LITTLE WILLIE LITTLEFIELD

Little Willie Littlefield (born September 16, 1931, El Campo, Texas, United States)  is an American R&B pianist and singer. By 1947, at the age of sixteen, Littlefield was already a local attraction on many of Houston's Dowling Street Clubs and was recording for local record shop proprietor Eddie Henry who ran his own label "Eddies".  Influenced by Albert Ammons, Charles Brown, and Amos Milburn  his first recording, "Little Willie’s Boogie" was a hit in Texas in 1949, and brought him to the attention of Jules Bihari, one of the Bihari brothers of Modern Records in Los Angeles, California. There, he recorded "It's Midnight", which became a national hit reaching #3 on the Billboard R&B chart. He became a major nightclub attraction and recorded with West Coast musicians such as Maxwell Davis. Don Wilkerson, Littlefield's old school buddy and the leading saxman in his band, also travelled to Los Angeles, but read more...