Grenada Blues Historical Marker

Walter Davis (1911-1963)

A talented songwriter, pianist, and singer, Walter Davis was one of the most famous blues artists between the 1930s and early 1950s. Born on March 1, 1911, here in Grenada, Davis ran away to St. Louis when he was 13. By then he had taught himself how to play the piano and when he arrived in St. Louis he started to play with local artists, including Roosevelt Sykes. Eventually, he made a name for himself in the St. Louis music scene. His most well-known song was "Sunnyland Blues," which earned him acclaim across the country and became a blues standard. In his career, Davis recorded around 150 pieces of music. The majority were duets but some were also in session work. He also played in St. Louis bars, often performing solo piano. Unfortunately, Davis's music career came to an end in 1952 when he had a stroke. He became a preacher and died on October 22, 1963. Davis was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2005. Some of his songs were recorded by other artists including Ray Charles, who covered the song "Come Back Baby" in 1955.

Samuel "Magic Sam" Maghett (1937-1969)

Samuel "Magic Sam" Maghett was also from Grenada. Born on February 14, 1937, Magic Sam moved to Chicago in 1950, where he became a leading guitar player, singer, on the city's west side. In 1957, he pioneered a new guitar fingerpicking style on a debut single titled "All Your Love." In the coming years, Sam continued to play gigs. In the late 1960s, he recorded singles and albums that solidified his stature in the blues genre. These include the single "Out of Luck" and the albums "West Side Soul" and "Black Magic." Tragically, Sam died of a heart attack on December 1, 1969, just as his career was beginning to really take off.

Morris "Magic Slim" Holt (1937-2013)

Morris "Magic Slim" Holt was born on August 7, 1937, in the town of Torrence but grew up in Grenada, where he became friends with Magic Sam. He learned to play the piano when he was young but took up guitar after he lost a finger on his right hand in a cotton gin accident. Slim moved to Chicago in the mid-1950s and played bass for Sam, who gave Slim his nickname. However, Slim soon returned to Mississippi to work on his skills; there were other guitarists who were better than him. Ten years later, Slim returned to Chicago and formed the band "Teardrops" with his brothers Nick and Douglass. After recording singles in the late 1960s and 1970s, Slim recorded his first album in 1977, "Born Under a Bad Sign," under a French label. He and the Teardrops recorded several albums in the coming decades. They also toured in America and in Europe, bringing their Chicago sound with them. Slim moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1994 where he performed and recorded in a bar called the Zoo Bar. In his later years, he earned a number of awards, including the W.C. Handy Awards on several occasions. He died on February 21, 2013.

Eddie Willis (1936-2018)

Born on June 3, 1936, in Grenada, Eddie Willis became a highly-respected guitar player and was a member of Motown Record's house studio band, the Funk Brothers. Willis, who taught himself how to play the guitar growing up, moved to Detroit in the early 1950s. Not long after Motown Records was founded in 1959, singer Marv Johnson, Motown's first recording star, got Willis got a job playing for the label's house band. Over the coming years, Willis and the band performed on many of Motown's big hits during the 1960s and early 1970s. These included songs by Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, and the Temptations. Willis eventually moved back to Mississippi and died on August 20, 2018. The Funk Brothers have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.

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"Holt, Morris 'Magic Slim.'" Lincoln Journal Star. February 25, 2013. https://journalstar.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/holt-morris-magic-slim/article_b0f367e8-8ae1-5adf-8dbe-34dba3b79ff5.html.

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"Magic Slim." The Historical Marker Database. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=90020.

Russell, Tony. "Magic Slim obituary." The Guardian. February 24, 2013. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/feb/24/magic-slim.

McCollum, Brian. "Motown's Eddie Willis, one of last remaining Funk Brothers, dies at 82." Detroit Free Press. August, 20, 2018. https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2018/08/20/eddie-willis-dead-funk-brothers/1044428002.

"Walter Davis." All About Blues Music. Accessed January 5, 2020. https://www.allaboutbluesmusic.com/walter-davis.

"Walter Davis." The Blues Foundation. November 10, 2016. https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/walter-davis.