Percy Mayfield › Similar Artists

Pee Wee Crayton - 100% match to Percy Mayfield

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

Guitar Slim - 85% match to Percy Mayfield

Roy Milton - 83% match to Percy Mayfield

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

Smiley Lewis - 80% match to Percy Mayfield

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

Chuck Willis - 71% match to Percy Mayfield

Wynonie Harris - 71% match to Percy Mayfield

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

Rosco Gordon - 68% match to Percy Mayfield

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

Willie Mabon - 68% match to Percy Mayfield

24 October 1925, Hollywood, Tennessee, USA, d. 19 April 1985, Paris, France. Accompanying himself on piano and secondly on harmonica, Mabon sang in an urbane blues style similar to Charles Brown. He moved from Memphis, Tennessee, to Chicago in 1942 and was first recorded in 1949 as a member of the Blues Rockers group. After military service he became a popular entertainer in Read more

Little Willie John - 61% match to Percy Mayfield

Ivory Joe Hunter - 59% match to Percy Mayfield

10 October 1914, Kirbyville, Texas, USA, d. 8 November 1974, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Although Hunter was a well-known figure in Texas through his radio shows, it was not until the 40s, when he moved to the west coast, that his career flourished. He established his own record companies, Ivory and Pacific, recording on the former with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (the Ex Read more

J.B. Lenoir - 58% match to Percy Mayfield

5 March 1929, Monticello, Mississippi, USA, d. 29 April 1967, Champaign, Illinois, USA. Christened with initials, Lenoir was taught to play the guitar by his father, Dewitt. Other acknowledged influences were Blind Lemon Jefferson, Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup and Lightnin’ Hopkins, with the latter’s single-string runs and verse tags becoming an integral part Read more

Big Maybelle - 57% match to Percy Mayfield

Mabel Louise Smith, 1 May 1924, Jackson, Tennessee, USA, d. 23 January 1972, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Maybelle was discovered singing in church by Memphis band leader Dave Clark in 1935. When Clark disbanded his orchestra to concentrate on record promotion, Smith moved to Christine Chatman’s orchestra with whom she first recorded for Decca Records in 1944. Three years late Read more

Lloyd Price - 54% match to Percy Mayfield

9 March 1933, Kenner, Louisiana, USA. Price, who launched his career in the early 50s performing rocking R&B, New Orleans-style, was - like his Crescent City compatriot Fats Domino - made for the rock ‘n’ roll era. He did not have to modify his approach at all to become a rock ‘n’ roll hit-maker in the late 50s. Price formed his own band in New Orlean Read more

Bobby "Blue" Bland - 51% match to Percy Mayfield

Robert Calvin Bland, 27 January 1930, Rosemark, Tennessee, USA. Having moved to Memphis with his mother, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland started singing with local gospel groups, including the Miniatures. Eager to expand his interests, he began frequenting the city’s infamous Beale Street, where he became associated with an ad hoc circle of aspiring musicians, named, not u Read more

Jimmy McCracklin - 50% match to Percy Mayfield

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