Robert Lee "Chick" Willis (September 24, 1934 – December 7, 2013)
was an American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
singer and guitarist, who performed and recorded from the 1950s to the 2000s.
Biography
He was born in
Cabaniss,
Monroe County, Georgia
Monroe County is a County (United States), county located in the Central Georgia, central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 27,957. The county seat is ...
, the cousin of
Chuck Willis. He served in the military in the early 1950s, before working as a chauffeur for Chuck Willis during his heyday. He won a talent show at the Magnolia Ballroom in
Atlanta and made his first
record
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
in 1956, with the
Ebb Records
Ebb or EBB may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), English poet
* Fred Ebb (1928–2004), American lyricist
* Karl Ebb (1896–1988), Finnish athlete and racing driver
* Kimberley Ebb (born 1987), Australian rules footba ...
' single "You're Mine". Initially, he only sang, but learned guitar while touring with his cousin;
Guitar Slim was one of his foremost influences.
After Chuck's death in 1958, Willis played with
Elmore James, recording singles through the 1960s for
Atco and other labels. His 1972 release, "Stoop Down Baby Let Your Daddy See", was a
jukebox hit but secured no radio
airplay, due to its sexually explicit content.
The song was one he had developed when working at a
carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
show, where he would tease passers-by with ribald rhymes. Some of his later recordings reworked the song. Another of his
dirty blues recordings was his cover of "
Mother Fuyer",
which appeared on his 1972 album ''Stoop Down Baby... Let Your Daddy See'', and released as the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
to his "Stoop Down Baby Let Your Daddy See" single on La Val Records.
Willis claimed songwriting credits.
He released a steady stream of albums on
Ichiban Records in the 1980s and 1990s, and continued to record into the 2000s.
[
He died on December 7, 2013, aged 79. Howard Pousner, "Georgia bluesman Chick Willis, 79, dies", AccessAtlanta]
. Retrieved December 10, 2013
Discography
*''Stoop Down Baby... Let Your Daddy See'' (La Val), 1972)
*''Chick Sings Chuck'' (Ichiban, 1985)
*''Now'' (Ichiban, 1988)
*''Footprints in My Bed'' (Ichiban, 1990)
*''Back to the Blues'' (Ichiban, 1991)
*''Holdin' Hands with the Blues'' (Ichiban, 1992)
*''Nasty Chick'' (Ichiban, 1992)
*''I Got a Big Fat Woman'' (Ichiban, 1994)
*''Blue Class Blues'' (Paula, 1998)
*''Y2K Recorded Live'' (Ifgam, 2000)
*''From the Heart and Soul'' (Rock House, 2001)
*''I Won't Give Up'' (Deep South, 2002)
*''I Did it All'' (CML, 2005)
*''Cookin' the Blues'' (Old School, 2006)
*''The Don of the Blues'' (CDS, 2008)
*''Hit & Run Blues'' (Benevolent Blues, 2009)
*''Mr. Blues – The Best Of... So Far'' (Benevolent Blues, 2010)
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Chick
1934 births
2013 deaths
American blues singers
Singers from Georgia (U.S. state)
People from Monroe County, Georgia
Dirty blues musicians