Quick Facts
- NAME: Lead Belly
- OCCUPATION: Murderer, Songwriter, Guitarist, Singer
- BIRTH DATE: 1885 BCE
- DEATH DATE: December 06, 1949
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Mooringsport, Louisiana
- PLACE OF DEATH: New York, New York
- Originally: Huddie William Ledbetter
- AKA: Huddie Ledbetter
- AKA: Lead Belly
Best Known For
Lead Belly was a folk-blues singer, songwriter and guitarist whose ability to perform a vast repertoire of songs and notoriously violent life made him a legend.
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Play NowLead Belly. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 09:19, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/lead-belly-39541.
Lead Belly. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/lead-belly-39541 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Lead Belly." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 09:19 http://www.biography.com/people/lead-belly-39541.
"Lead Belly," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/lead-belly-39541 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Lead Belly," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/lead-belly-39541 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Lead Belly [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/lead-belly-39541.
Lead Belly, http://www.biography.com/people/lead-belly-39541 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Lead Belly. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/lead-belly-39541. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
Profile
Famed musician Lead Belly was born in Mooringsport, Louisiana, on January 20, 1889. Lead Belly was imprisoned in Texas for murder in 1918. According to tradition, he won his early release in 1925 by singing a song for the governor of Texas. Lead Belly was imprisoned again, for attempted murder, in 1930. There, he was "discovered" by folklorists John Lomax and Alan Lomax, who were collecting songs for the Library of Congress. Subsequently, he published 48 songs.
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