Willie "Big Eyes" Smith
| Willie "Big Eyes" Smith | |
|---|---|
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith at the Master Musicians Festival in Somerset, Kentucky, July 19, 2008
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Willie Lee Smith |
| Born |
January 19, 1936 Helena, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Died | September 16, 2011 (aged 75) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Chicago blues, electric blues |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, bandleader, composer |
| Instruments | Harmonica, drums |
| Years active | 1954–2011 |
| Labels | Rounder, Hightone, Electro-Fi, Telarc, Big Eyes |
| Associated acts | Muddy Waters |
| Website | www |
Willie Lee "Big Eyes" Smith (January 19, 1936 – September 16, 2011) was a Grammy Award-winning American electric blues vocalist, harmonica player, and multi-award winning drummer. He was best known for several stints with the Muddy Waters band beginning in the early 1960s.
Born in Helena, Arkansas, Smith learned to play harmonica at age seventeen after moving to Chicago. Smith's influences included listening to 78's and the KFFA King Biscuit radio show, some of which were broadcast from Helena's Miller Theater, where he saw guitar player Joe Willie Wilkins, and harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson II. On a Chicago visit in 1953 his mother took him to hear Muddy Waters at the Zanzibar club, where Henry Strong's harp playing inspired him to learn that instrument. In 1956, at the age of eighteen he formed a trio. He led the band on harp, Bobby Lee Burns played guitar and Clifton James was the drummer. As "Little Willie" Smith he played in the Rocket Four, led by blues guitarist Arthur "Big Boy" Spires, and made recordings that were later reissued on the Delmark label. In 1955 Smith played harmonica on Bo Diddley's recording of the Willie Dixon song "Diddy Wah Diddy" for the Checker label. Drummers were in more demand than harp players so Smith switched to drums and starting playing with Muddy Waters band. Smith recorded with Muddy on the 1960 album Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy, a tribute to Big Bill Broonzy.
In 1961, Smith became a regular member of Muddy Waters' band, which then consisted of George "Mojo" Buford, Luther Tucker, Pat Hare and Otis Spann. By the mid '60s, he'd left the band for more steady work as a cab driver. In the late '60s he rejoined Muddy's band and remained a permanent member until 1980. All of Muddy's Grammy Award winning albums (Hard Again, I'm Ready, They Call Me Muddy Waters, Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live, The London Muddy Waters Session, and The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album) were released between 1971 and 1979 during Smith's tenure with the band. Though he did not play on all of these albums, Smith is estimated to have participated in twelve sessions yielding eighty-four tracks.
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