William Earl Branch (born October 3, 1951) is an American blues harmonica player of

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but is performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of African Americans of the fi ...

. He is a three-time

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

nominee, a retired two-term governor of the Chicago Grammy Chapter, an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

winner , and a winner of the Addy Award. In addition, he has received numerous humanitarian and music awards.

Early life and career

Branch was born at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital in North Chicago, Illinois, United States. His family moved from Chicago to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

when he was five years old. At ten years of age he bought his first harmonica at a Los Angeles Woolworth store. He immediately began playing simple tunes and melodies. After that initial purchase, Billy was never without a harmonica. In 1969 he moved back to Chicago to attend the University of Illinois. eventually he graduated from UIC with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

. In August 1969, Branch attended the first

Chicago Blues Festival The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...

, which was produced 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 ...

. Six years later, after graduating from the University of Illinois, he was touring with the Chicago Blues All-Stars, led by Dixon. Branch soon took the place of Carey Bell, Dixon's long time Harp player, when Bell left the All-Stars to form his own band. In the 1970s, Branch founded his own group, the Sons of Blues, with

Lurrie Bell Lurrie Bell (born Lurrie C. Bell, December 13, 1958, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American blues guitarist and singer. His father was renowned blues harmonica player Carey Bell. Career Bell started playing guitar at the age of six, ...

(the son of Carey Bell) on guitar and Freddie Dixon (the son of Willie Dixon) on bass guitar. They recorded for

Alligator Records Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the '' Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970. History Iglauer started the label using ...

and, after a change in personnel, for Red Beans Records. The new band consisted of Carlos Johnson on

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and J. W. Williams on

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

and

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

. Branch has also recorded for

Verve Records Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Ca ...

and Evidence Records. Since then, Branch has played on over 250 different recordings, including 12 under his own name. He has recorded with Willie Dixon, Keb Mo, Johnny Winter,

Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American baritone singer. He released 61 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably the song " You'll Never Find Another Love like Min ...

, Koko Taylor, Eddy Clearwater, Honeyboy Edwards,

Syl Johnson Sylvester Johnson (born Sylvester Thompson; July 1, 1936 – February 6, 2022) was an American blues and soul singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. His most successful records included "Different Strokes" (1967), " Is It Because I' ...

, Lurrie Bell, Ronnie Baker Brooks, and

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

. He has received three Grammy nominations (losing one nomination to B.B. King and Eric Clapton). He served two consecutive terms on the Grammy Board of Governors and currently is chairman of the Grammy Blues Committee. He has won multiple

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

s, an Emmy Award, an Addy Award, two Chicago Music Awards, and numerous humanitarian and achievement awards. The 2007 Chicago Blues Festival honored the 30th anniversary of Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues. Likewise, in 2017 the Chicago Blues Fest celebrated the 40th anniversary of Billy Branch and the SOBs. Branch annually appears at major festivals around the world, including the Montreux Blues Festival, the North Sea Blues Festival, the Cognac Blues Festivals and Long Beach Blues Festival, the

, the

San Francisco Blues Festival The San Francisco Blues Festival was active from 1973 until 2008, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was one of the longest running blues festival in the United States. History Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the bl ...

and the

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is a festival held annually on the second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. The festival moved to Rotterdam in 2006 after the demolition of the Statenhal in The Hague where it was originally held. ...

. The current lineup of the Sons of Blues consists of Branch (harmonica and vocals), Andrew "Blaze" Thomas (drums and vocals), Sumito Ariyoshi (keyboards and vocals), Marvin Little (bass and vocals), and Giles Corey (guitar and vocals). His 2019 recording, ''Roots and Branches: The Songs of Little Walter'', was chosen as a 'Favorite Blues Album' by

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. He can also be seen in several

Playing for Change Playing For Change is a multimedia music project, featuring musicians and singers from across the globe, co-founded in 2002 by Mark Johnson and Whitney Kroenke. Playing For Change also created in 2007 a separate non-profit organization called t ...

music clips."Billy Branch"
Playing for Change

References

External Links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Branch, Billy 1951 births Living people Harmonica blues musicians Chicago blues musicians Blues musicians from Illinois American blues harmonica players American blues singers Electric blues musicians People from Great Lakes, Illinois Alligator Records artists

Early life and career

See also

References

External Links