Pinetop Perkins
Pinetop Perkins was born in Humphreys County, Mississippi, United States on July 7th, 1913 and is the Pianist. At the age of 97, Pinetop Perkins biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 97 years old, Pinetop Perkins physical status not available right now. We will update Pinetop Perkins's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.
Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913-2011) was an American blues pianist.
He performed with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll entertainers of his day, winning numerous awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Life and career
Perkins was born in Belzoni, Mississippi, and raised on a plantation in Honey Island, Mississippi. He began his career as a guitarist but then suffered the tendons in his left arm in a knife fight with a chorus girl in Helena, Arkansas in the 1940s. Since he was unable to play the guitar, he switched to the piano. He also went from Robert Nighthawk's radio show on KFFA to Sonny Boy Williamson's King Biscuit Time. He continued to work with Nighthawk, but he was also on "Jackson Town Gal" in 1950.
Perkins joined Earl Hooker in the 1950s and began touring. At Sam Phillips' Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, he recorded "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie." Pinetop Smith, who made the original recording in 1928, wrote the song. Perkins didn't write; he "got as high as third grade in school." He learned to play-off Smith's records. "They used to call me 'Pinetop' because I was playing the song," Perkins described.
Perkins then migrated to Illinois and left the music industry until Hooker persuaded him to record again in 1968. When Perkins left the band in 1969, Perkins replaced Otis Spann in the Muddy Waters band. Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and the Legendary Blues Band formed in the late 1970s to the early 1990s, after ten years with the company.
Perkins appeared on the street outside Aretha's Soul Food Cafe in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, in which they sparred with John Lee Hooker over who wrote "Boom Boom." He appeared in the 1987 film Angel Heart as a member of guitarist Toots Sweet's band.
Perkins played on numerous albums, but he never had an album devoted solely to his artistry until After Hours, which was released by Blind Pig Records in 1988. Jimmy Rogers and guitarist Hubert Sumlin were on tour to promote the album.
Sara Lewis, Perkins' common law wife, died in 1995, causing depression and bouts of alcoholism. Sumlin appeared on the album Legends in 1998. Perkins appeared with Ike Turner at the Chicago Blues Festival in 2001. Turner credited Perkins with assisting him in learning piano.
Perkins was driving his car in 2004 in La Porte, Indiana, when it was struck by a train. The car was smashed, but the 91-year-old driver was not seriously injured, but not seriously injured. Perkins lived in Austin, Texas, before his death. He appeared on Sixth Street for a few nights a week at Momo's.
Perkins and Angela St. Vincent's performance of "Hey Mr. Pinetop Perkins" debunks the common belief that he wrote "Pinetop Woogie Woogie":
Perkins' hearing as he aged, declined.
Perkins died in his sleep of heart arrest at his Austin, Texas home at the age of 97 on March 21, 2011. Multiple memorial services were held in cities around the country in Perkins' honor. On March 31, 2011, the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, held a dedicated jam for Perkins' friends and followers. On March 29, 2011, Perkins' music-filled open-casket funeral was held in Austin, Texas, and many fellow musicians, including Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Bob Margolin, attended Perkins' show.
Following a final open-casket "homegoing" celebration, Perkins was laid to rest in the McLaurin Memorial Garden cemetery in Clarksdale on April 2, 2011. Henry Epsy, Clarksdale's first Black mayor, was the final laying to rest, and Perkins' favorite dish, a McDonald's Big Mac and apple pie, was included on the altar display.
More than 20 shows were scheduled for 2011 at the time of his death. "I can't play piano like I used to do," he said a few weeks before his death while discussing his late career revival with an interviewer. Bass used to roar like thunder. I can't do that anymore. But I beggars, please excuse me for the stuff I did not get out of a nickel." Perkins and David "Honeyboy" Edwards, the last living original Delta blues musicians, were the last living original Delta blues musicians. Perkins was also one of the few remaining bluesmen to have known Robert Johnson.