of his signature songs. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, King toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, performing over 340 concerts per year. He continued to record and release new albums throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. His final album, titled “One Kind Favor”, was released in 2008 just before his death at the age of 89.
King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. He was also ranked number 6 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” in 2011.
Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon was an American blues singer, songwriter and producer. He is considered one of the most influential musicians of his generation, and his work has had a major impact on the development of the blues and rock genres. Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1915. He began his musical career as a session musician in the early 1940s, and went on to write and record some of the most iconic songs in the history of popular music. Among his best-known works are “Hoochie Coochie Man,” “I Can’t Quit You Baby” and “Bring It On Home.” Dixon died in 1992 at the age of 76.
Howlin’ Wolf
Born in Mississippi in 1910, Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as Howlin’ Wolf, was one of the most important and influential blues musicians of all time. A big man with a booming voice, he was a towering figure both literally and figuratively, and he used his size and presence to full effect on stage. Musically, he was a master of the electric guitar, and his style influenced everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Led Zeppelin. He also had a major impact on the development of rock & roll, thanks to his seminal recordings for Chess Records in the 1950s. Along with Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon, he helped define the Chicago blues sound, which would go on to dominate popular music in the postwar era. Howlin’ Wolf continued to perform and record until his death in 1976; he remains one of the most revered figures in blues history, and his music continues to inspire new generations of fans.
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was then known as country blues. He developed a distinctive way of playing the guitar that would come to be known as the “boogie-woogie.” Though his recordings were popular, Hooker’s success was largely limited to the African-American market. He didn’t achieve widespread fame until he recorded for Chess Records in 1948. His recording of “Boogie Chillen'” became a hit and helped launch his career. He went on to record more than 100 songs over the next four decades
T-Bone Walker
T-Bone Walker was born in 1910 in Linden, Texas. He began his musical career in the 1920s, playing the piano and guitar in various clubs and joints around Dallas. In 1929, he made his first recordings with Columbia Records. He soon developed a unique style of guitar playing that incorporated elements of blues, jazz, and swing. His skills as a singer and songwriter also earned him a reputation as one of the most influential artists in the genre. Walker recorded prolifically throughout the 1930s and 1940s, making a total of over 200 recordings. He died in 1975 at the age of 65.
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues slide guitarist and singer who recorded from 1951 to 1963 for Chicago’s Chess Records and Trumpet Records. He is notable for his use of the wah-wah pedal in his guitar playing. By merging different influences, he created his own unique style at a time when the standardized Chicago blues were largely defined. His best-known recordings include “The Sky Is Crying”, “Got My Mojo Working”, and “Dust My Broom”.
Otis Rush
Otis Rush was an American blues singer and guitarist. He was one of the leading exponents of the postwar Chicago blues sound. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1984.
Albert King
Albert King (born Albert Nelson on April 25, 1923 in Indianola, Mississippi) was an American blues singer and guitar player. He is perhaps best known for the 1967 hit “Born Under a Bad Sign”.
King was born on a plantation in Indianola and began his career playing the blues in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He later moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he made his first recordings in 1953. In the 1960s, he recorded for various labels including Stax Records and Verve Records. His 1967 album Born Under a Bad Sign was very successful and helped to secure his place as one of the most popular blues musicians of his time.
King died of a heart attack on December 21, 1992, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
