Little Walter Jacobs

Born Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), Little Walter was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners’ expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. Little Walter was inducted into the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 in the “sideman” category making him the first and only artist ever to be inducted specifically for his work as a harmonica player.

Jacobs made his first released recordings in 1947. These and several other early Little Walter recordings and like many blues harp recordings of the era, owed a strong stylistic debt to pioneering blues harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson I (John Lee Williamson).

In February 1968…a few months after returning from his second European tour, he was involved in a fight while taking a break from a performance at a nightclub on the South Side of Chicago. The relatively minor injuries sustained in this altercation aggravated and compounded damage he had suffered in previous violent encounters, and he died in his sleep at the apartment of a girlfriend early the following morning.

Little Richard

Richard Wayne Penniman born December 5, 1932 and known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the mid-1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and contributed significantly to the early development of soul music.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website entry on Penniman states that:

He claims to be “the architect of rock and roll”, and history would seem to bear out Little Richard’s boast. More than any other performer – save, perhaps, Elvis Presley, Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties, laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona. On record, he made spine-tingling rock and roll. His frantically charged piano playing and raspy, shouted vocals on such classics as “Tutti Frutti”, “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly” defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll

Although rock and roll sales were in a slump in America in 1962, Penniman’s records were still selling well in England. From April to May of that year, The Beatles, then still an obscure English band, co-resided with Penniman at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, during which time he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs. Included in this instruction was teaching Paul McCartney his “woo holler.”

Little Milton

Born on September 7, 1934 , James Milton Campbell, Jr. better known as Little Milton, was an American electric blues, rhythm and blues, and soul singer and guitarist, best known for his hit records “Grits Ain’t Groceries” and “We’re Gonna Make It.”

Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness and raised in Greenville by a farmer and local blues musician. By age twelve he had learned the guitar and was a street musician, chiefly influenced by T-Bone Walker and his blues and rock and roll contemporaries.

In 1952, while still a teenager playing in local bars, he caught the attention of Ike Turner, who was at that time a talent scout for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records. He signed a contract with the label and recorded a number of singles. While none of them broke through onto radio or sold well at record stores, Milton continued his career achieving a loyal following and enjoying modest success as an entertainer, performer and recording artist.

Milton died on August 4, 2005 from complications following a stroke.

Source: Wilkipedia