Muddy Waters

**McKinley Morganfield** (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), known professionally as **Muddy Waters**,  was an American blues musician. He is considered "the Father of Chicago blues". He is also the actual father of blues musician Big Bill Morganfield. Muddy Waters is considered to be one of the greatest bluesmen of all time, and in 2004 he was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the _100 Greatest Artists of All Time_.

## Life

Muddy Waters was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. He liked playing in a creek near his home so his sister gave him the nickname "Muddy Waters". His mother died and he grew up at his grandmothers home in Clarksdale. He learned to play the harp and played together with other musicians in juke joints and for parties. While he was working as tractor driver at the Stovall plantation he was recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. Two songs (_Country Blues/I Be's Troubled_) were put on a record for documentary reasons. The first release of these recordings was 1993 by MCA Records. (_The Complete Plantation Recordings_)

1943 Waters went, like a lot of other musicians from the Mississippi delta, north to Chicago. He worked in a papermill and played and got a reputation as musician. To be louder than the visitors of the crowded clubs he changed the acoustic guitar for an electric guitar. Until 1948 he recorded for some minor labels amongst others with Sunnyland Slim, a pianist. Sunnyland Slim took him along as he recorded for Aristocrat Records. There he had the chance to record two sides(_Gypsy Woman/Little Annie Mae_). They were not successful but he had the chance to record again. He recorded _I Can't Be Satisfied_ and _I Feel Like Going Home_, which were successful in the Chicago area. With his own band he recorded now and had success. Hits from the beginning of the 1950s were _Louisiana Blues_ (1951), _Long Distance Call_ (1951), _Still A Fool_ (1951) and_ She Moves Me_ (1952).

The 1950s were commercially and artistically successful. He became the "King of the Chicago Blues". A lot of musicians who played in his band later were stars of the blues scene themself. (Otis Spann, Little Walter, Junior Wells, Big Walter Horton, James Cotton...). Willie Dixon, who played the bass and produced for Chess Records, wrote a lot of his hits from this time.(_I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man_ (1954), _Just Make Love To Me_ (1954), _Mannish Boy_ (1955), _Trouble No More_ (1956) ) Muddy Waters  also played outside the USA. 1958 he played some concerts in Great Britain with Chris Barber. 1960 he played at the Newport Jazz Festival, the first time it was possible for a white audience to hear him.

As a recording artist the 1960s were not good. But the white audience even in Europe discovered him. A band from London was named after one of his songs. (_The Rolling Stones_). His importance for young musicians was documented in the album "Fathers and Sons" where Muddy Waters, the father, played together with his sons Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield and Donald "Duck" Dunn, all of them white. In the 1970s he tightend his reputation as live act. He played great festivals like the Montreux Jazz Festival. But also his albums were acclaimed, so the album "Hard again". This album was produced by the guitarist Johnny Winter.

On April 30, 1983 Muddy Waters died in his sleep from Heart Failure, at his home in Westmont, Illinois.

## Influence

Unlike T-Bone Walker, who also used an electric guitar, Waters  used riffs consisting of only few accords. This was model for later guitarist. A lot of his songs was covered by other great musicians. The music was used in movies (especially in longtime fan Martin Scorsese's movies, including The Color of Money, Casino and Goodfellas). Even commercials used them.

### Selected albums

Muddy Waters released about thirty albums during his career, including compilation albums.
  The following lists most of the albums released during his career and the more recent and available compilations released after his death.
|style="width:40px;"|Year|style="width:470px;"|Title|Label|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1958|_The Best of Muddy Waters_|Chess|||
|rowspan="2"|1960|_Muddy Waters sings Big Bill Broonzy_|Chess||
|_At Newport 1960_|Chess||||
|1964|_Folk Singer_|Chess|||
|rowspan="2"|1966|_The Real Folk Blues_|Chess||
|_Down on Stovall's Plantation: His First Recordings_|Testament||||
|1967|_More Real Folk Blues_|Chess|||
|1968|_Electric Mud_|Cadet Concept|||
|rowspan="3"|1969|_After the Rain_|Cadet Concept||
|_Fathers and Sons_|Chess||||
|_Sail On_|Chess||||
|rowspan="2"|1971|_They Call Me Muddy Waters_|Chess||
|_Live (at Mr. Kelley's)_|Chess||||
|1972|_The London Muddy Waters Sessions_|Chess|||
|rowspan="2"|1973|_Can't Get No Grindin_'|Chess||
|_"Unk" in Funk_|Chess||||
|1975|_The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album_|Chess|||
|1977|_Hard Again_|Blue Sky|||
|1978|_I'm Ready_|Blue Sky|||
|1979|_Muddy "Mississippi" Waters - Live_|Blue Sky|||
|1981|_King Bee_|Blue Sky|||
|1989|_The Chess Box_|MCA/Chess|||
|1993|_The Complete Plantation Recordings_|MCA/Chess|||
|1994|_One More Mile_|MCA/Chess|||
|rowspan="2"|2000|_Rollin' Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection_ (Chess Masters 1947–1952)|MCA/Chess||
|_The Lost Tapes_|Blind Pig||||
|rowspan="2"|2001|_Muddy Waters 1941–1946_|Document||
|_The Anthology (1947–1972)_|MCA/Chess||||
|2004|_Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Masters, Vol. 2: 1952–1958_|Hip-O Select/Chess|||
|2006|_The Definitive Collection_|Geffen/Chess|||
|2007|_Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down_ (Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, & James Cotton)|Epic/Legacy|||
|2009|_Authorized Bootleg: Live at the Fillmore Auditorium November 4–6, 1966_|Geffen/Chess|||

### Selected singles

Muddy Waters released approximately sixty singles (120 "sides") during his career, sixteen of which made the charts. The chart position is the highest in the Billboard Rhythm and Blues charts.
|style="width:40px;"|Year|style="width:470px;"|Title|Chart no.|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="2"|1941|"Country Blues"|—||
|"I Be's Troubled"|—||||
|rowspan="2"|1948|"(I Feel Like) Going Home"|11||
|"I Can't Be Satisfied"|—||||
|rowspan="4"|1950|"Rollin' and Tumblin'"|—||
|"Rollin' Stone"|—||||
|"Walkin' Blues"|—||||
|"Louisiana Blues"|10||||
|rowspan="3"|1951|"Long Distance Call"|8||
|"Honey Bee"|10||||
|"Still a Fool"|9||||
|rowspan="2"|1952|"She Moves Me"|10||
|"Standing Around Crying"|—||||
|rowspan="3"|1953|"Turn the Lamp Down Low (Baby Please Don't Go)"|—||
|"Blow Wind Blow"|—||||
|"Mad Love (I Want You to Love Me)"|6||||
|rowspan="3"|1954|"I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man"|3||
|"Just Make Love to Me (I Just Want to Make Love to You)"|4||||
|"I'm Ready"|4||||
|rowspan="3"|1955|"I Want to Be Loved"|—||
|"Manish Boy" aka "Mannish Boy"|5||||
|"Sugar Sweet"|11||||
|rowspan="6"|1956|"Trouble No More"|7||
|"Forty Days and Forty Nights"|7||||
|"Don't Go No Farther"|9||||
|"Just to Be with You"|—||||
|"Rock Me"|—||||
|"Got My Mojo Working"|—||||
|1957|"I Live the Life I Love (I Love the Life I Live)"|—|||
|rowspan="2"|1958|"She's Nineteen Years Old"|—||
|"Close to You"|9||||
|1959|"I Feel So Good"|—|||
|rowspan="2"|1962|"You Shook Me"|—||
|"You Need Love"|—||||
|rowspan="2"|1964|"The Same Thing"|—||
|"You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had"|—||||

### Grammy Awards

|Year|Category|Title|Genre|Label|Result|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"|**Muddy Waters Grammy Award History**|||||
|1971|Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording|_They Call Me Muddy Waters_|folk|MCA/Chess|winner|
|1972|Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording|_The London Muddy Waters Session_|folk|MCA/Chess|winner|
|1975|Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording|_The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album_|folk|MCA/Chess|winner|
|1977|Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording|_Hard Again_|folk|Blue Sky|winner|
|1978|Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording|_I'm Ready_|folk|Blue Sky|winner|
|1979|Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording|_Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live_|folk|Blue Sky|winner|

### Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed four songs of Muddy Waters of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

|Year Recorded|Title|
| --- | --- |
|1950|Rollin' Stone|
|1954|Hoochie Coochie Man|
|1955|Mannish Boy|
|1957|Got My Mojo Working|

### The Blues Foundation Awards

|Year|Category|Title|Result|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"|**Muddy Waters: Blues Music Awards**|||
|1994|Reissue Album of the Year|_The Complete Plantation Recordings_|Winner|
|1995|Reissue Album of the Year|_One More Mile _|Winner|
|2000|Traditional Blues Album of the Year|_The Lost Tapes of Muddy Waters_|Winner|
|2002|Historical Blues Album of the Year|_Fathers and Sons_|Winner|
|2006|Historical Album of the Year|_Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Recordings, Volume 2, 1952–1958_|Winner|

### Inductions

|Year Inducted|Title|
| --- | --- |
|1980|Blues Foundation Hall of Fame|
|1987|Rock and Roll Hall of Fame|
|1992|Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award|

**U.S. Postage Stamp**

|Year|Stamp|USA|Note|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1994|29 cents Commemorative stamp|U.S. Postal Service|Photo|

## Other websites

- Official Website
- Muddy Waters entry at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **name**: Muddy Waters
- **img**: Muddy Waters.jpg
- **background**: solo_singer
- **birth name**: McKinley Morganfield
- **alias**: Muddy Waters
- **birth place**: Issaquena County, Mississippi, Issaquena County, Mississippi
- **death place**: Westmont, Illinois, Westmont, Illinois
- **origin**: Chicago, Illinois
- **instrument**: Guitar
- **genre**: Chicago blues
Delta blues
Electric blues
Blues revival
- **occupation**: Singer
guitarist
bandleader
Songwriter
- **years active**: 1941 – 1983
- **label**: Testament Records, Testament
Chess Records, Chess
Aristocrat Records, Aristocrat
- **url**: [http://www.muddywaters.com/ MuddyWaters.com]