Willie Nix

Willie Nix ( born August 6, 1922 in Memphis, Tennessee; † July 9, 1991 in Leland, Mississippi; actually Willie Nicks, known as Memphis Blues Boy ) was an American blues drummer and singer, the late, especially in the 1940s and early 1950s was popular.

Nix grew up in Memphis, as a teenager he worked as a tap dancer in minstrel and medicine shows in the American South, there should taught rhythms later shape his drumming. The mid- 1940s he returned to Memphis, where he played together with musicians like Walter Horton, Robert Lockwood Jr. and Sonny Boy Williamson. Nix was at that time part of a scene in West Memphis by musicians like Johnny Ace, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker and BB King. When he regularly appeared together with the Three Aces and other blues musicians on the radio, its popularity has increased tremendously.

Nix had previously already made some recordings for RPM and Checker. 1952 took him Sun Records, under the name Memphis Blues Boy. 1953, however, Nix left Memphis and fled to Chicago because he was accused of murder. There he took on the opportunity / Sabre label and worked in the local clubs. 1958 Nix went back to Memphis to serve a two -year prison sentence. He was then still active as a musician in Memphis, but came about local notoriety addition, barely. He died in 1991.