Why is muddy waters famous

Between Hard Again and The Last Waltz , Waters enjoyed a major career boost, and he found himself touring again for large and enthusiastic crowds, sharing stages with the likes of Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones , and cutting two more well-received albums with Winter as producer, 's I'm Ready and 's King Bee , as well as a solid concert set, Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live.

Waters ' health began to fail him in , and his final live appearance came in the fall of that year, when he sang a few songs at an Eric Clapton show in Florida.

Waters died quietly of heart failure at his home in Westmont, Illinois on April 30, Since then, both Chicago and Westmont have named streets in Muddy 's honor, he's appeared on a postage stamp, a marker commemorates the site of his childhood home in Clarksdale, and he appeared as a character in the film Cadillac Records, played by Jeffrey Wright. AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully.

Blues Classical Country. Electronic Folk International. Jazz Latin New Age. Aggressive Bittersweet Druggy. Energetic Happy Hypnotic. Romantic Sad Sentimental. Sexy Trippy All Moods. His big break came when Alan Lomax came to Stovall, Mississippi, looking for various blues musicians to record for the Library of Congress.

Waters was so excited after his very first recording was made that he played his own copy of the record in the jukebox over and over again. He had a hard time comprehending that it was actually he himself doing that singing.

A year later, Lomax returned and Waters did another recording for him LaBlanc Two years later, Waters left the Mississippi Delta and headed north to Chicago with a dream of becoming a full-time professional. He started off by driving a truck and working in a factory during the day and playing clubs at night. Big Bill Broonzy helped open the doors for Waters in Chicago by getting him gigs in nightclubs. It changed everything. What he had was inimitable. Everyone I know who can play the blues well can play in the Elmore James style or in the B.

King style. But I never heard anyone who even attempted to play like Muddy Waters. It was just the deepest. Muddy knew that he was secure. He was always very paternal to anyone he thought was any good. He always kept an eye on me and put me in my place if he thought I was slipping in the wrong direction or not really paying attention.

And not to get led astray by the ways of the world and by temptation, commercialism and success. And that blues music was a very long-lasting and ongoing thing. He never put it into words; it was something I realized by his example. I used to try to milk him about the old days. I spoke to him about two and a half months ago. His wife Marva said that he had had a little bit of a turn but that he was all right. Then he came on the phone and said he was feeling fine and not to worry, and was I being a good boy and such.

He sounded great. I felt so much love for him. I felt like he was my father and I was his adopted son. It was honor bound. But I was in love with Muddy before I ever met him. His records will always be there. Marshall Chess My first really vivid memory of Muddy was probably somewhere between and I was about seven or eight years old, and my father, Leonard, came home with him. What fascinated me about Muddy was that he had on this bright green suit and shoes made out of pinto-pony skin.

He carried himself in a very regal kind of way. A real leader. I can actually close my eyes and remember that. I guess that having the women right in the studio stimulated them. Years later, when I was traveling with the Rolling Stones, I would see Mick projecting that same kind of sexuality as Muddy, and I started to put it all together. I packed up records for them in boxes. They were big blues fans.

We were all amazed, including Muddy; a whole new market had developed. Muddy Waters was inarguably one of the greatest and most influential blues musicians who ever lived.

His nickname came from his childhood habit of mud play on the plantations. Waters developed an early interest in music and started playing harmonica in his early teens. He took up guitar at the age of seventeen and honed his skills under the apprenticeship of famed bluesmen on the southern circuit. His most important mentor was Son House, who taught him about the basics of blues singing, open tunings, and slide guitar.