Jimmy Witherspoon

A master of both flamboyant, excitable, jumping R&B and smooth, crooning, jazz ballads, Jimmy Witherspoon was a star of the post-war blues boom and made a lasting impact on the US music scene. He sang in local Arkansas churches from the age of five and ran away from home at 16 to make his name in Hollywood, before joining the Merchant Marine in 1941. While his boat was docked in India, he got his break sitting in with Teddy Weatherford's band on Forces Radio and he returned to San Francisco to tour and record with Ian McShann's gospel jazz group in the mid-1940s. His signature tune Ain't Nobody's Business gave him his first solo hit - reaching Number 1 on the R&B charts in 1949 - and, backed by the Gene Gilbaeux Orchestra, he scored more success with singles No Rollin' Blues, Big Fine Girl and New Orleans Woman. His raucous, vaudeville, "blues shouter" style proved popular and influential in the UK (where he performed regularly); but by the late-1950s trends had changed, rock'n'roll was born and 'Spoon was penniless. Adopting a more sophisticated style, he re-introduced himself with a stunning performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1959 and toured Japan with Count Basie. In later years he spent a lot of time in England and recorded the joint album Guilty! (1971) with Eric Burdon of The Animals and occasionally turned his hand to acting, most notably in the Jennifer Jason Leigh film Georgia (1995). Witherspoon died from throat cancer aged 77 in 1997, but remains a commanding, much-loved figure to blues collectors and historians.