JUNIOR WELLS Biography - Musicians

 
 

Biography » musicians » junior wells

JUNIOR WELLS

Name: Junior Wells                                                                 
Birth name: Amos Blakemore                                                         
Also known as Junior                                                               
Born: 9 December 1934 Memphis, Tennessee                                           
Died: 15 January                                                                   
                                                                                   
Junior Wells (December 9, 1934 - January 15, 1998), born Amos Blakemore, was a     
blues vocalist and harmonica player based in Chicago who was famous for playing   
with Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, Lonnie Brooks, The Rolling Stones and     
Van Morrison.                                                                     
                                                                                   
He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Arkansas. Wells moved to         
Chicago in 1948 and first made his mark at age 18 playing in Muddy Waters' band.   
He later worked with Buddy Guy in the 1960s and recorded for Delmark Records.     
His most memorable songs are "Messin' With the Kid" and "Little by Little," and   
his best-known album, 1965's Hoodoo Man Blues, which evokes the smoky atmosphere   
of the era's Westside Chicago blues bars.                                         
                                                                                   
Wells made an appearance in the 1998 movie Blues Brothers 2000, the sequel to     
The Blues Brothers. The movie was released less than a month after his death.     
                                                                                   
On his passing from lymphoma in 1998, Junior Wells was interred in the Oak Woods   
Cemetery, Chicago.