Barkin' Bill Smith

Barkin ' Bill Smith ( born August 18, 1928 in Cleveland, Mississippi, † April 24, 2000 in Chicago, Illinois) was an American blues singer and songwriter.

Smith spent his youth in Mississippi, but moved to Detroit and then on to Chicago later. It received its name from Homesick James, with whom he had worked in 1958. The name is very strange, because his voice was a lush, polished baritone who actually represented an antithesis to the singing of the Chicago blues. He sang in Chicago for numerous blues bands. He was influenced by Joe Williams ( Count Basie singer, not the guitarist ), Brook Benton and Jimmy Witherspoon. After many years he made 1991 his albums debut as a singer Dave Specter & the Bluebirds on " Bluebird Blues" and after he had left the group appeared in 1994 his own album " Gotcha! " Where he could take advantage of the connection to Delmark Records, the Bluebird Blues have published. After 1994, he joined because of health problems increasingly rare.

Smith died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer.