19 Facts About Tampa Red

Tampa Red's distinctive single-string slide guitar style, songwriting and bottleneck technique influenced other Chicago blues guitarists such as Big Bill Broonzy, Robert Nighthawk, Muddy Waters, and Elmore James.

The date of his birth is uncertain, with Tampa himself giving years varying from 1900 to 1908.

Tampa Red's parents, John and Elizabeth Woodbridge, died when he was a child, and he moved to Tampa, Florida, where he was raised by his aunt and grandmother and adopted their surname, Whittaker.

Tampa Red emulated his older brother, Eddie, who played the guitar around the Tampa area, and he was especially inspired by an old street musician called Piccolo Pete, who first taught him to play blues licks on the guitar.

Tampa Red picked up some knowledge from early recordings of female blues singers like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Ida Cox.

Tampa Red's first recording "Through Train Blues" did not have as much success since it was the B-side to "How Long How Long" by Blind Lemon Jefferson, who was Paramount's biggest star at the time.

In 1928, Tampa Red became the first black musician to play a National steel-bodied resonator guitar, the loudest and showiest guitar available before amplification, acquiring one in the first year in which they were available.

Tampa Red was known as "The Man with the Gold Guitar", and into the 1930s he was billed as "The Guitar Wizard".

In 1931, Tampa Red recorded "Depression Blues", including the topical lyrics, "If I could tell my troubles, it would give my poor heart ease, but Depression has got me, somebody help me please".

Tampa Red signed with Victor Records in 1934 and remained on their artist roster until 1953.

Tampa Red formed the Chicago Five, a group of session musicians who created what became known as the Bluebird sound, a precursor of the small-group style of later jump blues and rock and roll bands.

Tampa Red was a friend and associate of Big Bill Broonzy and Big Maceo Merriweather.

Tampa Red's home became a centre for the blues community, providing rehearsal space, bookings, and lodgings for musicians who arrived in Chicago from the Mississippi Delta as the commercial potential of blues music grew and agricultural employment in the South diminished.

Tampa Red was "rediscovered" in the blues revival of the late 1950s, like many other surviving early-recorded blues artists, such as Son House and Skip James.

Tampa Red was reportedly in a much worse shape than in his earlier years, and his electric guitar rested under a bed while his National steel guitar had been stolen.

Tampa Red lived out his final years in Central Nursing Home, where he died from a heart attack while eating breakfast on the morning of March 19,1981.

Tampa Red was one of the most prolific blues recording artists of his era.

Tampa Red recorded some singles with collaborators, credited as the Hokum Boys, Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band, Papa Too Sweet, and other names.

Tampa Red played as a sideman on recordings by Big Maceo Merriweather, John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, Memphis Minnie, Ma Rainey, and Victoria Spivey.