Sonny Boy Williamson II, blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, died 57 years ago today.
Upon his return to the United States from a European tour, Williamson resumed playing the King Biscuit Time show on KFFA, and performed in the Helena, Arkansas area.
As fellow musicians Houston Stackhouse and Peck Curtis waited at the KFFA studios for Williamson on May 25, 1965, the 12:15 broadcast time was closing in and Sonny Boy was nowhere in sight. Curtis left the radio station to locate Williamson, and discovered his body in bed at the rooming house where he had been staying — dead of an apparent heart attack suffered in his sleep.
Williams is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills. He recorded successfully in the 1950s and 1960s, and had a direct influence on later blues and rock performers.
Some of his better known songs include "Don't Start Me To Talkin'" (his only major hit, it reached the #3 position on the national Billboard R&B charts in 1955),"Fattenin' Frogs for Snakes," "Keep It To Yourself," "Your Funeral and My Trial," "Bye Bye Bird," "Nine Below Zero," "Help Me," "Checkin' Up on My Baby" and the infamous, "Little Village," with Leonard Chess.
In interviews in The Last Waltz, roots-rockers The Band recount jamming with Miller prior to their initial fame as Bob Dylan's electric backing band, and making never-realized plans to become his backing band.
Many of his most famous recordings appeared on The Essential Sonny Boy Williamson and His Best. Williamson had an influence on modern day blues and blues rock artists. Here, Robbie Robertson of the Band remembers Williams.