Died On This Date (August 6, 1973) Memphis Minnie / Early Blues Great
themusicsover Memphis Minnie (Born Lizzie Douglas)
June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973
With a career that spanned an impressive four decades, Memphis Minnie is considered one of the most influential female blues guitarists of all time, and having started her career in the ’20s, she is definitely a blues pioneer. Minnie learned to play the guitar as a child, and by the time she was 14, she had run away from home and joined the Ringling Brothers circus. In 1929, she landed her first contract with Columbia Records who released her first hit, “Bumble Bee.” In the early ’40s, Minnie added the electic guitar to her country blues repertoire, being one of the first blues artists to do so, thus paving the way for Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Jimmy Rogers. Minnie continued to perform and record until her health started to decline in the mid-’50s, at which time she retired. She died of a stroke in a Memphis nursing home on August 6, 1973.
Otha Young was a guitarist and songwriter who worked with Juice Newton for many years. Over the course of his career, Young wrote such Newton hits as 1981’s “The Sweetest Thing (I’ve Ever Known)” The two began playing together as Dixie Peach, but by the time Newton released her first album on RCA Records in 1975, she was using her own name. As a gifted guitarist, Young played alongside Newton through most of their careers. He can be heard on most of her hit records. Otha Young died as a result of cancer at the age of 66.
Lee Hazlewood was a country singer, songwriter, musician and producer whose work with Nancy Sinatra during the ’60s are essential records of the era. Hazlewood settled in Arizona as a disc jockey after being leaving the military in the early ’50s. He soon partnered with Duane Eddy as a songwriter and producer on such hits as “Peter Gunn.” During the mid ’60s, he began working with Nancy Sinatra, writing and producing “These Boots Are Made For Walking,” and many more. Hazelwood all but retired from music during the ’70s, but his songs lived on having been covered by such unlikely artists as Megadeth, Beck, Nick Cave, Lydia Lunch and the Tubes. He died of renal cancer at the age of 78.