Willie Dixon

Eli Flinn

     Willie Dixon was born on July 1st, 1915 to his mother Daisy. His mother rhymed whenever speaking and soon passed this trait onto her son. By seven, Dixon was an avid fan of the pianist Litte Borther Montgomery, however he was first introduced to blues when he served time in prison. A local carpenter taught him how to sing harmony. Soon he was singing bass in a group called the Jubilee Singers, a gospel group.

     Willie moved to Chicago in 1936 and took up boxing and won the Golden Gloves Heavy Weight championship in '37. However when his boxing career didn't seem too promising, he was convinced to take a stab at music, so he formed Five Breezes. However, his career was halted briefly when he avidly protested the draft and was jailed for 10 months. One out he formed Four Jumps of Jive and recorded with Columbia records.

     Once signed to Chess records, Willoe began performing less and became more and moreinvolved in management. In 1951 he was working full time working as a talent scout, producer and session musician. Between the late 1950s and 1970s Dixon did work with Checkers Records, ( subsidiary of chess Records), Corbra REcords, Bluesville Records and then finally created his own label, Yambo Records.

  Towards the later 60s, Dixon was doing less and less songwriting and production and more organizing. He began orginizing Chicagio based blues legends to go do work in Europe.

     Willie Dixon dies on January 29th in 1992 on heart failure. He is buried in Burr Oak cemetary Alsip, Illinois and was post humously admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.