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Willie Dixon

 


Willie Dixon | tc034

William James “Willie” Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 1, 1915. He became a prolific songwriter who published over 500 songs, a talent scout, a record producer,  a musician, an arranger, a boxer, and one of the founders of the Chicago Blues sound.  He was also an important link between blues and rock and roll.

He served time in prison farms in Mississippi while a teenager, which is when his interest in blues music came to the fore. He learned harmony while singing bass in the Union Jubilee Singers. He left Mississippi for Chicago in 1936. He was six feet six inches tall and became a boxer. At a boxing gym he became friends with Leonard Caston, who built him his first bass. With Caston he was a founder member of The Big Three Trio, who recorded for Columbia records.

He was a conscientious objector to the Second World War, and was imprisoned. From 1948 to 1965 he enjoyed enormous success with and for Chess Records, as a full time member of staff. In 1977 with Muddy Waters he sued Chess for royalties.

He suffered from diabetes and had to have a leg amputated. He was one of the first people to be listed in the Blues Hall of Fame.

Mr Dixon founded the Blues Heaven Foundation, which aims to preserve the blues’ legacy and to secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past. The Foundation is based in the old Chess studios building at 2120 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616, USA.

Willie Dixon died of heart failure in Burbank, California, on January 29, 1992.

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