<back - JIMMY REED - Jimmy Reed aka Mathias James Reed was born on September 6/1925, on a plantation in or around the small burg of Dunleith, MS. He stayed around the area until he was 15, learning the basic rudiments of harmonica and guitar from his buddy Eddie Taylor, who was then making a name for himself as a semi-pro musician. Reed moved up to Chicago in 1943, but was quickly drafted into the Navy, where he served for two years. After a quick trip back to Mississippi and marriage to his beloved wife Mary (known to Blues fans as 'Mama Reed'), he relocated to Gary, IN, and found work at a meat packing plant while simultaneously breaking into the Blues scene around Gary and Chicago city area.

The early '50s found him working as a sideman with John Brim and Brim's drummer at the time was future Blues guitar legend, the late Albert King. It was during this time that he was reunited and started playing again with Eddie Taylor, a musical partnership that would last until Reed's death. His third single, 'You Don't Have to Go backed with Boogie in the Dark, made the #5 slot on Billboard. His best-known songs Baby, What You Want Me to Do, Bright Lights, Big City, Honest I Do, Take Out Some Insurance, You Don't Have to Go, Going to New York, Ain't That Lovin' You Baby and Big Boss Man, have become such an integral part of the standard Blues repertoire. Because his style was simple and easily imitated, his songs were accessible to just about everyone from garage bands to Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Lou Rawls, Hank Williams Jr, Jimmy Witherspoon, and the Rolling Stones, making him perhaps the most influential Bluesman of all. Jimmy Reed records hit the charts with amazing frequency and crossed over onto the pop charts on many occasions, rare for a Bluesman. But if selling more records than Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf or Little Walter brought the rewards of fame to his doorstep, no one was more ill-equipped to handle it than Jimmy Reed. He's slow descent into the ravages of alcoholism and epilepsy roughly paralleled the decline of his label Vee-Jay Records, which went out of business at approximately the same time that his final 45 was released, Don't Think I'm Through. His manager, Al Smith, quickly arranged a contract with the newly formed ABC-Bluesway label and a handful of albums were released into the 70s. Jimmy Reed did one last album, an attempt to update his sound with funk beats and wah-wah pedals, before becoming a virtual recluse in his final years. He finally received proper medical attention for his epilepsy and quit drinking, but it was too late and he died on August 29, 1976. Jimmy Reed was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame (1980) and the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.
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