Blues legend Joe Louis Walker has died aged 75.
The electric blues musician passed away late last month following a cardiac-related illness, per Rolling Stone, and was surrounded by his wife of 16 years, Robin, and two daughters, Leena and Bernice.
Walker’s extensive career, which spanned over six decades, saw the singer and guitarist work with the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Mark Knopfler, and open for icons like Muddy Waters and Thelonious Monk. In the blues scene and beyond, he was considered a “musician’s musician” by peers, with Aretha Franklin dubbing him “The Bluesman”.
Walker was born and raised in San Francisco and took to playing the guitar as a child, going on to become a Bay Area regular as he gigged throughout the boom of the late ‘60s psychedelic rock and blues movement, finding friends in Jimi Hendrix and Mike Bloomfield – who later became his roommate.
After a stint spent in jail, Walker was working odd-jobs by the mid seventies, but started playing with gospel outfit the Spiritual Corinthians. His joining them was followed by a performance at the 1985 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which became the catalyst for his return to blues.
Discussing the pivotal performance with Premier Guitar in 2023, he reflected: “I just said, ‘You know what? I’m a restless soul with music.’ Anybody listening to the 30-plus albums I’ve got, they’ll hear me doing all kinds of stuff. It was just a sign of things to come for me.”
In 2016, Walker was nominated for his first and only Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album with 2015 release ‘Everybody Wants a Piece’, and, earlier this year, revisited his 1986 debut album, ‘Cold Is The Night’.
Honours Walker earned throughout his career include an induction into the Blues Hall of Fame, being named a USA Fellow by United States Artists, and receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mississippi Valley Blues Society.
