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Quick Facts
- NAME: Muddy Waters
- OCCUPATION: Songwriter, Guitarist, Singer
- BIRTH DATE: April 04, 1915
- DEATH DATE: April 30, 1983
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Rolling Fork, Mississippi
- PLACE OF DEATH: Westmont, Illinois
- Full Name: McKinley Morganfield
- AKA: Muddy Waters
Best Known For
American singer and guitarist Muddy Waters may have been born in Mississippi, but he defined Chicago blues with songs like "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man."
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Play NowMuddy Waters. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 03:21, May 20, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/muddy-waters-9525002.
Muddy Waters. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/muddy-waters-9525002 [Accessed 20 May 2013].
"Muddy Waters." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 20 2013, 03:21 http://www.biography.com/people/muddy-waters-9525002.
"Muddy Waters," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/muddy-waters-9525002 [accessed May 20, 2013].
"Muddy Waters," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/muddy-waters-9525002 (accessed May 20, 2013).
Muddy Waters [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 20] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/muddy-waters-9525002.
Muddy Waters, http://www.biography.com/people/muddy-waters-9525002 (last visited May 20, 2013).
Muddy Waters. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/muddy-waters-9525002. Accessed May 20, 2013.
Synopsis
Muddy Waters was born McKinley Morganfield on April 4, 1915, in Rolling Fork, Missippi. Waters grew up immersed in the Delta blues, and was first recorded by archivist Alan Lomax. In 1943, he moved to Chicago and began playing in clubs. A record deal followed, and hits like "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Rollin' Stone" made him an iconic Chicago blues man.
Early Life
Muddy Waters was born McKinley Morganfield on April 4, 1915, in Rolling Fork, Missippi, a rural town on the Mississippi River. He was given the moniker "Muddy Waters" because he played in the swampy puddles of the Mississippi River as a boy. His father, Ollie Morganfield, was a farmer and a blues guitar player who separated from the family shortly after Waters was born. When Waters was just 3 years old, his mother, Bertha Jones, died, and he was subsequently sent to Clarksdale to live with his maternal grandmother, Delia Jones.
Waters began to play the harmonica around the age of 5, and became quite good. He received his first guitar at age 17, and taught himself to play by listening to recordings of Mississippi blues legends such as Charley Patton. Although Waters spent countless hours working as a sharecropper at a cotton plantation, he found time to entertain folks around town with his music. In 1941, he joined the Silas Green Tent Show and began to travel. As he began to gain recognition, his ambition grew. Then, after Alan Lomax and John Work, archivists/researchers for the Library of Congress Field Recording project caught wind of Waters's unique style, they sought him out to make a recording. The songs "Can't Be Satisfied" and "Feel Like Going Home," were among his first recorded.
Chicago and Mainstream Success
In 1943, Muddy Waters finally picked up and headed to Chicago, Illinois, where music was shaping a generation. The following year, his uncle gave him an electric guitar. It was with this guitar that he was able to develop the legendary style that transformed the rustic blues of the Mississippi with the urban vibe of the big city.
Working at a paper mill by day, Waters was sweeping the blues scene by night. By 1946, he had grown so popular that he had begun making recordings for big record companies such as RCA, Colombia and Aristocrat. (He landed a deal with Aristocrat with help of fellow Delta man Sunnyland Smith.) But his recordings with Aristocrat received little recognition. It wasn't until 1950, when Aristocrat became Chess Records, that Waters's career really began to take off. With hits like "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Got My Mojo Working," his sensual lyrics peaked interest in the young crowds of the city. "Rollin' Stone," one of his singles, became so popular that it went on to influence the name of the major music magazine as well as one of the most famous rock bands to date.
Later Career
By 1951, Muddy Waters had established a full band with Otis Spann on piano, Little Walter on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on second guitar and Elgin Evans on drums. The band's recordings were increasingly popular in New Orleans, Chicago and the Delta region in the United States, but it wasn't until 1958, when the group brought their electric blues sound to England, that Muddy Waters became an international star.
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