Snooks Eaglin
| Snooks Eaglin | |
|---|---|
Eaglin in 2006
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Fird Eaglin, Jr. |
| Born |
January 21, 1937 New Orleans, Louisiana, United States |
| Died | February 18, 2009 (aged 72) New Orleans, Louisiana, United States |
| Genres | Blues |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1953–2008 |
| Labels | Money Pit, Black Top, various |
| Associated acts |
George Porter, Jr. Jon Cleary Allen Toussaint Eddie Bo |
Fird Eaglin, Jr. (January 21, 1936 or 1937 – February 18, 2009), known as Snooks Eaglin, was an American guitarist and singer based in New Orleans. In his early years he was sometimes credited under names including Blind Snooks Eaglin or "Lil" Snook, Ford Eaglin, Blind Guitar Ferd.
His vocal style was reminiscent of that of Ray Charles; in the 1950s, when he was in his late teens, he sometimes billed himself as "Little Ray Charles". He played a wide range of styles of music within the same concert, album, or even song: blues, rock and roll, jazz, country, and Latin. In his early years, he also played acoustic blues.
His ability to play a wide range of songs and make them his own earned him the nickname "the human jukebox." Eaglin claimed in interviews that his musical repertoire included some 2,500 songs.
At live shows, he did not usually prepare set lists and was unpredictable, even to his bandmates. He played songs that came to him on stage, and he also took requests from the audience.
Eaglin lost his sight not long after his first birthday, having been stricken with glaucoma, and spent several years in the hospital with other ailments. Around the age of five he received a guitar from his father and taught himself to play by listening to and playing along with the radio. A mischievous youngster, he was given the nickname "Snooks" after a radio character named Baby Snooks.
In 1947, at the age of 11, Eaglin won a talent contest organized by the radio station WNOE by playing "Twelfth Street Rag." Three years later, he dropped out of the school for the blind to become a professional musician. In 1952, he joined the Flamingoes, a local seven-piece band started by Allen Toussaint. The Flamingoes did not have a bass player, and according to Eaglin, he played both the guitar and the bass parts at the same time on his guitar. He stayed with the Flamingoes for several years, until their dissolution in the mid-1950s.
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