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Posted on 08/03/2005 7:41:10 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Blues musician "Little" Milton Campbell, whose gritty vocals and songwriting recalls B.B. King's rough-edged style, was in a coma after suffering a stroke, a friend said on Wednesday.
The 71-year-old Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer known for writing and recording the blues anthem "The Blues Is Alright" suffered a stroke July 27 and lapsed into a coma at a Memphis, Tennessee, hospital, friend Larry Chambers said in a telephone interview.
Born to sharecropping farmers near the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness -- his father, "Big" Milton Campbell, was a local blues musician -- "Little" Milton picked up a guitar at age 12 and recorded his first hit for Sam Phillips' Sun Records at age 18. It was the same year the Memphis studio recorded Elvis Presley for the first time.
Discovered by blues-rock pioneer Ike Turner, Campbell has gone on to score dozens of rhythm and blues hits and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1988.
Though acclaimed in blues circles, Campbell has never achieved the fame of King and others in the genre. He has traveled constantly, playing mid-sized clubs and arenas.
After signing with Bobbin Records in East St. Louis, Illinois, Campbell recorded "I'm a Lonely Man" and "That Will Never Do." A long association with Chicago's Chess Records produced the 1965 hit "We're Gonna Make It," which coincided with the civil rights movement. Other hits included "Baby I Love You," "If Walls Could Talk," "Feel So Bad," "Who's Cheating Who?" and "Grits Ain't Groceries."
"Annie Mae's Cafe" and "Little Bluebird" were hits he recorded with Memphis' Stax Records, which he joined in 1971 before the label's demise. Most recently, he has recorded for The Malaco Music Group in Jackson, Mississippi, for whom he produced albums entitled "Your Wife is Cheating on Us," and his last, "A Nickel and a Nail."
His wife, Patricia, was at his side, Chambers said from Memphis. They have three children.
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Grits ain't groceries, eggs ain't poultries bump. Blues prayer for Little Milton.
Prayers for BIG Little Milton.
Oh no! He's one of my favorites. Prayers sent.
LOL :)
Sorry to hear about Little Milton.
I remember hearing him on Beale St. in Memphis in the 60's and on WDIA radio station(the first black owned radio station in America) along with B.B. King, Albert King and Bobby Blue Bland.
Little Milton BUMP!
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2005-08-04T152907Z_01_N04126675_RTRIDST_0_ENTERTAINMENT-PEOPLE-CAMPBELL-DC.XML
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Blues singer, songwriter and guitarist "Little" Milton Campbell, whose gritty vocals and songwriting recalled B.B. King's rough-edged style, died on Thursday from a stroke, his record company said.
The 71-year-old Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer known for writing and recording the blues anthem "The Blues Is Alright" never awoke from a coma following a stroke he suffered on July 27 in Memphis, said Valarie Kashimura of The Malaco Music Group.
"We've lost a great soldier," Kashimura said.
Born to sharecropping farmers near the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness -- his father, "Big" Milton Campbell, was a local blues musician -- "Little" Milton picked up a guitar at age 12 and recorded his first hit for Sam Phillips' Sun Records at age 18. It was the same year the Memphis label recorded Elvis Presley for the first time.
Discovered by blues-rock pioneer Ike Turner, Campbell went on to score dozens of rhythm and blues hits and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1988.
Though acclaimed in blues circles, Campbell never achieved the fame of King and some other American bluesmen. Nevertheless, his nearly constant touring took him all over the world.
After signing with Bobbin Records in East St. Louis, Illinois, Campbell recorded "I'm a Lonely Man" and "That Will Never Do." A long association with Chicago's Chess Records produced the 1965 hit "We're Gonna Make It," which coincided with the civil rights movement. Other hits included "Baby I Love You," "If Walls Could Talk," "Feel So Bad," "Who's Cheating Who?" and "Grits Ain't Groceries."
"Annie Mae's Cafe" and "Little Bluebird" were hits he recorded with Memphis' Stax Records, which he joined in 1971 before the label's demise. Most recently, he recorded for The Malaco Music Group in Jackson, Mississippi, for whom he produced albums entitled "Your Wife is Cheating on Us" and "A Nickel and a Nail."
Another Great Mississippi Entertainer has died ping
Thank you for the update. Sorry to hear of his passing.
Condolences to the Milton family and fans.
You're right on with Great. Think about all the greats from the Delta region. It's the birthplace of modern music (since most rock and r&b is "borrowed" from early Mississippi rural blues.) You had guys like Charley Patton, Robert Johnson the King of the Delta Blues, B.B. of course, Elmore James, Sonny Boy Williamson and on and on. Little Milton was another legend from that musically rich area.
Sun Records artist passed away...
"produced the 1965 hit "We're Gonna Make It," which coincided with the civil rights movement."
This one is still alive and picking...
http://www.knights-maumau.com/music_more.php/135/Robert+JR.+Lockwood
Robert JR. Lockwood
Robert Lockwood, Jr. - One of the last surviving roots bluesman of the twentieth century.
Robert Lockwood Jr. was born March 27, 1915 in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, a farming hamlet about 25 miles west of Helena. 1915 was remarkable because several other monumental blues artists were born within a 100-mile radius that year; notably Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Little Walter Jacobs, Memphis Slim, Johnny Shines, and Honeyboy Edwards. They would all meet up in the future.
His first musical lessons were on the family pump organ. He learned the guitar, at age eleven, from Robert Johnson, the mysterious delta bluesman, who was living with his mother. From Johnson, Lockwood learned chords, timing, and stage presence. By the age of fifteen, Robert was playing professionally, often with Johnson; sometimes with Johnny Shines or Rice Miller, who would soon be calling himself Sonny Boy Williamson II. They would play fish fries, juke joints, and street corners. Once Johnson played one side of the Sunflower River, while Lockwood manned the other bank. The people of Clarksville, Mississippi were milling around the bridge; they couldn’t tell which guitarist was Robert Johnson. Young Lockwood had learned Johnson’s techniques very well.
Johnson’s fast lifestyle caught up with him, passing away in 1937. Lockwood was 22 but prepared for the future.
Lockwood’s first recordings came in 1941, with Doc Clayton, on his famous Bluebird Sessions in Aurora, Illinois. During these sessions, he cut four singles under his own name. These were the first incarnations of “Take A Little Walk with Me”, and “Little Boy Blue,” Lockwood staples sixty years later.
Later in 1941, Lockwood was back in Arkansas where he re-united with Sonny Boy II to host a live radio program broadcast at noon from KFFA in Helena, sponsored by the King Biscuit Flower Company. James “Peck” Curtis and Dudlow Taylor provided the rhythm. This show became a cultural phenomenon; everybody would listen during his or her lunch hour. Several generations of southern bluesman can trace their musical roots to the show.
Lockwood moved around, the usual route was Memphis, St. Louis, to Chicago. By the early 1950’s, he had surfaced in the Windy City, where he became the top session man for Chess Records, the epitome of blues labels. Sonny Boy Williamson II, Little Walter, Roosevelt Sykes, Sunnyland Slim, and Eddie Boyd, whom he toured with for six years, you can hear his smooth chords on their recordings.
Blues was giving way to Rock and Roll, even in Chicago, so Lockwood moved to Cleveland, Ohio at the urging of his old pal, Sonny Boy. Settling down and raising a family took priorities but blues was still in his soul, just on the back burner.
In the late 1960s Lockwood would gig all around Cleveland, playing whenever he got the chance. Long-forgotten clubs like Pirates Cove and Brothers Lounge were places where Lockwood taught his blues to generations of local musicians and fans.
Lockwood’s solo recording career, exclusive of the 1941 Bluebird Sessions, began in 1970 with Delmark’s Steady Rollin’ Man, backed by old friends Louis Myers, his brother Dave Myers, and Fred Below, collectively known as The Aces. In 1972, Lockwood hooked up with famed musicologist, Pete Lowry to record Contrasts, the first of two for Trix Records. Does 12 followed in 1975. They have been remastered and repackaged by Fuel 2000 Records.
In the early 1980s Lockwood teamed up with another long-time friend, Johnny Shines, to record three albums for Rounder, which has been comprised into 1999’s Just the Blues. Plays Robert and Robert, a Black and Blue recording of a solo show in Paris in 1982, was re-issued on Evidence in 1993.
From the early 1980s to 1996, there were no domestic Lockwood releases. In 1998, I’ve Got to Find Myself a Woman was released by Verve, gaining a Grammy nomination. This was followed by Telarc’s Delta Crossroads, also a Grammy contender in 2000. In 2001, What’s the Score was re-issued on Lockwood Records which has the rights to his Japanese live recordings, previously only available on Peavine. They will be a future project.
In the last twenty years, the Blues world has recognized Lockwood’s contributions to the genre. Recently, Lockwood has amassed so many that it is not possible to list all of them. The most notable are:
1980 Lockwood receives the very first W.C. Handy Award for “best traditional blues album”
1989 Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame
1995 Received National Heritage Fellowship Award, presented by Hilary Clinton
1996 Cleveland Mayor, Michael White, proclaims February 3, as “Robert Lockwood Day”
1997 Has street named “Robert Lockwood, Jr. Way” in Cleveland’s Flat District
1998 Inducted into Delta Blues Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Mississippi
2001 Received Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Case Western Reserve in Cleveland
2001 Received W.C. Handy for “best traditional blues album,” Delta Crossroads
2001 City of Pittsburgh named 8/18 “Robert Lockwood, Jr. Day”
2002 Received honorary Degree of "Doctor of Music" from Cleveland State University on 5/12
Not content to rest on his laurels, Lockwood is touring more than ever at age 86. Lockwood leads an eight-piece band every Wednesday at Fat Fish Blue in Cleveland, roams the world playing his jazz-tinted Delta Blues, and records once a year. Lockwood is in better mental and physical shape than many men years younger. His guitar playing is as crisp as ever. Like a fine French cognac, he is only getting better with age; no dust, rust or must here.
FR-mail me to be added to or removed from this ping list
I may be wrong about this but I think he also covered Johnson's dark and haunting masterpieces "Crossroads" and "Hellhound On My Trail" Those 2 songs along with Bukka White's lonely "Parchman Farm Blues" stand out to me as the greatest and most impassioned songs of all-time.
Again your post was a breath of fresh air. I love talking the roots of music. Thanks
The Ponderosa Stomp is lots of fun. It is the "real" Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame names (the hall even underwrites the showcase so that tickets are $35 a day). And who doesn't like to be in New Orleans during Jazzfest?
my fav was,
my babe.
any rockers out there know the chords to that song?
ever hear savoy brown do mr. downchild?
originals are always the bees knees but some covers
really are good.
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