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Born McKinley Morganfield (b. April 4, 1915, Rolling Fork, Miss., U.S.--d. April 30, 1983, Westmont, Ill.), American blues guitarist and singer who played a major role in creating the modern rhythm-and-blues style.
Waters grew up in the cotton country of Mississippi and taught himself to play harmonica as a child. He took up the guitar somewhat later and eagerly absorbed the classic delta blues styles of Robert Johnson, Son House, and others. He gradually evolved a style of his own, aggressive and less purely lyrical, and won a reputation as a worthy successor to the legendary generation of bluesmen. He was discovered and first recorded in 1941 by archivist Alan Lomax, and in 1943 he moved to Chicago, where already there were a remarkable number of great blues musicians. He formed a small group and began playing clubs and bars on the South Side and recording occasionally for a local studio. He broke with the country blues style by playing over a heavy dance rhythm, adopting the electric guitar, and adding piano and drums; he retained the moan-and-shout vocal style and lyrics that were by turns mournful, boastful, and frankly sensual. The result was the music that came to be known as urban blues in its characteristic Chicago form. From that music, of which Waters remained the foremost exponent, sprang in large part such later forms as rock and roll and soul. Waters himself was unknown to the wider audience until interest in the roots of popular music led to its discovery of him in the early 1960s. Thereafter he played locally and internationally and participated in festivals and special events in the late 1970s. |
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