<back - WILLIE DIXON - Willie Dixon was born on July 1, 1915 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Producer, songwriter, bassist and singer, he helped Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Bo Diddley, Koko Taylor, and others achieve successful recording careers in Blues. By the time he was a teenager, Dixon was writing songs and selling copies to the local bands. Willie also studied music with a local carpenter by the name, Theo Phelps, who taught him about harmony singing. With his natural bass voice, Dixon later joined a group organized by Phelps, the Union Jubilee Singers, who appeared on local radio. In 1945 Willie Dixon formed Big Three Trio with Len 'Baby Doo' Caston, and Bernardo Dennis.

During this period, Willie Dixon appeared as a bassist at local jam sessions that included Muddy Waters. When the Chess brothers heard him they immediately hired Willie play on Robert Nighthawk's record. Willie Dixon's real recognition came as a songwriter. It began in the 50s with the Chess recording of Muddy Waters 'Hoochie Coochie Man'. The success of that single, Evil by Howlin' Wolf, and My Babe by Little Walter saw Willie Dixon established as Chess Records most reliable tunesmith. Willie Dixon continued as bassist and recording manager of many of the Chess label's recording sessions, including those by Chuck Berry, Lowell Fulson, Otis Spann, Jimmy Rogers and Otis Rush. During the mid-'60s he began to see a growing interest in his songwriting from the British rock bands that he saw while in London. His music was getting covered by artists like The Rolling Stones. Among his more famous songs that he wrote are Back Door Man, Little Red Rooster, Spoonful, Wang Dang Doodle, I Just Wanna Make Love To You. All covered by The Rolling Stones, Savoy Brown, Bo Diddley, J.Geils Band, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Long John Baldry, and  many more. By the 1970s, Willie Dixon recorded an album of his best-known songs, I Am the Blues, for Columbia Records, and organized the Chicago Blues All-Stars, to play concerts in Europe. In 1988, Dixon became the first producer/ songwriter to be honored with a boxed-set collection, when MCA Records released Willie Dixon: The Chess Box that included several rare Dixon sides as well as the most famous recordings of his songs by Chess stars. The following year, Willie Dixon published -I Am the Blues, his autobiography. He continued performing, and was also called in as a producer on movie soundtracks such as La Bamba, as well as producing the work of his old friend Bo Diddley. Willie Dixon had suffered from increasingly poor health in his final years and died peacefully in his sleep on January 29,1992. Willie Dixon was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980. MP3- SPOONFUL | 29 WAYS | INSANE ASYLUM |