Little Sonny (born Aaron Willis; October 6, 1932, in Greensboro, Alabama) is an American electric blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter.
Willis was born in 1932 and raised solely by his mother. He relocated to Detroit in 1953. Little Sonny stated that his nickname was originated by his mother: "[She] called me 'Sonny boy' from the time I can remember." He had no real interest in music, he said, "But then I saw Sonny Boy Williamson II." Willis was "spellbound at the way he played. After the show I went home and practiced for hours. Every day after that I would practice until I got the sound I wanted." His daytime job was working in a used car lot.
After sitting in with Washboard Willie at the Good Times Bar one evening, Sonny was offered ten dollars a night, three nights a week by the club owner. Within six months, Sonny formed his own group. During the years that followed, he worked five shows a night in many Detroit bars and clubs, packing the rooms every weekend. He spent two years at the Bank Bar, four and a half at the Congo Lounge, five years in the Apex Bar, and two years at the Calumet Show Bar. He still took Polaroid pictures of the customers between sets and often he earned more money from the photography than from entertaining. It was a rough grind, but he managed to make a living and eventually to buy a car and a home for his wife and four children.
He often performed with John Lee Hooker, Eddie Kirkland and Baby Boy Warren. Another club stalwart, Eddie "Guitar" Burns, accompanied him on Little Sonny's debut single, "I Gotta Find My Baby" (1958), released by Duke Records. It was co-written by Little Sonny's wife, Maggie. His follow-up release, "Love Shock", was for Excello Records. He received $25 for that track. He then established his own label, Speedway Records, and sold enough copies of his next single, "The Mix Up", to pay his production costs.
Little Sonny acquired a two-track tape machine and took matters into his own hands during the early '60s, helming his tiny Speedway label.In 1966 he leased "The Creeper" and "Latin Soul" to Revilot Records. A later track, "Sonny's Bag", became his first Top 20 hit in Detroit. By late 1969, Little Sonny recorded his debut album, the predominantly instrumental New King of Blues Harmonica, which he cut in less than six hours. It was released by Enterprise, a subsidiary of Stax Records. Despite their reputation for soul music productions, Little Sonny released three albums for the label in the early 1970s. He also briefly appeared in the Stax stadium concert film, Wattstax.
Black & Blue (1971) and Hard Goin' Up (1973) followed, with Little Sonny using an Old Standby 34B harmonica. His 1973 release, Hard Goin' Up, reached the Top 50 in the Billboard R&B chart. A lean period ensued, until the British label Sequel Records issued Sonny Side Up in 1995. His accompanists included the keyboard player Rudy Robinson, a regular session musician in Detroit in the 1960s and 1970s, and the guitarist Aaron Willis, Jr., Little Sonny's son, who had both played on Hard Goin' Up over 20 years earlier.
Little Sonny performed at Black Hills State University on June 24, 2000. His last public concert was at the Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival, in Detroit on October 4, 2008, at, with Eddie "Guitar" Burns, Otis Clay and Bobby Rush.
His photograph collection, housed in the basement of his Detroit home, includes shots of John Lee Hooker, Eddie "Guitar" Burns, Eddie Kirkland, Joe Hunter, Eddie Willis, Bobby Bland, Washboard Willie, and Sonny Boy Williamson II. He has released eight albums, including three for a subsidiary of Stax Records.
Now long retired, he recently gave an interview in 2023 to the French abs online magazine. @ https://www.absmag.fr/little-sonny
(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic and Concord.com)
