1. Edward Harrington, better known by his stage name Eddy Clearwater, was an American blues musician who specialized in Chicago blues.
19 Facts About Eddy Clearwater
1. 2.
Eddy Clearwater was raised by his part-Cherokee grandmother in Mississippi.
3.
Eddy Clearwater was a cousin of the blues harmonica player Carey Bell.
4.
Eddy Clearwater began playing guitar at age 13, teaching himself left-handed and upside down.
5.
Eddy Clearwater began performing with gospel groups, including the Five Blind Boys of Alabama.
7.
Eddy Clearwater performed in the US and internationally, having played at blues festivals in France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Turkey and the Netherlands.
8.
Eddy Clearwater regularly performed songs by Rush, Magic Sam, and Berry, as well as original compositions.
9.
In 1953, then known as Guitar Eddy Clearwater, he began working regularly in bars on Chicago's South and West Sides.
10.
Eddy Clearwater recorded a few more singles, which had some local radio airplay.
11.
Eddy Clearwater worked steadily throughout the 1960s and 1970s and was among the first blues musicians to find success with Chicago's North Side college audiences.
12.
Eddy Clearwater was a regular Saturday act on the north stage of the blues club Kingston Mines, while bluesman Linsey Alexander played on the south stage.
13.
Eddy Clearwater toured Europe twice during the 1970s and appeared on BBC Television.
14.
Eddy Clearwater acquired the nickname The Chief and often performed wearing a Native American headdress.
15.
One listen and you'll wonder why Eddy Clearwater's name isn't respectfully spoken in the same breath as Freddie King and Otis Rush.
16.
Eddy Clearwater was first married to Earlean Harrington of Chicago and was the stepfather of her son Daryl Thompson.
17.
On January 8,1997, Eddy Clearwater underwent successful triple heart bypass surgery.
18.
Eddy Clearwater's hometown for the last few decades of his life was Skokie, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago.
19.
Eddy Clearwater died at his home in Skokie on June 1,2018, of heart failure at the age of 83.