Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post- war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicag ...

's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and recorded several popular blues songs, including " That's All Right" (now a

blues standard Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded. They represent the best known and most interpreted blues songs that are seen as standing the test of time. Blues s ...

), "Chicago Bound", "Walking by Myself" (his sole R&B chart appearance), and "Rock This House". He withdrew from the music industry at the end of the 1950s, but returned to recording and touring in the 1970s.

Career

Rogers was born Jay or James Arthur Lane in

Ruleville, Mississippi Ruleville is a city in Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States, in the Mississippi Delta region. The population was 3,007 at the 2010 census. It is the second-largest community in the rural county.Moye, J. Todd. '' Let the People Decide: Bl ...

, on June 3, 1924. He was raised in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

and Memphis. He adopted his stepfather's surname. He learned to play the harmonica with his childhood friend Snooky Pryor, and as a teenager he took up the guitar. He played professionally in East St. Louis, Illinois, with Robert Lockwood, Jr., among others. Rogers moved to Chicago in the mid-1940s. By 1946, he had recorded as a harmonica player and singer for the Harlem record label, run by J. Mayo Williams. Rogers's name did not appear on the record, which was mislabeled as the work of Memphis Slim and His Houserockers. In 1947, Rogers,

and

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

began playing together, forming Waters's first band in Chicago (sometimes referred to as the Headcutters or the Headhunters, because of their practice of stealing jobs from other local bands). The band members recorded and released music credited to each of them as solo artists. The band defined the sound of the nascent Chicago blues style (more specifically, South Side Chicago blues). Rogers recorded several sides of his own with small labels in Chicago, but none were released at the time. He began to achieve success as a solo artist in 1950, with the song " That's All Right", released by

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 a ...

, but he stayed in Waters's band until 1954. In the mid-1950s he had several successful records released by Chess, most of them featuring either

or Big Walter Horton on harmonica, notably "Walking by Myself". In the late 1950s, as interest in the blues waned, he gradually withdrew from the music industry. In the early 1960s, Rogers briefly worked as a member of Howling Wolf's band, before quitting the music business altogether for almost a decade. He worked as a taxicab driver and owned a clothing store, which burned down in the

1968 Chicago riots The 1968 Chicago riots, in the United States, were sparked in part by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Rioting and looting followed, with people flooding out onto the streets of major cities. Soon riots began, primarily in black ur ...

following the

assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at ...

Rogers gradually began performing in public again, and in 1971, when fashions made him somewhat popular in Europe, he began occasionally touring and recording, including a 1977 session with Waters which resulted in the album '' I'm Ready''. By 1982, Rogers was again a full-time solo artist. He continued touring and recording albums until his death. In 1995, Rogers was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. His song, "That's All Right", was inducted by the organization in 2016 as a "Classic of Blues Recording", which identified it as a blues standard. Rogers died of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowe ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

in 1997. He was survived by his son,

Jimmy D. Lane Jimmy D. Lane (born July 4, 1965, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American electric blues guitarist. Lane was born to the Chess blues musician Jimmy Rogers and his wife Dorothy. In his childhood, he got to know many older bluesmen who ...

, a guitarist,

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

and

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...

for Blue Heaven Studios and APO Records.

Partial discography

Singles *" That's All Right" backed with "Ludella" (1950,

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

) *"Goin' Away Baby" / "Today, Today, Blues" (1950, Chess) *"The World's in a Tangle" / "She Loves Another Man" (1951, Chess) *"Out on the Road" / "The Last Time" (1952, Chess) *"Chicago Bound" / "Sloppy Drunk" (1954, Chess) *"Walking by Myself" / "If It Ain't Me (Who You Thinking Of)" (1956, Chess) *"Rock This House" / "My Last Meal" (1959, Chess) Albums *''Chicago Bound'' (1970, Chess), compilation of 1950s Chess recordings * ''Sloppy Drunk'' (1973, Black & Blue), studio album recorded in 1973 * ''Gold Tailed Bird'' (1971, Shelter) *'' Jimmy Rogers'' (1984, Chess Masters series), double LP compilation with more 1950s recordings *''That's All Right'' (1989, Charly), compilation of Chess recordings * ''Ludella'' (1990, Antone's), studio and live recordings 1990 * ''Jimmy Rogers with Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters'' (1993, CrossCut), live recording from 1991 * ''Feelin' Good'' (1994, Blind Pig), with Rod Piazza * ''Blue Bird'' (1994, Analogue Productions), studio recording from 1993 * ''The Complete Chess Recordings'' (1997, Chess/

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gen ...

), double CD * ''Blues Blues Blues'' (1999,

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

), as the "Jimmy Rogers All-Stars", with

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

, Keith Richards,

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

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, ...

, Lowell Fulson,

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various alternative ...

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following th ...

Jeff Healey Norman Jeffrey Healey (March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008) was a Canadian blues, rock and jazz singer, guitarist, and songwriter who attained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. He reached No. 5 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart with " A ...

and others

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Jimmy 1924 births 1997 deaths People from Ruleville, Mississippi Musicians from Atlanta Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues harmonica players American blues singers Blues musicians from Mississippi Chess Records artists Deaths from cancer in Illinois Deaths from colorectal cancer 20th-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) Guitarists from Mississippi Guitarists from Tennessee 20th-century American male musicians Black & Blue Records artists