Samuel Joseph Myers was an American blues musician and songwriter born in 1936 in Laurel, Mississippi. He acquired juvenile cataracts at age seven and was legally blind for the rest of his life. Myers began his professional career as a drummer for Elmore James in 1952 and performed on several of the guitarist's recordings for Chess Records. He later became known as a blues vocalist and harmonica player. In 1956, he wrote and recorded the single “Sleeping in the Ground”, which was later covered by Eric Clapton and Robert Cray. For nearly two decades, he was the featured vocalist for Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets. His solo recordings included the album Coming from the Old School. Myers collectively won nine W. C. Handy Awards with the Rockets and was inducted into the Farish Street Walk of Fame in 2000. In 2006, he received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, and was named the state's Blues Ambassador by the Mississippi Arts Commission. Myers died of throat cancer in 2006 in Dallas, Texas.
