Veteran bluesman Jimmy McCracklin was born on 13 August 1921 in St Louis. He learned to play piano by watching the barrelhouse pianist Walter Davis, a friend of his father. After being drafted into the Navy during World War II he ended up in the Bay area of San Francisco and made his first record ‘Miss Mattie Left Me’ for the Globe label in 1945. He continued recording for Swingtime and Modern Records during the 1940s, moving briefly to Peacock in the early 1950s before returning to Modern with his great band the Blues Blasters, featuring Lafayette Thomas on guitar, where he cut many of his great sides.

In 1958, while playing a club date in Chicago, he recorded his own song ‘The Walk’ and dropped the tape off at Chess Records. On release it became a massive hit on both the R&B & Pop charts, bringing Jimmy’s name to a world wide audience following its release internationally. Although he is a prolific songwriter (he wrote ‘Tramp’ for his buddy Lowell Fulsom), Jimmy was unable to find a successful follow-up to ‘The Walk’.
He started his own Art-Tone label in 1961 and scored a #2 hit on the R&B charts with another of his own compositions, ‘I Gotta Know’. Since then Jimmy has recorded for many different labels, including Stax. Today, aged 85, he lives comfortably in an elegant town house in Richmond near San Francisco. He still tours regularly with a nine piece band and has been to Europe several times in recent years. (TC)