Harris, Wynonie (“Mr. Blues”)
Harris, Wynonie (“Mr. Blues”)
Harris, Wynonie (“Mr. Blues”), singer, composer; b. Omaha, Nebr., Aug. 24, 1915; d. Oakland, Calif., June 14, 1969. He started his professional life as a buck-and-wing dancer, doubling on drums. He worked under various names: “Peppermint Cane,” “Mississippi Mockingbird,” etc. He settled in L.A. during the early 1940s, and worked with Lucky Millinder and Lionel Hampton. During the mid-1940s he began making a series of highly successful R&B singles, which gained him international fame. Among his hits were “Bloodshot Eyes” and “Good Rockin’ Tonight.” Despite this he worked mostly in Calif., occasionally visiting the East Coast. On his last tour, in 1967, he appeared at the Apollo in Harlem. He died of lung cancer in 1969. His son, Wesley Devereaux, is also a blues vocalist.
—John Chilton,Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter