Willie Nix
Willie Nix (born August 6, 1922 in Memphis , Tennessee , † July 9, 1991 in Leland , Mississippi ; actually Willie Nicks , known as Memphis Blues Boy ) was an American blues drummer and singer, who was mainly in the late Was popular in the 1940s and early 1950s.
Nix grew up in Memphis, as a teenager he worked as a tap dancer in minstrel and medicine shows in the American South, the rhythms learned there would later shape his drumming. In the mid-1940s he returned to Memphis, where he played with musicians such as Walter Horton, Robert Jr. Lockwood and Sonny Boy Williamson. Nix was part of a scene in West Memphis around musicians like Johnny Ace, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker and BBKing at the time. When he made regular radio appearances with the Three Aces and other blues musicians, his popularity increased enormously.
Nix had already made some recordings for RPM and Checker earlier. In 1952, Sun Records signed him under the name Memphis Blues Boy . In 1953, however, Nix left Memphis and fled to Chicago on charges of murder. There he recorded for the Chance / Saber label and worked in local clubs. In 1958, Nix went back to Memphis to serve a two-year prison sentence. He was then active as a musician in Memphis, but hardly got beyond local fame. He died in 1991.
literature
- Robert Santelli, The Big Book Of Blues - A Biographical Encyclopedia , 1993, ISBN 0-14-015939-8 , pp. 314-315
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nothing, Willie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Nicks, willie; Memphis Blues Boy |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American blues musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 6, 1922 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Memphis, Tennessee , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 9, 1991 |
| Place of death | Leland , Mississippi , USA |