American blues musician (1913–1983) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983),[1][2] known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician. He is considered "the Father of Chicago blues". He is also the actual father of blues musician Big Bill Morganfield. Muddy Waters is considered to be one of the greatest bluesmen of all time, and in 2004 he was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Muddy Waters | |
|---|---|
| |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | McKinley Morganfield |
| Also known as | Muddy Waters |
| Born | April 4, 1913 Issaquena County, Mississippi |
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | April 30, 1983 (aged 68) Westmont, Illinois |
| Genres | Chicago blues Delta blues Electric blues Blues revival |
| Occupation(s) | Singer guitarist bandleader Songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1941 – 1983 |
| Labels | Testament Chess Aristocrat |
| Website | MuddyWaters.com |
Muddy Waters was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. He liked playing in a creek near his home so his sister gave him the nickname "Muddy Waters". His mother died and he grew up at his grandmothers home in Clarksdale. He learned to play the harp and played together with other musicans in juke joints and for parties. While he was working as tractor driver at the Stovall plantation he was recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. Two songs (Country Blues/I Be's Troubled) were put on a record for documentary reasons. The first release of these recordings was 1993 by MCA Records. (The Complete Plantation Recordings)
1943 Waters went, like a lot of other musicans from the Mississippi delta, north to Chicago. He worked in a papermill and played and got a reputation as musican. To be louder than the visitors of the crowded clubs he changed the acoustic guitar for an electric guitar. Until 1948 he recorded for some minor labels amongst others with Sunnyland Slim, a pianist. Sunnyland Slim took him along as he recorded for Aristocrat Records. There he had the chance to record two sides(Gypsy Woman/Little Annie Mae). They were not successful but he had the chance to record again. He recorded I Can't Be Satisfied and I Feel Like Going Home, which were successful in the Chicago area. With his own band he recorded now and had success. Hits from the beginning of the 1950s were Louisiana Blues (1951), Long Distance Call (1951), Still A Fool (1951) and She Moves Me (1952).
The 1950s were commercially and artistically successful. He became the "King of the Chicago Blues". A lot of musicians who played in his band later were stars of the blues scene themself. (Otis Spann, Little Walter, Junior Wells, Big Walter Horton, James Cotton...). Willie Dixon, who played the bass and produced for Chess Records, wrote a lot of his hits from this time.(I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man (1954), Just Make Love To Me (1954), Mannish Boy (1955), Trouble No More (1956) ) Muddy Waters also played outside the USA. 1958 he played some concerts in Great Britain with Chris Barber. 1960 he played at the Newport Jazz Festival, the first time it was possible for a white audience to hear him.
As a recording artist the 1960s were not good. But the white audience even in Europe discovered him. A band from London was named after one of his songs. (The Rolling Stones). His importance for young musicans was documented in the album "Fathers and Sons" where Muddy Waters, the father, played together with his sons Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield and Donald "Duck" Dunn, all of them white. In the 1970s he tightend his reputation as live act. He played great festivals like the Montreux Jazz Festival. But also his albums were acclaimed, so the album "Hard again". This album was produced by the guitarist Johnny Winter.
On April 30, 1983 Muddy Waters died in his sleep from Heart Failure, at his home in Westmont, Illinois.
Unlike T-Bone Walker, who also used an electric guitar, Waters used riffs consisting of only few accords. This was model for later guitarist. A lot of his songs was covered by other great musicians. The music was used in movies (especially in longtime fan Martin Scorsese's movies, including The Color of Money, Casino and Goodfellas). Even commercials used them.
Muddy Waters released about thirty albums during his career, including compilation albums. [3] The following lists most of the albums released during his career and the more recent and available compilations released after his death.
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1958 | The Best of Muddy Waters | Chess |
| 1960 | Muddy Waters sings Big Bill Broonzy | Chess |
| At Newport 1960 | Chess | |
| 1964 | Folk Singer | Chess |
| 1966 | The Real Folk Blues | Chess |
| Down on Stovall's Plantation: His First Recordings | Testament | |
| 1967 | More Real Folk Blues | Chess |
| 1968 | Electric Mud | Cadet Concept |
| 1969 | After the Rain | Cadet Concept |
| Fathers and Sons | Chess | |
| Sail On | Chess | |
| 1971 | They Call Me Muddy Waters | Chess |
| Live (at Mr. Kelley's) | Chess | |
| 1972 | The London Muddy Waters Sessions | Chess |
| 1973 | Can't Get No Grindin' | Chess |
| "Unk" in Funk | Chess | |
| 1975 | The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album | Chess |
| 1977 | Hard Again | Blue Sky |
| 1978 | I'm Ready | Blue Sky |
| 1979 | Muddy "Mississippi" Waters - Live | Blue Sky |
| 1981 | King Bee | Blue Sky |
| 1989 | The Chess Box | MCA/Chess |
| 1993 | The Complete Plantation Recordings | MCA/Chess |
| 1994 | One More Mile | MCA/Chess |
| 2000 | Rollin' Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection (Chess Masters 1947–1952) | MCA/Chess |
| The Lost Tapes | Blind Pig | |
| 2001 | Muddy Waters 1941–1946 | Document |
| The Anthology (1947–1972) | MCA/Chess | |
| 2004 | Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Masters, Vol. 2: 1952–1958 | Hip-O Select/Chess |
| 2006 | The Definitive Collection | Geffen/Chess |
| 2007 | Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down (Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, & James Cotton) | Epic/Legacy |
| 2009 | Authorized Bootleg: Live at the Fillmore Auditorium November 4–6, 1966 | Geffen/Chess |
Muddy Waters released approximately sixty singles (120 "sides") during his career, sixteen of which made the charts. The chart position is the highest in the Billboard Rhythm and Blues charts.[4]
| Year | Title | Chart no. |
|---|---|---|
| 1941 | "Country Blues" | —[5] |
| "I Be's Troubled" | — | |
| 1948 | "(I Feel Like) Going Home" | 11 |
| "I Can't Be Satisfied" | — | |
| 1950 | "Rollin' and Tumblin'" | — |
| "Rollin' Stone" | — | |
| "Walkin' Blues" | — | |
| "Louisiana Blues" | 10 | |
| 1951 | "Long Distance Call" | 8 |
| "Honey Bee" | 10 | |
| "Still a Fool" | 9 | |
| 1952 | "She Moves Me" | 10 |
| "Standing Around Crying" | — | |
| 1953 | "Turn the Lamp Down Low (Baby Please Don't Go)" | — |
| "Blow Wind Blow" | — | |
| "Mad Love (I Want You to Love Me)" | 6 | |
| 1954 | "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" | 3 |
| "Just Make Love to Me (I Just Want to Make Love to You)" | 4 | |
| "I'm Ready" | 4 | |
| 1955 | "I Want to Be Loved" | — |
| "Manish Boy" aka "Mannish Boy" | 5 | |
| "Sugar Sweet" | 11 | |
| 1956 | "Trouble No More" | 7 |
| "Forty Days and Forty Nights" | 7 | |
| "Don't Go No Farther" | 9 | |
| "Just to Be with You" | — | |
| "Rock Me" | — | |
| "Got My Mojo Working" | — | |
| 1957 | "I Live the Life I Love (I Love the Life I Live)" | — |
| 1958 | "She's Nineteen Years Old" | — |
| "Close to You" | 9 | |
| 1959 | "I Feel So Good" | — |
| 1962 | "You Shook Me" | — |
| "You Need Love" | — | |
| 1964 | "The Same Thing" | — |
| "You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had" | — |
|
Guitar
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Piano
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Harmonica
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Bass
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Drums
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| Muddy Waters Grammy Award History[6] | |||||
| Year | Category | Title | Genre | Label | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording | They Call Me Muddy Waters | folk | MCA/Chess | winner |
| 1972 | Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording | The London Muddy Waters Session | folk | MCA/Chess | winner |
| 1975 | Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording | The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album | folk | MCA/Chess | winner |
| 1977 | Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording | Hard Again | folk | Blue Sky | winner |
| 1978 | Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording | I'm Ready | folk | Blue Sky | winner |
| 1979 | Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording | Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live | folk | Blue Sky | winner |
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed four songs of Muddy Waters of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.[7]
| Year Recorded | Title |
|---|---|
| 1950 | Rollin' Stone |
| 1954 | Hoochie Coochie Man |
| 1955 | Mannish Boy |
| 1957 | Got My Mojo Working |
| Muddy Waters: Blues Music Awards[8] | ||||
| Year | Category | Title | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Reissue Album of the Year | The Complete Plantation Recordings | Winner | |
| 1995 | Reissue Album of the Year | One More Mile | Winner | |
| 2000 | Traditional Blues Album of the Year | The Lost Tapes of Muddy Waters | Winner | |
| 2002 | Historical Blues Album of the Year | Fathers and Sons | Winner | |
| 2006 | Historical Album of the Year | Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Recordings, Volume 2, 1952–1958 | Winner | |
| Year Inducted | Title |
|---|---|
| 1980 | Blues Foundation Hall of Fame |
| 1987 | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |
| 1992 | Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award |
U.S. Postage Stamp
| Year | Stamp | USA | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 29 cents Commemorative stamp | U.S. Postal Service | Photo[9] |
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