Bennie Smith

Bennie Smith (October 5, 1933, St. Louis, Missouri - September 10, 2006, St. Louis, Missouri) was an American, St. Louis blues guitarist, considered to be one of the city's patriarchs of electric blues.[1]

His sound was emblematic of a St. Louis blues music that he helped define in over half a century practicing his trade. His contributions to the genre in that city, from the early 1950s and almost until the day of his death, included mentor, performer, and recording artist.

Due to his significant contribution to blues music in St. Louis, in October 2003 he received a proclamation from mayor Francis Slay marking October 5, 2003 as 'Bennie Smith Day' in that city. The board of aldermen similarly honored Smith, recognizing him as the "Dean of St. Louis Electric Guitarists".[2] During the 2006 Big Muddy Blues Festival in St. Louis, Mayor Slay honored Bennie once again on September 2 of that year, declaring that day also be known as 'Bennie Smith Day' in St. Louis.

Bennie Smith; October 2004

Career

Smith worked as a session musician on many recordings over the years, and has three original albums to his name: The Urban Soul of Bennie Smith (Blues Highway - 1993), Shook Up (Fedora Records - 2001)), and The Bennie Smith All Star Session (2006). In a notable 1958 session, Smith was invited to contribute on what would be Tina Turner's first recording, "Boxtop". The song featured Ike Turner with 'Little Ann' on backing vocals, and Smith on guitar. In addition, he has played with such guitar players as Hubert Sumlin, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, B.B. King and Grant Green.

Discography

Albums

In addition to his featured albums, Smith provided lead and rhythm guitar on a number of released singles and albums. These included:

Sessions - singles

Sessions - albums

Style

Smith named Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Matt "Guitar" Murphy as his two greatest influences on the guitar.

Death

As a complication to lung cancer, Smith suffered a heart attack at his home on September 9, 2006. He died on September 10, 2006.

References

  1. ↑ "Big Muddy Blues". Bigmuddyblues.com. Archived from the original on 2009-03-07. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
  2. ↑ Archived September 1, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.
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