1. Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader.
12 Facts About Elmore James
1. 2.
Elmore James was born Elmore Brooks in Richland, Holmes County, Mississippi, the son of 15-year-old Leola Brooks, a field hand.
3.
Elmore James's father was probably Joe Willie "Frost" James, who moved in with Leola, and Elmore took his surname.
4.
Elmore James began making music at the age of 12, using a simple one-string instrument strung on a shack wall.
5.
Elmore James was influenced by Robert Johnson, Kokomo Arnold and Tampa Red.
6.
Elmore James inherited from Tampa Red's band two musicians who joined his own backing band, the Broomdusters, "Little" Johnny Jones and Odie Payne.
7.
Elmore James began recording with Trumpet Records in nearby Jackson in January 1951, first as a sideman again for Sonny Boy Williamson II and for their mutual friend Willie Love and possibly others.
8.
Elmore James broke his contract with Trumpet Records to sign with the Bihari brothers through their scout Ike Turner, who played guitar and piano on a couple of his early Bihari recordings.
9.
Elmore James died of a heart attack in Chicago in 1963, at the age of 45, as he was about to tour Europe with that year's American Folk Blues Festival.
10.
Elmore James was buried in the Newport Baptist Church Cemetery, in Ebenezer, Mississippi.
11.
Elmore James was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as an "Early Influence" inductee.
12.
Elmore James had been inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame within its initial list of inductions in 1980.