Little Walter

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Little Walter, whose real name was Marion Walter Jacobs, was born in Louisiana in 1930 and died in Chicago in 1968. As a child he learned to play the harmonica. At twelve he left home and played on the street in New Orleans, Memphis and St. Louis, among other places, where he travelled with older blues musicians such as Sonny Boy Williamson II. In 1946 he arrived in Chicago. There he stood out with his harmonica playing and played in Muddy Waters's band.

Music and breakthrough

In 1952 he recorded under his own name for Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess. The first song of his first session, Juke, reached number one on Billboard's R&B chart and stayed at the top for eight weeks. It is still the only harmonica instrumental to have managed that. Between 1952 and 1958 he had fourteen top-ten hits on that chart, including My Babe in 1955. His backing band was called The Aces, with the brothers David and Louis Myers on guitar and Fred Below on drums. He also played on recordings by others, such as Bo Diddley.

Influence

He had his harmonica amplified so that it could hold its own against the electric guitars. He set the standard vocabulary for blues and blues-rock harmonica. In 2008 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as the first and only inductee honoured specifically as a harmonica player. His later years were overshadowed by alcoholism.

Listening

• 
  Juke · Little Walter, 1952
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1967Super Blues
• 1972Boss Blues Harmonica
• 1978Southern Feeling
• 1991Blues With a Feeling
• 1991My Babe
• 2007Juke
• ?Windy City Blues

See also

• Chicago blues