<back - 'LITTLE' WALTER JACOBS - Little Walter was born Walter Marion Jacobs on May 1, 1930 in Marksville, Louisiana. He died on February 15, 1968 due to head injuries received in a street fight. He was 37 years old. Walter Jacobs was by most accounts an unruly but vastly talented youth who abandoned his rural Louisiana home for the bright lights of New Orleans at age 12. Walter gradually journeyed north from there, pausing in Helena, Memphis, and St. Louis before arriving in Chicago in 1946. He fell in with Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy debuting on wax that same year for the tiny Ora-Nelle label (I Just Keep Loving Her) in the company of Jimmy Rogers and guitarist Othum Brown. Walter joined forces with Muddy Waters in 1948.

Along with Jimmy Rogers and 'Baby Face' Leroy Foster,  they became known as The Headhunters. By 1950, Little Walter was firmly entrenched as Muddy Water's studio Blues harpist at Chess Records. His breakthrough 1952 hit Juke was laid down at the end of a  Muddy Waters session. Suddenly Little Walter was a star in his own right. From 1952 to 1958, Little Walter notched 14 Top Ten hits, including Sad Hours, Mean Old World, Tell Me Mama, Off the Wall, Blues with a Feeling, You're So Fine, You Better Watch Yourself,  Last Night, My Babe and the Willie Dixon's treatment of the Gospel lament This Train. Little Walter utilized the chromatic harp in ways never before thought of, or played by anyone at this point in modern music. 1959's Everything Gonna Be Alright was Walter's last trip to the hit lists. He toured extensively and in 1964 toured with The Rolling Stones, but tragically, the '60s saw this musical  genius slide steadily into an alcohol-hastened state of unreliability. Little Walter's vicious temper led to his violent undoing in 1968. He was involved in a street fight and died from the incident's after-effects February 15, 1968 at age 37. His influence remains undeniable to this day. He is credited with being the innovator of  electric (amplified) Blues harmonica. The sound has been imitated by many including Charlie Musselwhite, King Biscuit Boy, Kim Wilson and Magic Dick. Little Walter Jacobs was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980.  MP- | BOOM BOOM Out Go The Lights | Dead Presidents |