Amos Milburn › Similar Artists

Wynonie Harris - 100% match to Amos Milburn

24 August 1915, Omaha, Nebraska, USA, d. 14 June 1969, Los Angeles, California, USA. This stylish, flamboyant blues shouter enjoyed several R&B hit singles in the immediate post-war period. As a youth Harris played drums in and around his home town before moving to Los Angeles in the early 40s. There he played, danced, sang and worked in several non-musical capacities in Read more

Roy Milton - 88% match to Amos Milburn

31 July 1907, Wynnewood, Oklahoma, USA, d. 18 September 1983, Los Angeles, California, USA. Growing up on his Chickasaw grandmother’s reservation, Milton encountered blues music when his family moved to Tulsa. In the late 20s, he was a vocalist with the Ernie Fields Orchestra; while on tour in Texas, he replaced the band’s drummer after the latter was arrested. He Read more

Big Jay McNeely - 60% match to Amos Milburn

Cecil James McNeely, 29 April 1927, Los Angeles, California, USA. As a tenor saxophonist McNeely was one of the pioneers of the wild, honking style and acrobatic stage show that emerged in the dancehalls during the late 40s. The definitive tune of this style was ‘The Deacon’s Hop’, which reached number 1 in the Billboard R&B chart in 1949. His ‘Wild W Read more

Floyd Dixon - 58% match to Amos Milburn

8 February 1929, Marshall, Texas, USA, d. 26 July 2006, Los Angeles, California, USA. Dixon, aka J. Riggins Jnr., began playing piano and singing as a child, absorbing every influence from gospel and blues to jazz, and even hillbilly. In 1942 his family moved to Los Angeles and he came into contact with fellow ex-Texan Charles Brown who, sensing Dixon’s potential, intro Read more

Bull Moose Jackson - 56% match to Amos Milburn

Benjamin Clarence Jackson, 22 April 1919, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, d. 31 July 1989, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Jackson become interested in music at an early age, and received singing and violin lessons by the age of four. In high school he learned to play the saxophone, and upon his graduation in the late 30s he was hired by legendary trumpeter Freddie Webster to play alto and teno Read more

Johnny Otis - 54% match to Amos Milburn

Ioannis Veliotes, 28 December 1921, Vallejo, California, USA. Born into a family of Greek immigrants, Otis was raised in a largely black neighbourhood where he thoroughly absorbed the prevailing culture and lifestyle. He began playing drums in his mid-teens and worked for a time with some of the locally based jazz bands, including, in 1941, Lloyd Hunter’s orchestra. In Read more

Pee Wee Crayton - 53% match to Amos Milburn

Connie Curtis Crayton, 18 December 1914, Liberty Hill, Texas, USA, d. 25 June 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA. After learning to play ukulele and banjo as a child, Crayton took up the guitar in his mid-twenties. He was inspired by Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker, the latter of whom taught Crayton the basics of electric guitar playing. His tutelage was completed at the Read more

Rosco Gordon - 48% match to Amos Milburn

10 April 1928, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, d. 11 July 2002, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. A self-taught boogie-woogie styled pianist with no acknowledged influences other than a presumed awareness of the work of Amos Milburn and Little Willie Littlefield. Gordon was part of the Beale Streeters group in the late 40s, alongside Johnny Ace, B.B. King and later, Bobby Bland Read more

Smiley Lewis - 48% match to Amos Milburn

Overton Amos Lemons, 5 July 1913, DeQuincy, Louisiana, USA, d. 7 October 1966, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. While failing to gain the commercial plaudits his work deserved, this New Orleans-based artist was responsible for some of that city’s finest music. He made his recording debut, as Smiling Lewis, in 1947, but his strongest work appeared during the 50s. ‘The B Read more

Big Joe Turner - 47% match to Amos Milburn

Joseph Vernon Turner, 18 May 1911, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, d. 24 November 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA. ‘Big’ Joe Turner (aka Big Vernon) began singing in local clubs in his early teens upon the death of his father, and at the age of 15 teamed up with pianist Pete Johnson. Their professional relationship lasted on-and-off for over 40 years. During the lat Read more

Dave Bartholomew - 43% match to Amos Milburn

24 December 1920, Edgard, Louisiana, USA. Dave Bartholomew was one of the most important shapers of New Orleans R&B and rock ‘n’ roll during the 50s. A producer, arranger, songwriter, band leader and artist, Bartholomew produced and co-wrote most of Fats Domino’s major hits for Imperial Records. Bartholomew started playing the trumpet as a child, encourage Read more

Tiny Bradshaw - 40% match to Amos Milburn

Myron Bradshaw, 23 September 1905, Youngstown, Ohio, USA, d. 26 November 1958, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. While studying psychology at Wilberforce University, Ohio, Bradshaw became involved in the campus’ flourishing musical subculture. He joined Horace Henderson’s Collegians as the band’s singer. In 1932, he went to New York where he played drums with several ban Read more

Charles Brown - 39% match to Amos Milburn

13 September 1922, Texas City, Texas, USA, d. 21 January 1999, Oakland, California, USA. Brown’s mother died only six months after he was born and he was raised by his grandparents. Despite learning piano and church organ at the insistence of his grandparents while a child, Brown became a teacher of chemistry. In 1943, living in Los Angeles, he realized that he could ea Read more

Chuck Willis - 39% match to Amos Milburn

Jimmy McCracklin - 39% match to Amos Milburn

James David Walker, 13 August 1921, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. A former professional boxer, McCracklin began his singing career in 1945 when he recorded some demos with J. D. Nicholson on piano. Four years later he formed his own band, the Blues Blasters, in San Francisco and recorded for Modern Records. These recordings from 1948-1950 are magnificent slices of pure R&B, Read more