Sadly, the blues world lost a wealth of talent this year, as too many aging (and more than a few young) artists passed away, leaving behind a lifetime of great music and mourning fans. We honor these bluesmen and women, obscure and well-known alike, with this list of blues artists that died in 2009.
1. Alex 'Easy Baby' Randle
Photo courtesy Barrelhouse Records
Chicago bluesman Alex "Easy Baby" Randle passed away on September 25, 2009 from pneumonia. The blues harpist was 75 years old. Born in Memphis, Randle lived in Mississippi for several years before returning to the Bluff City. He picked up on the harmonica from his grandmother and uncle, and began playing professionally as a teen in and around the Memphis area. Randle would become friends with future legends like Chester Burnett (a/k/a Howlin' Wolf) and James Cotton while playing juke-joints and gambling houses in the Southeast.
2. Ashton Savoy
Blues singer and guitarist Ashton Savoy, a long-time fixture of the Houston, Texas blues scene, died on Friday, May 22, 2009 after a long illness. Savoy was 80 years old. Born in Sunset, Louisiana in 1928, Savoy gravitated towards the blues as a teen, though he never quite shed his down-home Creole sound. A skilled guitarist and singer that easily mixed elements of Chicago and Texas styled blues music with the influences of his native Louisiana, Savoy seldom ventured into the recording studio.3. Barry Beckett
Noted session keyboardist and producer Barry Beckett, who had worked with some of the biggest and brightest stars in the rock, blues, soul, and country music worlds, passed away on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 in his Hendersonville, Tennessee home following complications from a stroke. Beckett was 66 years old at the time of his death. Beckett made a name for himself during the late-1960s as keyboardist for the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, known as the "Swampers." Working in the Fame Recording Studio, and later in the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, Beckett lent his keyboard skills to recordings by artists as diverse as bluesmen John Hammond, Otis Rush, and Albert King; R&B greats Etta James, Lowell Fulson, and Wilson Pickett.4. Billy Lee Riley
Photo courtesy Price Grabber
Billy Lee Riley suffered from stage four bone cancer, and in bad financial straits. Riley passed away on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 at the age of 75 years. “We weren’t thinking the end was coming so soon,” his wife Joyce is quoted as saying in the Commercial Appeal. “He was actually feeling better lately. So the very end was unexpected. But, he went peacefully.” Riley was born in 1933 to a sharecropper's family in Arkansas, and he was taught to play guitar by the African-American farmers he worked alongside.
5. Dickie Peterson (Blue Cheer)
Photo courtesy Price Grabber
Founding Blue Cheer bassist and vocalist Dickie Peterson passed away on Monday, October 12, 2009 in Germany. Although no cause of death has been released, Peterson had been fighting a long battle with prostate and liver cancer. He was thought to be 61 years old at the time of his death, although the artist's MySpace page lists his age as 63. Peterson formed Blue Cheer in San Francisco in 1966 with guitarist Leigh Stephens and drummer Paul Whaley. Taking amplified blues-rock to its logical extremes, the band was one of rock's original "power trios," and they played louder and heavier than any of their contemporaries.
6. Eddie Bo
Photo courtesy Price Grabber
New Orleans blues pianist Edwin Joseph Bocage, better known to his fans as "Eddie Bo," died on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 from a heart attack. An essential ingredient of the New Orleans blues and jazz community for over 50 years, Bo was 79 years old at the time of his death. Eddie Bo was born and raised in New Orleans, and after a stint in the Army, he returned home to attend the Grunewald School of Music, where he became influenced by jazz pianists like Art Tatum.
7. Freddie Everett 'The Texas Legend'
Houston, Texas blues guitarist Freddie Everett, known around the city's thriving blues scene as "The Texas Legend" and, by some folks, as the "Texas Hendrix," died on Thursday, April 2, 2009 from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). The six-string virtuoso was a well-known and beloved fixture of the Houston blues community. A talented singer, songwriter, and blues guitarist, Everett shared the stage during his brief career with artists like Ted Nugent, Sammy Hagar, Alice Cooper, and Bo Diddley, among others. He was offered a contract by Sony Music, but was physically unable to record.8. Freddy Robinson a/k/a Abu Talib
Photo courtesy Ace Records
Blues guitarist Freddy Robinson, who converted to Islam during the 1970s and took the name Abu Talib, died on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 of cancer. Talib was 70 years old at the time of his death. Born in Memphis, young Fred Robinson became enamored of the blues after accompanying his grandfather to area juke-joints; too young to go inside, he would watch the musicians through the window. Robinson began playing a one-string "diddly bow" at the age of nine, and saved enough money to buy his first guitar at age thirteen.
9. Jackie Washington
Photo courtesy Price Grabber
Beloved Canadian blues artist Jackie Washington died on Saturday, June 27, 2009 following complications from a heart attack. Washington was 89 years old at the time of his death. Born in Hamilton, Ontario as the third of 15 children, Washington's grandfather was a former American slave who had escaped to Canada via the Underground Railroad. Washington began performing at the young age of five, and in addition to his unique, raspy voice he taught himself guitar and piano. Through the years Washington held jobs shining shoes, working in factories, and as a railroad porter. Washington also became Canada's first black radio DJ when he went on the air with CHML Radio in Hamilton in 1948.
