Roosevelt Sykes › Similar Artists

Frank Frost - 74% match to Roosevelt Sykes

15 April 1936, Auvergne, Arkansas, USA, d. 12 October 1999, Helena, Arkansas, USA. Frost’s skills encompassed keyboards and guitar, but like many other blues artists, he started with the harmonica. After moving to St. Louis as a teenager, he took up playing with Sonny Boy ‘Rice Miller’ Williamson in the mid-50s, appearing regularly with him on the famous radio Read more

Sleepy John Estes - 68% match to Roosevelt Sykes

John Adams Estes, 25 January 1899, Ripley, Tennessee, USA, d. 5 June 1977, Brownsville, Tennessee, USA. This influential blues singer first performed at local house-parties while in his early teens. In 1916 he began working with mandolin player Yank Rachell, a partnership that was revived several times throughout their respective careers. It was also during this formative pe Read more

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - 67% match to Roosevelt Sykes

24 August 1905, Forest, Mississippi, USA, d. 28 March 1976, Nassawadox, Virginia, USA (1974 is also cited). During the 40s and early 50s Crudup was an important name in the blues field, his records selling particularly well in the south. For much of his early life Crudup worked in various rural occupations, not learning to play the guitar until he was 32. His teacher was one Read more

J.B. Hutto - 66% match to Roosevelt Sykes

Joseph Benjamin Hutto, 26 April 1926, Elko, near Blackville, South Carolina, USA, d. 12 June 1983, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Hutto’s family moved to Augusta, Georgia when he was three years old, and he later sang in the Golden Crowns Gospel Singers, before moving to Chicago in 1949. While in Chicago he began to play drums and sing blues with Johnny Ferguson’s Twister Read more

Tampa Red - 65% match to Roosevelt Sykes

Hudson Woodbridge aka Whittaker, 8 January 1904, Smithville, Georgia, USA, d. 19 March 1981, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Tampa Red was raised in Tampa, Florida, by his grandmother Whittaker’s family, hence his nickname. By the time of his 1928 recording debut for Vocalion Records, he had developed the clear, precise bottleneck blues guitar style that earned him his billing, Read more

Phillip Walker - 64% match to Roosevelt Sykes

11 February, 1937, Welsh, Louisiana, USA. Originating from the Port Arthur area of Louisiana, Walker worked in many bands building a reputation as a performer of note. Moving to Los Angeles, he recorded for the small Elko label before finally having an album made up from tracks recorded for producer Bruce Bromberg during 1969-72. These were released on Hugh Hefner’s Pla Read more

Leroy Carr - 56% match to Roosevelt Sykes

27 March 1905, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, d. 29 April 1935, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. A self-taught pianist, Carr grew up in Kentucky and Indiana but was on the road working with a travelling circus when still in his teens. In the early 20s he was playing piano, often as an accompanist to singers, mostly in and around Covington, Kentucky. In the mid-20s he partnered Scrapp Read more

Cecil Gant - 54% match to Roosevelt Sykes

Jimmy Rogers - 52% match to Roosevelt Sykes

Big Joe Williams - 49% match to Roosevelt Sykes

Joe Lee Williams, 16 October 1903, Crawford, Mississippi, USA, d. 17 December 1982, Macon, Mississippi, USA. Big Joe Williams was one of the most important blues singers to have recorded and also one whose life conforms almost exactly to the stereotyped pattern of how a ‘country’ blues singer should live. He was of partial Red Indian stock, his father being ‘R Read more

Otis Spann - 49% match to Roosevelt Sykes

21 March 1930, Jackson, Mississippi, USA, d. 24 April 1970, Chicago, Illinois, USA. One of the finest pianists of post-war blues, Spann learned the instrument as a child. He initially played in his stepfather’s church, but by the age of 14 was a member of a small local group. Having pursued careers in football and boxing, Spann moved to Chicago where he returned to musi Read more

Jimmy McCracklin - 46% match to Roosevelt Sykes

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

Peetie Wheatstraw - 46% match to Roosevelt Sykes

William Bunch, 21 December 1902, Ripley, Tennessee, USA, d. 21 December 1941, East St. Louis, Illinois, USA. Wheatstraw, also known as the Devil’s Son-In-Law and the High Sherrif Of Hell, was an influential and popular blues artist of the 20s and 30s. His claim that he had sold his soul to the Devil at a crossroads was echoed in the legend that grew around the more reve Read more

Jimmy Witherspoon - 44% match to Roosevelt Sykes

James Witherspoon, 8 August 1923, Gurdon, Arkansas, USA, d. 18 September 1997, Los Angeles, California, USA. Witherspoon crossed over into rock, jazz and R&B territory, but his deep and mellow voice placed him ultimately as a fine blues singer. He sang in his local Baptist church from the age of seven. From 1941-43 he was in the Merchant Marines and, during stopovers in Read more

Blind Boy Fuller - 43% match to Roosevelt Sykes

Fulton Allen, 1908, Wadesboro, North Carolina, USA, d. 13 February 1941, USA. One of a large family, Fuller learned to play the guitar as a child and had begun a life as a transient singer when he was blinded, either through disease or when lye water was thrown in his face. By the late 20s he was well known throughout North Carolina and Virginia, playing and singing at count Read more