Edward Riley Boyd (November 25, 1914 – July 13, 1994)Dahl, Bill. Eddie Boyd: Biography AllMusic. Retrieved October 13, 2016. was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

pianist, singer and songwriter, best known for his recordings in the early 1950s, including the number one

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

hit " Five Long Years".

Life and career

Boyd was born either on Stovall's Plantation, near

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19t ...

, or on Frank Moore's Plantation, near Stovall, Mississippi. He learned to play the guitar and the piano. His piano playing was influenced by the styles of

Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper". Career Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...

and

Leroy Carr Leroy Carr (March 27, 1904 or 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. Mu ...

. Boyd moved to the

Beale Street Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, ...

district of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, in 1936, where he played with his group, the Dixie Rhythm Boys. He then joined the Great Migration of African Americans north to the factories of Chicago in 1941. He recorded for

Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is an American record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of children's music, blues, jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s. Bluebird was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebi ...

, accompanying such musicians as Sonny Boy Williamson,

Jazz Gillum William McKinley "Jazz" Gillum (September 11, 1902 or 1904 – March 29, 1966) was an American blues harmonica player and singer. Biography Gillum was born in Indianola, Mississippi. He ran away from home at age seven and for the next few ye ...

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

, and

Tampa Red Hudson Whittaker (born Hudson Woodbridge; January 8, 1903March 19, 1981), known as Tampa Red, was an American Chicago blues musician. His distinctive single-string slide guitar style, songwriting and bottleneck technique influenced other Chicago ...

, before making his first recordings under his own name, in 1947. He decided to produce his own recordings, and took two

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...

to Joe Brown at J.O.B. Records, who agreed to re-record the tracks. In May 1952 he recorded " Five Long Years", which became a huge hit, topping the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

for seven weeks late in the year. He signed with

Parrot Records Parrot Records was an American record label, a division of London Records, which started in 1964. The label usually licensed (or leased) recordings made by Decca Records, England, for release in the United States and Canada, most notably by th ...

, which then sold his contract to

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock an ...

. Boyd had two further hits for Chess in 1953, "24 Hours" and "Third Degree" (co-written by

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

), both of which reached number three on the R&B chart. He went on to record for a series of smaller labels in the 1950s, but an automobile accident in 1957 in which he was injured put his career on hold for a while. Boyd toured Europe with

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

's band in 1965 as part of the American Folk Blues Festival. He later toured and recorded with

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

and

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers were an English blues rock band led by multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter John Mayall. The band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues musicians. Many of the best known bands t ...

. Unhappy with the racial discrimination faced in the United States, Boyd moved to Belgium, where he recorded with the Dutch band Cuby and the Blizzards. He moved again, in 1970, to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland, where he continued to perform and recorded ten blues records, the first being ''Praise to Helsinki'' (1970). He married his wife, Leila, in 1977. Grave of Eddie Boyd Vantaa

Boyd died in 1994 at the Meilahti Hospital in Helsinki. He was buried in the St. Lawrence Church's cemetery in

Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropoli ...

. A few months later,

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

's chart-topping blues album '' From the Cradle'', which includes interpretations of Boyd's "Five Long Years" and "Third Degree", was released. In 2009 a plaque was unveiled on a building at Helsinginkatu 12c in Helsinki, Finland, where Boyd had lived the last third of his life.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Five Long Years'' ( Fontana, 1966) *''Praise the Blues: Cuby + Blizzards & Eddie Boyd'' (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

, 1967) *''Eddie Boyd and His Blues Band Featuring Peter Green'' (

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

, 1967) *''7936 South Rhodes'' ( Blue Horizon, 1968) *''Praise to Helsinki'' ( Love Records, 1970) *''The Legacy of the Blues'', vol. 10 (

Sonet Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) are standardized protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams synchronously over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diodes ...

, 1974) *''Brotherhood'' (Finnish Blues Society, 1975) *''My Lady'' (Lobo, 1978) *''Soulful'' (Magic Angel, 1980) *''A Sad Day'' (Paris, 1980) *''Lover's Playground'' (Stockholm, 1984)

Live album

*''Eddie Boyd Live'' ( Storyville, 1976)

Compilations

*''Vacation from the Blues'' (Jefferson, 1976; Mojo, 2015) *''Rattin' and Runnin' Around'' (Crown Prince, 1981) *''No More of This Third Degree'' (

Teldec Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group. History Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...

, 1982) *''The Best of Eddie Boyd'' (

P-Vine P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name ...

, 1984) *''Third Degree'' ( Charly R&B; Orbis, 1993) *''The Complete Recordings (1947–1950)'' ( EPM Musique, 2001) *''Five Long Years: The Complete Recordings, Vol. 2 (1951–1953)'' (EPM Musique, 2004) *''Eddie Boyd in Finland'' ( Blue North, 2005) *''The Blues Is Here to Stay'' (

Jasmine Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...

, 2013) *''Blue Monday Blues 1950–1960 Sides'' (Soul Jam, 2015)

Charting singles

*" Five Long Years" ( J.O.B., 1952) *"24 Hours" (

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, 1953) *"Third Degree" (Chess, 1953)

Guest appearances

With Magic Sam *'' Give Me Time'' (Delmark, 1991; recorded 1968)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Eddie 1914 births 1994 deaths Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi Chicago blues musicians American blues pianists American male pianists 20th-century male pianists Blues musicians from Mississippi African-American pianists Columbia Records artists Chess Records artists 20th-century American pianists People from Shelby, Mississippi American expatriates in Finland 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American musicians