WILLIE RICHARDSON OBITUARY

Respected elder statesman of the St. Louis blues community, Willie Richardson, passed away on April 28, 2006, at the age of 70 years from pancreatic cancer.  Willie was in the process of getting a band together and appearing on the local scene.  He performed a "shock and awe" concert at the Village Hall in Castor, England on December 3, 2005, backed up by the Blues Crusaders of Club Shake-Down fame.  Willie's unique style of blues guitar will live on in his recordings.  Willie is sorely missed by those who knew and loved him, but his spirit lives on in his music.

Willie about 18 yrs old

Willie was raised on a plantation in Omaha, GA. He grew up listening to the music of Hank Williams, Faron Young, Roy Acuff, and a host of others on the Grand Ole Opry because that is the only kind of music you could get on the radio in that part of the country. He jokingly said he always thought that those people and the music were inside the radio, and in order to get to them he ruined several radios by taking them apart. "Oh boy, did my behind get it good!"

He wanted a guitar from the Sears catalog, but being in a family of 7 and no dad, his mother couldn't afford it. So he came up with the idea of making his own on the side of a house. It took two nails, a piece of wire and two coke bottles. A third bottle was used to slide on the wire to create musical notes while plunking it with his finger.

Every evening when the people came in from the fields, they gathered around to listen to the music. Since the whole house was an acoustic, they could hear it all around, in or out. No matter whose house it was, he always made a guitar so everyone could enjoy his music."

Willie at the Tic Toc Lounge

Willie came to St. Louis from Georgia in 1955 after having played with the gospel group, the Blind Boys of Alabama. Because he was underage and could not get into the clubs, he just hung around on the outside and listened to the music. One particular night, Big George Brock, blues musician and the owner of the Club Caravan, needed a guitar player because his regular guitar player didn't show up, so Big George slipped Willie in through the back door and onto the stage and the rest is history.

Willie with Ricky Allen

Willie also played with Robert Doll for a short while. Willie hooked up with Billy Gayles after Billy left Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm. They played in the Moonlight Inn at Goode & Easton for about three years and then they went on the road on the East Coast and ended up in Chicago where Willie played shows with Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters, to name a few. Willie came back to St. Louis and started his own band and played at the Tic Toc Club on Vandeventer and Olive for about four years. Dave Dixon used Willie and his band for "Dave Dixon's Talent Show". Willie also played at the Red Top Bar (The Wonder Bar) in East St. Louis, IL. Valmore Wolford played bass at the Tic Toc (Sam Stalling played bass at the Red Top), Benny Sinclair on drums and Roy Akin and Dave Harris blew horns, and Charles Drain was the singer. (Unknown to most, Sam Stalling was one of the best bass players in this area.)

Willie & Lucille

Although not performing regularly now, Willie has recorded several CD's on his label, Tee Ti Records, and has a recording studio, Blue Lady Enterprises. Presently he is recording several local musicians, such as Big George Brock, Eugene Fluker, Johnny Jones, and many more.

Willie would like to thank Bennie Smith and Johnny "The Twist" Williams for taking him under their wings in helping him with licks on the guitar in the blues field.