Lester Franklin Melrose was a talent scout who was one of the first American producers of Chicago blues records.
12 Facts About Lester Melrose
1.
2.
Lester Franklin Melrose was born in Sumner, Illinois, the second of six children of Frank and Mollie Melrose, who owned a small farm.
3.
Lester Melrose relocated to Chicago around 1914 and tried out unsuccessfully as a catcher for the Chicago White Sox baseball team before starting work as a grocery salesman.
4.
Lester Melrose started to promote many blues artists who became popular, recording them mainly in Chicago.
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Lester Melrose worked for several record labels simultaneously in the 1930s, including RCA Victor and its subsidiary Bluebird.
6.
In many ways Lester Melrose can be considered a founder of the Chicago blues, although he favored acoustic over electric performances.
7.
Muddy Waters, who was rejected when he auditioned for Lester Melrose, called it "sweet jazz".
8.
The Lester Melrose sound dominated Chicago blues before World War II, but the arrival of large numbers of Southern African Americans in Chicago during and after the war brought Lester Melrose's dominance to an end as a harder, deeper blues sound proved more popular with the new audience.
9.
Lester Melrose then retired to Lake, Florida, and died there in April 1968.
10.
Lester Melrose's name appeared on "Reefer Head Woman", recorded by Jazz Gillum, and featuring 16-year-old electric guitarist George Barnes, and "Me and My Chauffeur", recorded by Memphis Minnie.
11.
Lester Melrose's name appeared on three Arthur Crudup songs recorded by Elvis Presley.
12.
Lester Melrose's older brother Walter Melrose was a music publisher who received songwriter credit for several songs identified with the Original Dixieland Jass Band, including the standards "High Society" and "Tin Roof Blues", both of which were hits as late as the 1950s.