Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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GUITAR SLIM

(b Eddie Jones, 10 Dec. '26, Greenwood MS; d 7 Feb. '59, NYC) Blues singer, guitarist. Best-known of several bluesmen who used the name; 'The Things That I Used To Do' was no. 1 R&B hit '54 on Specialty: arr. by Ray Charles who also played piano, it remained a classic blues track. He sang with conviction and was an influential pioneer on electric guitar, with a gritty tone and a flamboyant stage act, one of the first to move around the stage using a long lead on the instrument. Died of pneumonia. His son Rodney Armstrong works as Guitar Slim Jr; albums incl. The Story Of My Life '87 on Orleans, which was badly produced; by the time Nothing Nice on Warehouse Creek was released mid-'90s he had become quite a good soul singer.