Junior Wells Overview

Wells was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Arkansas. Wells moved to Chicago in 1948 and first made his mark at age 18 playing in Muddy Waters' band. He later worked with Buddy Guy in the 1960s and recorded for... [more]

Wells was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Arkansas. Wells moved to Chicago in 1948 and first made his mark at age 18 playing in Muddy Waters' band. He later worked with Buddy Guy in the 1960s and recorded for Delmark Records. His most memorable songs are "Messin' With the Kid" and "Little by Little," and his best-known album, 1965's Hoodoo Man Blues, which evokes the smoky atmosphere of the era's Westside Chicago blues bars. Wells made an appearance in the 1998 movie Blues Brothers 2000, the sequel to The Blues Brothers. The movie was released less than a month after his death. On his passing from lymphoma in 1998, Junior Wells was interred in the Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago [show less]