Magic Sam

Samuel "Magic Sam" Gene Maghett (February 14, 1937 – December 1, 1969) was an

American Chicago blues musician. Maghett was born in Grenada, Mississippi and learned

to play the blues from listening to records by Muddy Waters and Little Walter. After

moving to Chicago at the age of nineteen, he was signed by Cobra Records and became

well known as a bluesman after his first record, "All Your Love" in 1957. He was known

for his distinctive tremolo-guitar playing.

Life and career

 After moving to Chicago in 1956, his guitar playing earned bookings at blues clubs on the

West Side. Sam recorded for Cobra Records from 1957 to 1959, recording singles

including "All Your Love" and "Easy Baby". They did not appear on the record charts, yet

they had a profound influence, far beyond Chicago's guitarists and singers. Together with

recordings by Otis Rush and Buddy Guy (also Cobra artists), they made a manifesto for a

new kind of blues. Around this time Sam also worked briefly with Homesick James

Williamson. Sam gained a following before being drafted into the U.S. Army. He served

six months in prison for desertion and received a dishonorable discharge.

In 1963, he gained national attention for his single "Feelin' Good (We're Gonna Boogie)". After successfully touring the U.S., Britain and Germany,

he was signed to Delmark Records in 1967 where he recorded West Side Souland Black Magic. He also continued performing live and toured with

blues harp player Charlie Musselwhite and Sam Lay.

Sam's breakthrough performance was at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969,[4] which won him many bookings in the U.S. and Europe. His life

and career was cut short when he suddenly died of a heart attack in December 1969. He was 32 years old. He is buried in the Restvale Cemetery in

Alsip, Illinois. In February 1970, the Butterfield Blues Band played at a benefit concert for Magic Sam, at Fillmore West in San Francisco. Also on

the bill were Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite and Nick Gravenites.

His guitar style, vocals, and songwriting ability have inspired and influenced many blues musicians ever since. In The Blues Brothers, Jake Blues

dedicates the band's performance of "Sweet Home Chicago" to the "late, great Magic Sam".

The stage name Magic Sam was devised by Sam's bass player and childhood friend Mack Thompson at Sam's first recording session for Cobra as an

approximation of "Maghett Sam". The name Sam was using at the time, Good Rocking Sam, was already being used by another artist.

"Magic Sam had a different guitar sound," said his record producer, Willie Dixon. "Most of the guys were playing the straight 12-bar blues thing, but

the harmonies that he carried with the chords was a different thing altogether. This tune "All Your Love", he expressed with such an inspirational

feeling with his high voice. You could always tell him, even from his introduction to the music."