Muddy waters biography mckinley morganfield

Home / General Biography Information / Muddy waters biography mckinley morganfield

"Rollin' Stone," one of his singles, became so popular that it went on to influence the name of the major music magazine as well as one of the most famous rock bands to date.

Later Career

By 1951, Waters had established a full band with Otis Spann on piano, Little Walter on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on second guitar and Elgin Evans on drums.

In less than a day, the record’s entire stock had been sold. In 1943 Waters moved to Chicago, where he immediately found a job in a paper factory. Then, after Alan Lomax and John Work, archivists/researchers for the Library of Congress Field Recording project caught wind of Waters's unique style, they sought him out to make a recording. Waters signed on with Blue Sky Label after the split.

Waters sang proudly and boastfully about power and sex and the deliverance that both could bring from the drudgery of everyday life. “Chess-Deep Waters.”  Online. Contemporary Musicians:  Profiles of the People in Music. 27 April 1998.
http://www.blueflamecafe.com/Muddy_Waters.html

  • “Muddy Waters/ Gold Collection.”  Online.

    Waters exalted masculinity and equated it with independence, confidence, and emotional release. 27 April 1998.
    http://orpheus.la.utk.edu/music/resources/song.site/Rock.hchie/Rock.hchie.html

  • “Muddy Waters.”  Online. Waters’s first audiences in the city were the house parties of Delta migrants who thought his music spoke to their lives.

    Their recordings of Waters consisted of interviews and music, and although he included songs (“I Be’s Troubled,” “Country Blues”) that he would rework into two of his signature tunes, Waters’s solo performances were the rough sounds of Mississippi Delta laborers. In 1945, Waters’s Uncle gave him his first electric guitar, a spark that marked the beginning of Waters’s reputation as a classic blues guitarist.

    With hits like "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Got My Mojo Working," his sensual lyrics peaked interest in the young crowds of the city. Waters was able to adapt to the changing times, and his electric blues sound fit in well with the "love generation."

    Waters continued to record with rock musicians throughout the 1960s and '70s, and won his first Grammy Award in 1971 for the album They Call me Muddy Waters.

    As he began to gain recognition, his ambition grew. In 1943, he moved to Chicago and began playing in clubs.

    muddy waters biography mckinley morganfield

    Later in his life, he would say that many of his younger rock and roll imitators had instrumental skill but lacked the necessary background of the southern black church and its range of emotion.

    Waters, who drove a tractor at Stovall, had acquired a solid reputation as a musician among his Delta peers by the time he was first recorded in 1941.

    By 1950, Waters was recording with one of the best and hottest blues groups: Little Walter Jacobs on harp; Jimmy Rogers on guitar; Elgin Evans on drums; Otis Spann on piano; Big Crawford on bass; and Waters on vocals and a slide guitar. His compelling influence and strong words not only left a mark on the history of blues, but on all forms of popular music of the twentieth century.

    Return to top

    Timeline

    • 1915- Muddy Waters was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi
    • 1941- Waters made his first recording
    • 1942- Alan Lomax made recordings for Library of Congress
    • 1943- Waters settled in Chicago
    • 1945- Began playing the electric guitar
    • 1946- Waters made his first recording in Chicago at Colombia Records, but it wasn’t released until 1971
    • 1948- The songs “I Can’t Be Satisfied” and “I Feel Like Going Home” marked the beginning of Waters’s popularity
    • 1958- Chess Records released Waters’s debut album The Best of Muddy Waters, a collection of his hit singles
    • 1958- Waters toured England
    • 1971- They Call Me Muddy Waters won a Grammy for best ethnic/traditional recording
    • 1977- Blue Sky released Waters’s comeback album Hard Again
    • 1980- Waters was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame
    • 1981- Waters final album King Bee was produced
    • 1983- Waters died of a heart attack in his sleep
    • 1987- Waters was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
    • 2017 – Inducted in to the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience Hall of Fame

    Related Websites

    Return to top

    Bibliography

    • LaBlanc, Michael L., ed.