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Pinetop Perkins


Pinetop Perkins | National Endowment For The Arts | tc1109

Influential pianist and guitarist Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins is now widely regarded as one of the key people in developing Delta and Chicago blues music. Pinetop Perkins was born in Belzoni, Mississippi, on a plantation, on 7 July 1913. EWhile working in Helena, Arkansas in the 1940s he was stabbed in the arm during a fight, and then was unable to play the guitar. In 1953 he recorded at the Sun studio at Memphis, Tennessee. A highly regarded session man, he was soon backing Sonny Boy Williamson and Muddy Waters. He toured with Robert Nighthawk, and even taught Ike Turner how to play the piano. He made a cameo appearance in The Blues Brothers film. His first album only came about in 1988. He received the Blues Music Award for best instrumentalist (piano) so often they renamed the award after him. He also became the oldest person to win a Grammy. Pinetop Perkins died in Austin, Texas, on 21 March 2011.

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