Died On This Date (March 8, 2009) Willie King / Contemporary Blues Musician

Willie King
March 18, 1943 – March 8, 2009

Willie King was a contemporary Mississippi blues musician who reluctantly began his career in music late in life.  Prior to that, he worked as a sharecropper, moonshiner and traveling salesman.  It wasn’t until the Civil Rights movement that he began writing topical blues songs.  And it wasn’t until 1999 that he started making records.  He ultimately released six albums and was profiled in Martin Scorsese’s The Blues: Feels Like Going Home documentary.  Willie King suffered a fatal heart attack on March 8, 2009.  He was 65 years old.

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