Sticks McGhee born 23 March 1918

Granville Henry "Stick" McGhee* (March 23, 1918 – August 15, 1961) was an African-American jump blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his blues song "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee", which he wrote with J. Mayo Williams. *(Also known as Sticks McGhee)

McGhee was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee. He received his nickname when he was a child. He used a stick to push a wagon carrying his older brother Brownie McGhee, who had contracted polio. Granville began playing the guitar when he was thirteen years old. After his freshman year he dropped out of high school and worked with his father at the Eastman Kodak subsidiary, Tennessee Eastman Company in Kingsport. In 1940 Granville quit his job and moved to Portsmouth, Virginia, and then to New York City. He entered the military in 1942 and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After being discharged in 1946, he settled in New York.

In the military, McGhee often played his guitar. One of the songs he performed was "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee". It was one of the earliest prototypical rock-and-roll songs. Cover versions were recorded by Wynonie Harris, Lionel Hampton, Big John Greer, Johnny Burnette, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Mike Bloomfield's Electric Flag (as "Wine"). The song lent its name to the alcoholic fruit drink spodi. In 1946 Granville and Brownie McGhee wrote a version of the song that didn't use profanity. Harlem Records released the new version in January 1947. It sold for 49 cents. It did not get much airplay until two years later, when Stick re-created the song for Atlantic Records. 

                           

It was on the Billboard R&B chart for almost half a year, rising to number 2, where it stayed for four weeks. Numerous cover versions of his songs were recorded over the years. The first cover was by Lionel Hampton, featuring Sonny Parker; next was a cover by Wynonie Harris, followed by a hillbilly-bop version by Loy 

Gordon & His Pleasant Valley Boys. "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" continued to be popular throughout the 1950s in cover versions by various artists, including Malcolm Yelvington in 1954, Johnny Burnette in 1957, and Jerry Lee Lewis in 1959.

McGhee continued to make records for Atlantic and created popular songs such as "Tennessee Waltz Blues", "Drank Up All the Wine Last Night", "Venus Blues", "Let's Do It", and "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show", but his music career overall was not successful. McGhee moved from Atlantic to Essex Records, for which he recorded "My Little Rose".

During March of 1950, Sticks recorded with Sonny Terry on harmonica and Harry Van Walls on piano. For the next year McGhee was absent from the recording studio, appearing from time to time in night clubs in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. The next recording session he was on was in New York, but this time for the London Records label, as the British company was trying to tap the American R & B field. Recording as Sticks MsGhee & His Orchestra, he was joined at the session by Al King on sax, Van Walls on piano, Brownie McGhee on guitar, Tom Barney on bass, and Ernest Hayward on drums. The songs were "You Gotta Have Something On The Ball" and "Oh What A Face" released on London.

After one more smash for Atlantic, 1951's "Tennessee Waltz Blues," McGhee moved along to King Records in 1953. There he recorded a number of rock-and-roll songs, such a "Whiskey, Women and Loaded Dice", "Head Happy with Wine", "Jungle Juice", "Six to Eight", "Double Crossin' Liquor", "Dealin' from the Bottom", and "Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter".

However, he was unable to make money from his records, so he left King for Savoy Records in 1955. He retired from the music industry in 1960. In the late '50s McGhee recorded LP album tracks with Sonny Terry for the Folkways and Prestige-Bluesville labels. In 1960 he cut the songs "Sleep in Job" and "Money Fever" in New York with Sonny Terry. The tracks were released on Herald Records. This was McGhee's last recording session.

McGhee died of lung cancer in The Bronx Veteran’s Hospital , New York, on August 15, 1961, at the age of forty-three. He left his old guitar to Brownie's son before he died.

(Edited mainly from Wikipedia & AllMusic)