1. Mathis James Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter.
16 Facts About Jimmy Reed
1. 2.
Jimmy Reed influenced many other musicians, including Elvis Presley, Hank Williams Jr.
3.
Jimmy Reed learned the harmonica and guitar from his friend Eddie Taylor.
4.
Jimmy Reed was then drafted into the US Navy and served in World War II.
5.
Jimmy Reed was discharged in 1945 and returned briefly to Mississippi, marrying his girlfriend, Mary.
6.
Jimmy Reed then moved to Gary, Indiana, to work at an Armour meat-packing plant.
7.
Jimmy Reed joined the Gary Kings with John Brim and played on the street with Willie Joe Duncan.
8.
Jimmy Reed failed to gain a recording contract with Chess Records, but signed with Vee-Jay Records through Brim's drummer, Albert King.
9.
At Vee-Jay, Jimmy Reed began playing again with Eddie Taylor and soon released "You Don't Have to Go", his first hit record.
10.
Jimmy Reed maintained his reputation despite his rampant alcoholism; his wife sometimes had to help him remember the lyrics to his songs while recording.
11.
In 1957, Jimmy Reed developed epilepsy, though the condition was not correctly diagnosed for a long time, as Jimmy Reed and doctors assumed it was delirium tremens.
12.
When Vee-Jay Records closed, his manager signed a contract with the fledgling ABC-Bluesway label, but Jimmy Reed never produced another hit.
13.
Jimmy Reed died of respiratory failure in 1976, in Oakland, California, eight days short of his 51st birthday.
14.
Jimmy Reed is interred in the Lincoln Cemetery, in Blue Island, Illinois.
15.
Jimmy Reed was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.
16.
Elvis Presley recorded several of Jimmy Reed's songs, having a hit with "Big Boss Man" in 1967 and recording several performances of "Baby, What You Want Me to Do" for his 1968 TV program.