Sonny Boy Williamson
Alec Rice Miller was born into a sharecroppers family and
travelled from town to town trying to eke out a living. By
the mid-30s he was playing in blues clubs with legendary figures
Elmore James and Robert Johnson.
Naming himself after the Chicago-based harmonica player John
Lee Williamson, he earned a regular spot on a how called King
Biscuit Time (sponsored by King Biscuit Flour) on
Arkansas radio station KFFA.
He signed to Checker in the early 50s, releasing Fattening
Frogs For Snakes to much acclaim.
In the early 60s Williamson visited the UK and recorded with
The Yardbirds and The Animals before returning to the US and
returning to King Biscuit Time in 1964.
Williamson's alcoholism aggravated the tuberculosis he had
endured all his life and he began to cough up blood during his
performances.
In May 1965 he failed to turn up at KFFA for his regular radio
spot, and when staff from the station went to his boarding house
in Helena, Arkansas they found he had died in his sleep.
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