Eddie Kirkland
August 16, 1923 – February 27, 2011
Eddie Kirkland was a Jamaican born, American raised blues singer and musician who, thanks to his nearly non-stop touring life was dubbed “The Gypsy Of The Blues.” Kirkland was still a young teen when he ran away from home hidden in the truck of a traveling medicine show. When the show ultimately packed it in, he went back to school and then joined the army. Following his discharge after WWII, he moved to Detroit and met up with John Lee Hooker. He went on to work with Hooker, often providing the second guitar on his records and serving as an occasional road manager. He left to pursue a solo career in 1962. Throughout the years, Kirkland also performed with the likes of Otis Redding, Muddy Waters and Foghat, and made several records for such labels as King, Volt and Fortune Records. He continued to record and tour well in to the 2000s. On February 27, 2011, Eddie Kirkland was killed when the car which he was driving on a Florida highway was reportedly struck by a bus. He was 87.