Legendary blues piano player Willie “Pinetop” Perkins passed away on March 21 in Austin Texas. He was 97 years old. Perkins, who gave himself the “Pinetop” nickname after one of his favorite performers Pinetop Smith, was born in Belzoni, Mississippi in 1913. He grew up in the cottonfields of the Mississippi Delta. He originally wanted to be a guitar player, but an altercation where a woman stabbed him in the arm with a knife forced him to switch to piano. He had little formal education and no formal training in music or piano.

A true bluesman, he spent many years as a sideman traveling widely, and performing with artists such as Ike Turner, Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Nighthawk. He began working with Muddy Waters in 1969, and went on to release his first recording under his own name in 1976 (Boogie Woogie King). Beginning in 1992, he released 15 albums in 15 years.

In 2005, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. He received a Grammy in 2007 for Best Traditional Blues Album for Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas. In 2010, he became the oldest recipient of a Grammy (at 97, he beat 95-year-old George Burns by two years) for Best Traditional Blues Album for Joined at the Hip: Pinetop Perkins & Willie “Big Eyes” Smith.

Perkins continued performing until he passed, playing regular gigs in Austin, and with more than 20 appearances booked in 2011.

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Blues Legend Pinetop Perkins Passes

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