Happy Belated Birthday to the late Otis Spann (March 21, 1930 – April 24, 1970) American blues musician whom many consider to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist. Spanns father was reportedly a pianist called Friday Ford. His mother Josephine Erby was a guitarist who had worked with Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith. Big Maceo Merriweather mentored the young musician after his arrival in Chicago in 1946. Spann replaced Merriweather as Muddy Waters piano player in late 1952, and participated in his first recording session with the band on September 24, 1953. He continued to record as a solo artist and session man with other musicians, including Bo Diddley and Howlin Wolf during his tenure with the group. He stayed with Muddy Waters until 1968. He worked on albums with Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, Peter Green, and Fleetwood Mac during the 1960s. Spann died of liver cancer in Chicago in 1970 at the age of 40. He was buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois. Spanns grave laid unmarked for almost thirty years, until Steve Salter wrote a letter to Blues Revue magazine to say This piano great is lying in an unmarked grave. Lets do something about this deplorable situation. Blues enthusiasts from around the world sent donations to purchase Spann a headstone. On June 6, 1999 the marker was unveiled during a private ceremony. The stone reads Otis played the deepest blues we ever heard - Hell play forever in our hearts. He was posthumously elected to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 17:55:02 +0000