Albertina Walker born August 29, 1929

Albertina Walker (August 29, 1929 – October 8, 2010) was an American gospel singer, songwriter and humanitarian.

The Caravans 1957

Walker was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ruben and Camilla Coleman Walker. Her mother was born in Houston County, Georgia, and her father in Bibb County, Georgia. They moved to Chicago between 1917 and 1920 where they lived out their lives. Albertina had four siblings born in Bibb County and four born in Chicago. Albertina began singing in the youth choir at the West Point Baptist Church at an early age, and joined several Gospel groups thereafter, including the Pete Williams Singers, the Willie Webb Singers, and the Robert Anderson Singers.

The Caravans 1960

Albertina was greatly influenced by Mahalia Jackson, her friend and confidante, whom Jackson took on the road when Albertina was just a teenager. "Mahalia used to kid me. She'd say, 'Girl, you need to go sing by yourself'", recalled Walker in a 2010 Washington Post interview. Walker did just that. In the early 1950s, Walker founded her own Gospel music group The Caravans, enlisting fellow singers from The Robert Anderson Singers (Ora Lee Hopkins, Elyse Yancey and Nellie Grace Daniels). The Caravans' membership included: James Cleveland, Bessie Griffin, Shirley Caesar, Dorothy Norwood, Inez Andrews, Loleatta Holloway, Cassietta George, and Delores Washington. 

The Caravans 1965

Her discovery of these artists resulted in the nickname "Star Maker". The Caravans signed in 1957 with Savoy Records, which also acquired rights to their earlier sides for States. All of their recordings for Savoy were issued on Gospel, a subsidiary of the Newark, New Jersey–based parent label. The Caravans moved to Chicago’s Vee-Jay Records in 1962 but briefly returned to Savoy’s Gospel label four years later.

The Caravans’ star began to dim following Shirley Caesar’s 1966 departure. The group laboured on for several more years, recording for the Gospel, Hob and Jewel labels before Walker threw in the towel in the early ’70s. Members of later editions of the group included future disco star Loleatta Holloway and singing pianist Willie James McPhatter.

                                   

She was popularly referred to as the "Queen of Gospel Music", initially by such notables as the late Reverend James Cleveland and Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr, for her outstanding achievements within the genre after the death of Mahalia Jackson in 1972. The second act in Walker’s career began in 1975 when she emerged as a solo artist with an album for Polydor Records. It generated little attention. In 1978, however, she re-signed with Savoy, which partnered her with Cleveland for a strong-selling album titled Reunion. The next release with her lifelong friend, 1979’s Please Be Patient with Me, did even better and remains a classic of her extensive discography. In addition to the two discs with Cleveland, Walker made six more albums for Savoy between 1981 and ’88 on which she was backed by various choirs. Later recordings appeared on the Benson, Word, Rejoice, A&M, and Verity labels through 1997.

To date, she has recorded over 60 albums, including gold selling hits "Please Be Patient With Me", "I Can Go to God in Prayer", "The Best Is Yet to Come", "Impossible Dream", and "Joy Will Come". Walker sang for United States presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and South Africa's president, Nelson Mandela. Walker is featured in Who's Who in Black America as well as other volumes related to the Golden Age of Gospel Music. She received several keys to various cities and was honoured at the Chicago Gospel Festival where a bench bearing her name was placed in downtown Chicago's Grant Park. The City of Chicago paid tribute to Albertina by renaming 35th and Cottage Grove "Albertina Walker and The Caravans Drive".

She was also conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters Degree by the Chicago Theological Seminary, an institution of the University of Chicago. Walker co-founded the Gospel Music Workshop of America along with James Cleveland. She lent her support to many other groups. In 1988, she founded The Albertina Walker Scholarship Foundation for the Creative and Performing Arts, which offers financial assistance to college students in the form of scholarships to further their education in the field of music.

In 1995, Walker joined Thelma Houston, CeCe Peniston, Phoebe Snow and Lois Walden to record a gospel album in common, Good News in Hard Times, as the quintet called The Sisters of Glory. Walker recorded a reunion album with her group The Caravans entitled Paved the Way, which was released by Malaco Records on September 5, 2006. Performers included Walker, Dorothy Norwood, Inez Andrews and Delores Washington. The album was dubbed by Billboard magazine as one of the most memorable releases of 2006 and entered the Billboard charts in the top ten and remained in the top forty for sixteen weeks. Paved the Way was nominated for a Grammy, Dove, Soul Train Music Award and two Stellar Awards.

Albertina in 2003

Walker earned many awards and honours over her six decades of music ministry. Among them, 5 Gold Records; several Gospel Music Workshop of America Excellence Awards; an induction into the 2001 Gospel Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. She is also a recipient of a 2005 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honour in the folk and traditional arts.

2010

A smoker of cigarettes for many years, the lifelong Chicagoan suffered from emphysema. On her 81st birthday, Walker was admitted to a local Chicago hospital and placed on a ventilator. At the time, she was in ICU dealing with respiratory problems–a condition she battled for years, and kept her on oxygen. On Tuesday, September 7, Walker had a tracheostomy which doctors deemed a success, and she checked out of a Chicago hospital in late September and was admitted to RML specialty hospital for follow up care. She died on October 8, 2010.

(Edited from Wikipedia & Malaco.com) 

Billy Grammer born August 28, 1925

Billy Grammer (August 28, 1925 – August 10, 2011) was an American country music singer and accomplished guitar player. He recorded the million-selling "Gotta Travel On", which made it onto both the country and pop music charts in 1959. Grammer would become a regular performer on the Grand Ole Opry, eventually designing, and marketing his namesake guitar after co-founding a guitar company, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Billy Wayne Grammer, the eldest of 13 children (nine boys and four girls), was born in Benton, Illinois. His father was a musician; he played the violin and trumpet. Billy served in the US Army during World War II, and upon discharge worked as an apprentice toolmaker at the Washington Naval gun factory at Shop No. 20. Grammer married his high-school girlfriend, Ruth Burzynski, in 1944. Shortly after the war ended, 18,000 of a 24,000-strong workforce were laid off, including Grammer. The couple returned to their home in Franklin County, Illinois.

When Grammer and his wife were living in Washington D.C., he was hired by Connie B. Gay as a singer in support of Gay's WARL radio program: Town and Country Time. When Gay was preparing to replace the session guitarist, Grammer demonstrated his own guitar prowess, and was re-contracted in a dual-role as both singer and lead guitarist.

                                  

After being signed by Monument Records in Nashville, Tennessee, Grammer scored a big hit with the million-selling single: "Gotta Travel On", copyrighted by David Lazar, Larry Ehrlich, Paul Clayton and Tom Six. The song peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart and No. 5 on the Hot Country Songs chart in 1959. That same year, he became a regular cast member on the Grand Ole Opry. Grammer named his band after his most notable hit as The Travel On Boys. "Gotta Travel On" was used as the opening song by Buddy Holly on his final tour in January and February 1959, which ended in tragedy. He recorded the first chart version of Bobby Bare's "Detroit City", entitled "I Wanna Go Home". It hit the Billboard country chart in early 1963.

Grammer founded RG&G (Reid, Grammer & Gower) Company in 1965 with Clyde Reid and J.W. Gower. RG&G made the Grammer guitar from 1965 until 1968, when a fire consumed the factory in downtown Nashville. The company was then sold to Ampeg, and a new factory was erected down the street from the old one. The company was renamed Grammer Guitar, Inc. (GGI). GGI produced the Grammer guitar until 1970. His guitar was installed into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville on March 1, 1969.

On May 15, 1972, Grammer and the Travel on Boys played at the rally in Laurel, Maryland where Alabama governor George Wallace was shot. Grammer and his band played the "Under the Double Eagle" march as Wallace mounted the stage to speak. After he spoke, Wallace mingled with the crowd, and Arthur Bremer shot a concealed handgun at the presidential candidate. The outcome was Wallace's paralysis, leaving him using a wheelchair for the rest of his life. "I've said all along, if they wanted to do something like this, they do it under these circumstances," Grammer said, weeping, after the incident.

Grammer delivered the invocation for the Grand Ole Opry House opening on March 16, 1974. In 1990, he was inducted into the Illinois Country Music Hall of Fame, along with Tex Williams, Lulu Belle and Scotty, and Patsy Montana. Grammer suffered from the degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa and became completely blind. On February 27, 2009, he was honoured by the Grand Ole Opry for his 50-year membership.

Grammer died on August 10, 2011, aged 85, at Benton Hospital, where he had been receiving treatment for a long-term illness, which included suffering a heart attack seven months earlier.

(Edited from Wikipedia) 

Wade Frugé born August 27, 1916

Wade Frugé (August 27, 1916 – June 23, 1992) was a was a full-time farmer and part-time fiddler in southwest Louisiana. 

Wade Frugé was one of the last of the great old timey Cajun fiddlers. Known for his delicate grace notes, piercing chords and powerful bowing, Fruge combined soulful playing with highly-skilled articulation. Although never a full-time musician, Frugé's love of music gave his playing a rarely-heard emotional depth.

Born Wade Joseph Frugé in Tasso near Eunice, Louisiana, he was raised in a rural farming community, he balanced a life of agriculture—raising sheep and farming—with a deep dedication to the traditional music of his region. Frugé learned to play the fiddle from local contemporaries and elders, including his grandfather Napoleon Frugé and blues-tinged fiddler, Douglas Ballard, absorbing the nuances of the old Cajun style that was rapidly disappearing by the mid-20th century. 

                                  

       Here's "La Vieille Chanson De Mardi Gras" from above LP

He married Evelyn Courville in 1942 and adopted a child, maintaining a quiet family life alongside his musical pursuits. Throughout his life, Frugé remained a part-time musician, performing primarily at local gatherings and house dances rather than pursuing commercial fame. 

Wade at Mardi Gras

His playing was celebrated for its qualities that made him one of the last great exponents of the 'old timey' Cajun fiddle tradition. Wade was discovered by accordion maker and musician Marc Savoy playing at local house parties in the 1970s.

His only album "Old Style Cajun Music", was released in 1988 comprising of fifteen studio recordings, recorded at Marc Savoy’s home over a 10-year period from 1979 to 1989. The album was re-issued in 1998 with an extra ten selections never before released with the final selection on the album “Frugé Waltz,” which is a fiddle duet with Beausoleil’s Michael Doucet.

Wade Frugé died June 23, 1992 (aged 75) and was buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Eunice, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.

Frugé's legacy is that of a cultural preservationist, keeping alive the authentic Cajun fiddle style and passing it on to younger generations. His recordings and mentorship have influenced a new wave of musicians dedicated to traditional Cajun music, ensuring that the sound of southwest Louisiana endures.

(Edited from Jazzapedia)

Chantal Renaud born 26 August 1946

Chantal Renaud (born 26 August 1946) is a Canadian script writer, and formerly a yé-yé singer and actress. She was the wife of former Quebec Premier and Parti Québécois leader Bernard Landry.

Montreal born Chantal Renaud's career began in a period of great cultural effervescence in Quebec and France in the late 1960s. It was thanks to René Homier-Roy that she landed a job as a journalist at the Photo-Journal in 1964, then directed by Jean-Charles Harvey. At the time, she was only 17 years old, but that did not prevent her from flying to France to do interviews with Coco Chanel and Bob Dylan.

Later, back in Montreal, Chantal Renaud bumped into Jean-Pierre Ferland by chance. He invited her to Radio-Canada, where she got the position of compere for Jeunesse oblige, which she hosted in French and English for the 1966-1967 season. As was the custom with star hosts she was soon offered the opportunity to record a few songs herself. After a duet with Donald Lautrec, "Ne dis rien" by Serge Gainsbourg, she undertook a series of hits, some of which were borrowed from Sylvie Vartan, "Comme un garçon" and "Irrésistiblement". These songs usually deal with playful themes such as "Zihuatanejo" or childish ones such as "The Unicorn". Her earliest releases were on Jupiter Records, one of Québec’s major pop labels of the era.

                                  

While continuing to record frequent 45s, she soon reoriented her career and resolutely turned to theatre (Clémence Desrochers' musical revue Les Girls, alongside Diane Dufresne, Paule Bayard and Louise Latraverse) and cinema. This form of expression was then in the midst of a revolution in Quebec and it was not long before she was given leading roles, notably in the films L'Initiation, Finally and L'Amour humain. She also recorded the 1969 theme song for the Musicorama summer tour, organized by the brand new Radio-Mutuel network, "Opération vacances". 

A little later, she surprised her fans by writing the lyrics of a new 45 rpm record in which she expressed herself in a much more local French. "Plattsburg drive-in blues" and "Viens que j'te démanche" participate in their own way in the shaking of the artistic values of modern Quebec, as do the films in which she participates, for that matter. She was nominated four times as Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970. In 1971, she received the Méritas for Best Actress in Quebec.

In 1973, she finally flew to France with her husband at the time, Jacques Riberolles, and turned the page on her career as a singer as she was tired of the stardom that prevailed in Quebec. "I didn't like popularity!" she said in an interview. She then resumed her writing habits and, in addition to collaborating with various magazines, published a few novels, including Le Loup Blanc, which was published in Quebec in 1983. In total, she wrote hundreds of screenplays for series as well as for cinema. She was also the author of the screenplay for the film Prince Lazure which was shot in 1991, starring the singer Mitsou. In 2001, she received two awards for a TV movie: the Sept d'or and the FIPA d'or at the Biarritz Festival for the film Fatou la Malienne.

She herself returned to her native Quebec and on 26 June 2004, after a courtship of some years, she married the widower, former Premier of Quebec and then Parti Québécois leader, Bernard Landry. She figured prominently in the 2003 documentary À Hauteur d'homme about the 2003 Quebec general election, during which Landry defended his post as leader of Quebec. He died on November 6, 2018. Since 2019, Chantal has been president of the non-profit organization Le Cercle des amies de Bernard Landry.

(Edited from Quebec Info Musiqe, Radio Canada & Wikipedia) 

Gracie Dee (active mainly in the mid 60's to the mid 70's)

Gracie Dee(active mainly in the mid 60's to the mid 70's) was a Canadian country singer from Canora, Saskatchewan. She built a reputation for a warm, expressive voice, energetic stage presence, and steady work across Canada, the U.S., and Asia.

Gracie Dee (stage name) was born in Canora, Saskatchewan, to  Mr & Mrs Walter Marchinko. There is no reference to her early life except that she built her career on a warm, expressive voice, a vivacious stage presence, and a tireless dedication to her craft. She emerged in the mid-1960s, performing alongside her husband, Saskatchewan-born fiddler and bandleader Mike Harris. The pair were active both in Canada and the United States, working in live performance, studio recording, and television.

Gracie with Mike Harris formed  The Charm-Ettes, a group that recorded the 1966 LP Fiddle Favourites for Rev Records. The album was all instrumental, built around Harris’s lively fiddle playing and the group’s tight ensemble arrangements. By the late ’60s, the couple had relocated for a time to the United States, working the circuit in Nashville and beyond. RPM reported on her early Nashville appearances and described her as one of Canada’s most promising country acts abroad. Harris established Blaze Records in Nashville, while Gracie gained further exposure through guest appearances, live shows, and ongoing U.S. recording work.

                                  

Gracie’s big break came when she caught the attention of Sims Records founder Russell Sims, reportedly through an introduction by Hal Willis. This led to her signing with Sims and greater access to Nashville’s studio scene. Known for her “green-eyed, bubbling bundle of talent” persona, she quickly became a favourite with session players. Gracie appeared on the Grand Ole Opry with Hal and Ginger Willis, and on many shows from British Columbia to Radio KECK in Texas and all along in between. 

Her first solo LP, In A Country Mood, was issued on Rada Records in Burnaby, British Columbia, around late 1972 (though recording may have occurred earlier). The album showcased a mix of Nashville-written material and covers, delivered in a bright, twangy production style reminiscent of Decca/MCA’s early ’70s sound. Billboard’s country reviewers named it “Album of the Week” in December 1972, and RPM carried notices of Canadian airplay.

This was followed by The Many Moods of Gracie Dee, produced by Mike Harris and Ron Manning and likely recorded in Nashville in 1973 or 1974. The album again avoided listing musician credits but included liner notes by singer Bobby Hardin, further suggesting Nashville session involvement. Both LPs were released in Canada and the US, with Blaze handling American distribution. In mid-1970, Gracie embarked on her third tour of the Orient and Far East, opening at the Hong Kong Hilton in July before continuing through Asia. The tour was booked through Mike Harris Associates, whose international roster also included engagements in the Orient and Vietnam. RPM highlighted her ongoing U.S. presence at this time and noted that she had recently signed a recording contract with songwriter and producer Ray Griff, with a single release expected shortly. 

Her overseas work also included performances in Greenland, Puerto Rico, New York City, Nevada, and at the WWVA Jamboree. RPM continued to report on her singles through the mid-1970s, with Blaze Records releases gaining Western Canadian radio support and chart play. Harris was frequently mentioned not only as her producer but also as the driving force behind her bookings and business affairs. Gracie Dee’s career extended into the mid-1970s, with later singles appearing on Blaze Records. Known for her easy rapport with audiences, she performed extensively across Western Canada and the American South, often alongside her husband. Her music combined honky-tonk energy with heartfelt ballads, reflecting both her prairie roots and the Nashville polish she embraced during her time in the US.

Kim, Katie & Mike Harris with Gracie Dee

Though her recording output was relatively limited, Gracie Dee remains a notable figure in the history of Canadian country music — a performer who bridged local prairie stages and international country circuits, and whose records stand as artifacts of an era when Canadian artists were carving out a place in Nashville’s competitive scene.

Other than the above article, there are no sources that provide any information about her later life, death, or current status. Her last known single was in 1975 after which there are no interviews, no festival appearances and no radio spots. However, I did come across a Facebook entry from Gracie's ex daughter-in-law Darlene Ferrier who states that Mike Harris had a drinking problem which destroyed their careers, businesses and family ties. Darlene also stated that Gracie died in 2000 from cancer.

(Edited from Museum Of Canadian Music article by Robert Williston & SaskToday. Please note the information from Facebook needs to be verified).

Jackie Brenston born August 24, 1928 or 1930

Jackie Brenston (August 24, 1928 – December 15, 1979) was an American singer and saxophonist who, with Ike Turner's band, recorded the first version of "Rocket 88" in 1951. It was noted in a subsequent interview that Brenston stated "I had a hit record and no sense".

Jack Brenston was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Brenston's birth date has long been the source of speculation. The birth date on his headstone, August 24, 1928, is the same date on his army enlistment records. However, in 1974, Brenston stated that he was born on August 24, 1927. His obituary in the Clarksdale Press Register gave his birth date as August 15, 1930, a date endorsed by researchers Bob Eagle and Eric S. LeBlanc. Brenston had a troubled youth and often ran away from home. It has been theorized that his mother, Ethel Brenston, falsified his age so that he could join the army. Brenston claimed he served more than three years in the 82nd Airborne, but records show that he enlisted on January 19, 1946, and was released on December 18, 1946.

Returning to Clarksdale from army service, Brenston learned to play the saxophone in 1947 from a local character named Jesse Flowers. "I had this $30 horn with a hole in it. I plugged the hole up with chewing gum", Brenston told writer Jim O'Neal in 1978. Before long he linked up with Ike Turner in 1950 as a tenor sax player and occasional singer in Turner's band, the Kings of Rhythm. B.B. King was impressed when he saw the group perform in Chambers, Mississippi, in early 1951 and directed them to Sam Phillips's Memphis Recording Service, where King was recording at the time. Phillips had not yet begun his Sun Records Company ; another year would pass before the first Sun record was made. But he had been operating a recording studio, making and leasing recordings, for almost a year. It was at that studio, at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, that "Rocket 88" was recorded, on March 3, 1951.

                                  

Though Brenston claimed authorship of "Rocket 88", he had derived it from a song in the band's repertoire, "Cadillac Boogie", which Jimmy Liggins had cut for Specialty in 1947. In the lyrics, Brenston replaced the Cadillac with the new Oldsmobile Rocket Hydramatic 88. The vocalist of the Kings Of Rhythm, Johnny O'Neal, had recently been signed by King Records and Ike Turner chose Brenston as the group's new singer. Of the five sides cut at the historic session, the first two were by Ike himself, with Brenston playing alto sax. Then Jackie laid down his horn and sang three songs, "Rocket 88", "Come Back Where You Belong" and "Independent Woman". During the drive from Clarksdale, guitarist Willie Kizart's amp had fallen off the top of the car, breaking the speaker cone. Rather than submerge the distorted sound of Kizart's guitar, Sam Phillips took a chance and overamplified it, making it the centrepiece of the rhythm track. After the session, Phillips ran off dubs and sent them to the Chess brothers in Chicago the same night. Chess released two singles by the group in mid-April. The coupled sides that featured Turner's voice bore on their labels the credit Ike Turner and Kings of Rhythm. However, much to Ike's dismay, the other single ("Rocket 88"/"Come Back Where You Belong") was credited to 'Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats'.

Turner blamed Phillips for this error. "Rocket 88" reached the R&B charts in May 1951, hit number 1 in June (for five weeks) and eventually became the second-biggest R&B record of the year, after the Dominoes' "Sixty Minute Man". Its success had far-reaching effects. It heralded a wilder wave of rock n roll. It stirred Sam Phillips's determination to start his own label. And it caused Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston to part company after one more session in July (at which the follow-up, "My Real Gone Rocket" was recorded). The success of "Rocket 88" (which Turner felt was really HIS success) went to Brenston's head and he split for a time and formed his own group. The third Chess single by Brenston, "Independent Woman", was the remaining recording from the first session and was coupled with "Juiced", which was credited to Brenston, but in fact sung by Billy Love. Ike Turner defected to the Bihari brothers and their Modern / RPM labels, but Sam Phillips continued to record Brenston, with his new band. "Hi Ho Baby", Brenston's duet with Edna McCraney, was released by Chess in January 1952. "Starvation", a last (instrumental) Chess single, came in 1953. Then, less than two years after it had begun, it was over for Brenston. His records didn't sell.

He took a job playing sax with Lowell Fulson's band in 1953, and stayed with Fulson, on and off, through 1955. Then, humbled and weary, he was taken back into the fold by Ike Turner, remaining there until the early 1960s, when Turner finally started having hits (with the help of Tina). Though he recorded with the Kings of Rhythm throughout those years, Brenston's voice was heard on only two of the many Federal singles that the band had out during that time ("Much Later" from 1957 being the best of those four tracks). He was reduced to being Ike Turner's baritone sax player. Turner allowed Brenston to sing a few songs when the band performed in public, but he forbade him to sing "Rocket 88". Jackie took refuge in alcohol. 

He released two final solo singles for Sue Records (1961, still with the Kings of Rhythm) and Mel London's Mel-Lon label in 1963 (with Earl Hooker's band). He drifted through a number of bands in the 1960s and drove a truck for a living in the 1970s. When Jackie Brenston suffered a heart attack in late 1979, he was a hopeless alcoholic and almost completely forgotten. He died at the Kennedy V.A. Hospital in Memphis on December 15, 1979, and was buried in the military section of the Heavenly Rest Cemetery. According to his Brenston's headstone, he was 51 years old. It wasn't until 2018, that "Rocket 88" was inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame's Singles Category.

(Edited from This Is My Story & Wikipedia)

Sonny Thompson born probably August 23, 1916

 Sonny Thompson (probably August 23, 1916 – August 11, 1989), born Alfonso Thompson or Hezzie Tompson, was an American R&B bandleader and pianist, and the most prolific R&B instrumentalists of the late '40s and early '50s.

There is some uncertainty over Thompson's origins, as well as his birth name. Researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc indicate that Alphonso “Sonny” Thompson was born in 1916 in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, but other sources state that he was born in 1923, either in Centreville, Mississippi or in Chicago. While he was a pre-schooler, his family moved to Chicago. He attended Wendell Phillips High School and studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music by day and at the elbows of Art Tatum and Earl Hines at night. Tatum was Sonny’s main influence which can be heard on his first recordings “Southside Boogie” and “Sonny’s Boogie” waxed for the tiny Detroit-based Sultan label in 1946.

Thompson began working in combos while in high school and went on the road for extended periods after graduating from Phillips. He also spent some time in the band of Erskine Tate. He began working as a leader in 1940, with a group billed as Sonny Thompson and His Swingsters. During 1941 and 1942, Thompson attended the University of Chicago, supporting himself by playing gigs. During 1941 and the first quarter of 1942, he played solo piano at the Garrick Stage Bar. He also worked in groups led by Lonnie Simmons, Red Allen, and Stuff Smith in the Down Beat Room downstairs. In 1943 Sonny Thompson entered the Army. He return to playing, performing at places such as Garrick Stage Bar, Bar o’ Music and got a break when he was asked to step in to replace Earl Hines at El Grotto. An item in Down Beat (July 15, 1945, p. 4), “Thompson Has Fine New Crew,” described the band as a “14-piece outfit.” 

Thompson made his first recording session with a sextet backing June Richmond on Mercury Records; two singles were released. The two sides he did for Sultan were his first as a leader. During 1947 Thompson teamed up with the Dick Davis Combo to play regularly at the Tradesmen’s Lounge, appearing with them on a recording session for the fledgling Miracle label in January. Thompson began recording under his own name with Miracle in mid-1947, using the Sharps and Flats as his rhythm section and frequently adding Eddie Chamblee’s tenor sax.

                                   

In 1947 Sonny signed with Lee Egalnick’s Miracle company, where he made fine recordings under his own name, but also backed other artists on the label, namely tenorist Dick Davis, Piney Brown and Gladys Palmer. Shortly after this Sonny was to lay down “Long Gone” Pts. 1 & 2, which King Records’ Syd Nathan was to snap up once the Miracle record began to hit the juke boxes and showed considerable chart action (it sold some 200,000 copies and lasted for more than 30 weeks on the charts). The record was so popular that Miracle label boss Lee Egalnick had to fight bootleggers in St. Louis, who were selling counterfeit copies of the disc. The rhythm section consisting of Alvin Garrett, Leroy Morrison and Thurman “Red” Cooper maintain a relaxed and often used accompaniment behind Sonny’s piano and the great tenor Eddie Chamblee.

The success of “Long Gone” Pts. 1 & 2” ensured Thompson’s position as the “King of the Two Parter” (a fine follow-up appeared as “Still Gone” parts 3 and 4) and subsequent double siders included “The Fish”, “Mellow Blues”, “Real Real Fine”, “Cotton Ball” and “Cat On The Keys”. In the same year (1948), “Late Freight” climbed No. 1 position in the Billboard R&B charts and stayed there for 13 weeks! (The piece was later called “Creepin’” when it was issued in Britain). Further chart success included “Blues On Rhumba” (no. 14 position) and “Blue Dreams” (no. 10 position). “Long Gone” was to be featured heavily in Billboard over the next two years, not only because of its success, but also through King Records’ purchase of the Miracle label and a lawsuit involving Jimmy Yancey, Meade Lux Lewis, Doug Suggs and Cripple Clarence Lofton! 

By 1952 he had moved on to King Records, where he worked in A&R and as a session musician and arranger. At King, he had further R&B Top 10 successes with the singer Lula Reed, the biggest hit being "I'll Drown in My Tears" which reached number five. Thompson married Reed sometime in the early 1950s. He continued to work as a session musician, and to perform with Reed into the early 1960s. He also had success as a songwriter, often co-writing with blues guitarist, Freddie King. Songs Thompson wrote (or co-wrote) included "I'm Tore Down", "Let Them Talk", "Hide Away", "The Stumble", "Three Hearts in a Tangle", "Late Freight", and "Long Gone".

In 1951, Sonny began recording with singer Lula Reed, later to be his wife and in November 1952. During this period Thompson provided the band, sidemen and arrangements for the first of four sessions with the great Wynonie Harris. Although Wynonie was still a big star, he was faced with the challenge of the emerging rock ’n roll boom. Lula and Sonny had great success with “Let’s Call It A Day” (no. 7 position) and “I’ll Drown In My Tears” (no. 5 position in the Billboard R&B charts), both penned by Henry Glover and together they even tried their hands on a couple of Gospel numbers. Little is known of Lula’s professional life and like a surprising number of R&B artists, her very first record enjoyed more success than just about any of her later work. “I’ll Drown In My Tears” made it to the number 5 position in Billboard’s R&B charts in 1952. It has since become associated with Ray Charles, whose retitled version owed a debt to to both Lula Reed and Sonny Thompson. The debt was repaid in the early 1960s, when Lula made an  appearance on Charles’ own Tangerine label.

From 1960 Sonny had switched to the organ cutting six soul-jazz styled instrumentals for King, Knight and Bethlehem. As a sideman, Sonny had accompanied innumerable groups and artists on countless recording sessions — among them The Swallows, Wynonie Harris, Hank Ballard & The Midnighters, Mabel Scott, The Pilgrim Jubilee Singers, The Five Keys, Lucky Millinder, Billy Stewart, James Brown, Jesse Johnson and Little Milton, only to name a few.

In 1970, Sonny co-produced one of Howlin’ Wolf’s last albums for Chess Records, “Message To The Young” and played keyboards on the session. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he began appearing at Jazz Festivals and even toured Europe a couple of times, performing in England, France, Switzerland, Italy and Yugoslavia. In 1972, he recorded two LPs for the French label Black & Blue in France while on tour; he was part of the Chicago Blues Festival in the same year and cut an album as a sideman with Luther “Georgia Boy” Johnson. In the early 1970s he played keyboards on two Jimmy Dawkins albums on the Delmark label. Shortly after, Sonny Thompson fell into obscurity; he died on August 11, 1989 in Chicago (just shortly before his 67th birthday), after a long battle against diabetes. In 2024 the Killer Blues Headstone Project placed the headstone for him at Homewood Memorial Cemetery in Homewood, Illinois.

(Edited from Big Road Blues)