Customer Reviews

Blues Who's Who: A Biographical Dictionary of Blues Singers (A Da Capo paperback)

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Sheldon Harris" Who's Who in Blues is a remarkable feat of diligent research. Too often what is marketed as an encyclopedia fails to deliver, and experts can list almost as many people who have been left out of its pages as those who made it in as entries. Not only will you be likely to find an entry for your favorite but obscure bluesman or blueswoman, you will likely be pleased at the amount of information provided. And there is not musical prejudice or snobbery here; the traditional bluesmen share space with the Blues Queens of vaudeville and the latecomers who put the soul in Rhythm & Blues. The amount of information provided varies with each performer. The more obscure blues performers left little record, but what could be found is doubtless within the covers of the Who's Who in Blues. Legends like Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, etc. have their careers detailed year by year with places and dates played that you are unlikely to find anywhere else. Also included are snippets of critical comments, songs with which the performers were identified, and citations of other performers who were influences to them. - Frank Cullen Artistic Director American Vaudeville Museum, Inc.

As a member of the audience at many of the 'gigs' compiled here, I know first-hand of their accuracy,(a rarity in the field). Considering the age of this edition, there is still nothing that comes close to its accuracy and completeness. The info isn't spoon-fed, but the "small print' leads to much cool fact-finding. For instance; BB King,(1964, Chicago's Regal Theater, the best known and most honored live blues recording ever), was the -opening act- for Jackie Wilson's show!

I'm sure most people would disagree with me but The Blues Who's Who is way too long on statistics and far too short on information .
The Good news is , almost every artist even remotely connected with the blues is listed here from the most obscure to the most obvious .
The bad news is , almost no personal information is given about the artist .
As an example for Sam " Lightnin" Hopkins it gives a few sentences about his background , then goes on to list just about every gig he ever played , then his most popular/ recognizable songs , then awards received . I realize you can't do an in depth bio on every artist in a book like this , but this book is almost devoid of any personal history or interesting anecdotes ... Having said that , the book does list EVERYONE ...and it does have some great photos .
If I had to sum it up ...I'd liken the Blues Who's Who to looking at a collection of vintage baseball cards .