Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter

Lead Belly
Lead Belly playing a melodeon
Background information
Birth name	Huddie William Ledbetter
Also known as	Lead Belly Leadbelly
Born	(1889-01-20)January 20, 1889 Mooringsport, Louisiana, United States
Died	December 6, 1949(1949-12-06) (aged 60) New York City, New York, United States
Genres	Country blues folk songster
Occupation(s)	Musician songwriter
Instruments	Vocals guitar accordion piano lap steel guitar
Years active	1903–1949
Website	leadbelly.org
Notable instruments
Stella twelve-string guitar

Huddie William Ledbetter /ˈhjuːdi/ (January 20, 1889 – December 6, 1949) was an American folk and blues musician notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced. He is best known as Lead Belly. Though many releases credit him as "Leadbelly", he himself wrote it as "Lead Belly", which is also the spelling on his tombstone and the spelling used by the Lead Belly Foundation.

Lead Belly usually played a twelve-string guitar, but he also played the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and "windjammer" (diatonic accordion). In some of his recordings he sang while clapping his hands or stomping his foot.

Lead Belly's songs covered a wide range, including gospel music; blues about women, liquor, prison life, and racism; and folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, Jack Johnson, the Scottsboro Boys and Howard Hughes.

Lead Belly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.