Arthur Crudup

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was a delta blues singer and guitarist. He wrote songs that Elvis Presley later sang.

 Life and career 
 Early life 
Crudup was born in Forest, Mississippi, and worked as a migrant worker until he and his family went back to Mississippi in 1926.

 Early career 
Crudup sang gospel music and blues music. He played in a band called the Harmonizing Four in 1939. A record producer called Lester Melrose got him work with the Bluebird label.

 Later career 
Crudup stopped recording in the 1950s. His last Chicago recording was in 1951. He also recorded in 1952–54 for a radio station called WGST in Atlanta.Groom, Bob, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Complete Recorded Works Vol.3 (11 March 1949 to 15 January 1952) DOCD-5203, Document Records, 1993. In the 1960s he started recording again with Fire Records and Delmark Records.

 Later life 
In the mid 60s, Crudup went back to working as a farmer in Virginia, where he lived with his family: his three sons and several of his own siblings.

 Death 
He died because of heart disease and diabetes. He died in the Nassawadox hospital in Northampton County, Virginia, also on the Eastern Shore in 1974.

 References 

Other websites
 Biography of Arthur Crudup 
 Biography of Arthur Crudup

Category:1905 births
Category:1974 deaths
Category:Blues guitarists
Category:Singers from Mississippi
Category:American guitarists
Category:Musicians from Mississippi