| Guitar Slim |
Article Index for Guitar |
Website Links For Guitar |
Information AboutGuitar Slim |
|
One of his several children plays under the name of Guitar Slim, Jr. and plays a lot of his father's material around New Orleans clubs. EARLY LIFE Jones was born in Greenwood, Mississippi . The single mother who gave birth to him died when he was five, so his grandmother raised him and he spent his teen years in the cotton fields. He spent his free time at the local Juke Joint s and starting sitting in as a singer or dancer; he was good enough to be nicknamed "Limber Legs." CAREER After returning from World War II military service, he started playing clubs around New Orleans, Louisiana . Bandleader Willie Warren had introduced him to the guitar, and he was particularly influenced by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown . About 1950 he adopted the stage name "Guitar Slim" and started becoming known for his wild stage act. He wore bright-colored suits and dyed his hair to match them, had an assistant follow him around the audience with up to 350 feet of cord between amplifier and guitar, and would occasionally get up on his assistant's shoulders, or even take his guitar outside the club and bring traffic to a stop. His sound was just as unusual — he was playing with Distorted guitar more than a decade before rock guitarists did the same, and his gospel-influenced vocals were easily identifiable. HIS RECORDINGS His first recording session was in 1951 , and he had a minor Rhythm And Blues hit in 1952 with "Feelin' Sad", which Ray Charles liked enough to cover, and also to play on Slim's later recordings. His biggest success was 1954's "The Things That I Used to Do," which is supposed to have come to him in a dream: :"A devil and angel fought each other with their own sets of lyrics. Of course, being a blues song, the devil's lyrics had won out." The song spent weeks at Number One On The R&B Charts and sold over a million copies, soon becoming a Blues Standard . The tour made on the strength of this song sold out a week of dates at the Apollo Theater , something even Sammy Davis, Jr. wasn't able to do. Slim was a great drinker and a womanizer; he missed some 1954 tour dates due to a car accident involving alcohol, and he was often said to have a different woman with him every night. He continued to write and tour, and had some other hits such as "It Hurts To Love Someone" and "Down Through The Years," but nothing at the level of "The Things That I Used To Do." HIS DEATH In 1959 , he was having breathing problems stemming from his drinking. He and a band went on tour anyway, and while they were in New York he developed pneumonia. Despite a doctor's advice, he didn't stop drinking, and had to be carried to his room in New York City . The band thought he was just drunk, but when he could not be revived, a doctor was summoned. Unfortunately, the bronchial pneumonia and the alcohol had combined to kill him. He was buried with his guitar in an unmarked grave in Thibodaux, Louisiana , where he was living at the time. His death did not get much publicity due to The Plane Crash that killed Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens , and The Big Bopper a few days before. INFLUENCE ON LATER MUSICIANS American rock musician Frank Zappa cited Guitar Slim as a major influence on his style of guitar playing. SOURCES |
|
|