From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Apr 30, 2002  2:11 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Frankie Lee Sims
 
FRANKIE LEE SIMS

Born 30 April 1917, New Orleans, Louisiana
Died 10 May 1970, Dallas, Texas

Despite his birthplace, Sims' music is very much in the blues vein of Texas,
where he moved in childhood. He learned the guitar at an early age, playing
around Texas with T-Bone Walker and Smokey Hogg. He first recorded for
the Blue Bonnet label of Texas, in 1947. On these early records, Sims played
a traditional fingerstyle guitar, but later developed an electric style of his
own,
riffing behind the vocals, filling the breaks with exciting, often distorted
flashes
of lead. His best known song was "Lucy Mae", which he recorded several times,
most successfully with Specialty in 1953. Later recordings on Ace and Vin
developed his rocking style still further with a small band, but they marked
the end of his brief period of success. A New York session in 1960 remained
unissued until well after his death.

CD : Lucy Mae Blues (Ace 423). 1953-1954 recordings.
The Westside CD "4th and Beale and Further South" (WESM 554) includes
nine of his Ace recordings.