John Lee Curtis Williamson, also known as “Sonny Boy”, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter. He lived from March 30, 1914 to June 1, 1948. His solo blues harp is considered the first to use it. Many pre-World War II blues musicians recorded hundreds of his songs. He was a well-known blues musician of the 1930s and 1940s. His recordings were often under his own name. Original or adapted, his most popular songs include “Good Morning, School Girl”, Sugar Mama”, “Early in the Morning”, “Stop Breaking Down” and “Sugar Mama”. Williamson’s harmonica playing style was an inspiration to postwar musicians. He was also a mentor to many young blues musicians, including Muddy waters, later in his career. Aleck Rice Miller recorded and performed as Sonny Boy Williamson beginning in 1940s. Later, John Lee Williamson was referred to as Sonny Boy Williamson I, or “the original Sonny Boy” to differentiate the two. Williamson was born in Madison County in Tennessee, near Jackson in 1914. Although his first recordings were in country blues, he quickly made the harmonica an essential part of the blues. He also popularized the instrument in urban blues settings. He is often referred to as “the father of the modern blues harp”. He was in his teens when he joined Yank Rachell and Sleepy John Estes. They played in Tennessee and Arkansas. He settled in Chicago in 1934. Bluebird Records was the first company Williamson recorded. His first recording, “Good Morning, School Girl”, was a hit. His name became synonymous with blues harmonica over the next ten years, especially among black audiences in the south and Midwestern industrial areas like Detroit and Chicago. His other recordings include “Sugar Mama Blues”, the “Shake the Boogie”, the “You Better Cut That Out”, the “Sloppy Drunk”, the “Early in the Morning”, the “Stop Breaking Down” and the “Hoodoo Hoodoo”, also known as the “Hoodoo Man Blues”. “Shake the Boogie”, which reached number 4 on Billboard’s Race Records chart in 1947, was also a hit. Williamson’s style had a profound influence on many blues harmonica players, such as Billy Boy Arnold and Junior Wells, Sonny Terry and Little Walter. His influence was unmatched. His music was also influential on many of his non-harmonica-playing contemporaries and successors, including Muddy Waters (who played guitar with Williamson in the mid-1940s) and Jimmy Rogers (whose first recording in 1946 was as a harmonica player, performing an uncanny imitation of Williamson’s style). Rogers later recorded Williamson’s songs “My Little Machine” and “Sloppy Drink” for Chess Records. Waters recorded “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl”, September 1963, for Chess LP Folk Singer. He then recorded it again for Blue Sky on CBS in the 1970s. Williamson was a prolific recording artist, both as a musician and as a sideman throughout his career. He primarily recorded for Bluebird. Many sessions were held at the Leland Tower in Aurora, Illinois, before Bluebird moved to Chicago and became part of RCA Records. The Sky Club, a top-floor nightclub at Leland Tower, was used to broadcast big bands live on a local radio station. It also served as a recording studio during off hours for Williamson’s early sessions as well as those of other Bluebird artists. In December 1947, Williamson recorded his last session in Chicago. He was accompanied by Big Joe Williams. Williamson was robbed and killed on Chicago’s South Side June 1, 1948 as he walked home after a performance at The Plantation Club at 31st St. u0026 Giles Avenue. This tavern was just one block from his home at 3226 S. Giles. Williamson’s last words were reported to be “Lord have mercy”. Williamson is buried on the site of the Blairs Chapel Church in Jackson, Tennessee. Fans and their families purchased a red granite marker in 1991 to mark Williamson’s burial site. Another Tennessee historical marker was also installed in 1991. It marks the spot where Williamson was born and describes his impact on blues music. The marker can be found south of Jackson, at the corner Caldwell Road and Tennessee State Highway 18. His legacy is somewhat obscured by Rice Miller’s popularity, who recorded many blues songs for Chicago’s Checker Records. He also toured Europe during the blues revival of the 1960s. [citation needed] All recordings by Williamson from 1937 to his death in 1948, and later ones made by Rice Miller, were originally issued under the name Sonny Boy Williamson. Miller may have adopted this name in order to fool audiences and his first record label into believing that he was the “original Sonny Boy”. Many later biographers and scholars have used the names John Lee Williamson (1914-1948), Sonny Boy Williamson I, and Miller (c.1912-1965) to distinguish between them. Enoch Williams, a jazz singer and pianist, recorded around 1940 under the name Sonny Boy Williams. He was also known as Sunny Boy in The Sunny Boy Trio in 1947. Wikipedia
