Roosevelt Sykes

Roosevelt Sykes (born January 31, 1906 in Elmar , Arkansas , † July 17, 1983 in New Orleans , Louisiana ) was an influential American blues pianist, also known as "the Honeydripper".

Life

Sykes started playing the piano at the age of 15. In the early 1920s the family moved to St. Louis , where Sykes soon became known as an outstanding blues musician. Like many other musicians, he moved around playing in front of an all-male audience in sawmills and construction camps along the Mississippi River. Here he developed a repertoire of raw, sexually suggestive songs. He was discovered by a talent scout in 1929 and made his first recording for Okeh Records . It was 44 Blues, a number that became a blues standard and trademark. He made many recordings for various labels, also under pseudonyms such as "Easy Papa Johnson", "Dobby Bragg" and "Willie Kelly". He was also active as an accompanist, u. a. for Charlie McFadden .

Sykes went to Chicago in the 1940s ; there he also recorded a few singles for United . His song Sunny Road reached # 2 on the Race Records charts in 1946 . He was one of the few musicians who were allowed to make recordings during the war, in times of rationing. Sykes was one of the first American blues musicians to perform in Europe. After the electrified blues dominated the music scene in Chicago, Sykes went to New Orleans. There he began to record again in the 1960s, for example for Delmark , Bluesville, Storyville and Folkways .

Roosevelt Sykes spent his final years in New Orleans , where he died in 1983. In 1999 he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame .

Discography (selection)

Albums

The table contains a selection of Sykes' works. As far as possible, the year of origin is given, otherwise the year of publication of the compilation or the reprinted original.

Surname	Label	year
Return of Roosevelt Sykes	Original Blues Classics	1960
Roosevelt Sykes Sings the Blues	Ace	1960
Piano blues	Folkways	1966
Blues Roots / Chicago - The 1930's	Folkways	1967
Feel Like Blowing My Horn	Delmark	1973
Hard drivin 'blues	Delmark	1974
Raining in My Heart	Delmark	1987
Complete Recorded Works Vol. 1 to 10	Document records	1992-1994
Gold Mine Live in Europe	Delmark	1992
Blues by Roosevelt "The Honeydripper" Sykes	Smithsonian Folkways	1995
Rock it	Allegro	1998
Dirty Mother for You	Southland / City Hall	1998
Postwar Years 1945–1957, Vol. 2: West Helena Blues	Wolf Records	1998
Roosevelt Sykes 1931-1941	Wolf Records	1999
Grind It!	Total Energy	1999
Honey dripper	Aim	2000
Chicago boogie	Delmark	2004
Music is my business	laboratory	2007
Honey dripper	Acrobat	2008

Video albums

• Lightnin 'Hopkins & Roosevelt Sykes (recordings from 1993-2003)
• Big Bill Broonzy and Roosevelt Sykes (recordings from 1956-2002)

Web links

• Roosevelt Sykes at Discogs (English)