From: dochoch522. 
Date: Thu Aug 4, 2005  3:14 pm 
Subject: RIP Little Milton 

Bluesman 'Little' Milton Campbell dies
Thu Aug 4, 2005 11:29 AM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Blues singer, songwriter and guitarist "Little"
Milton Campbell, whose gritty vocals and songwriting recalled B.B.
King's rough-edged style, died on Thursday from a stroke, his record
company said.

The 71-year-old Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer known for
writing and recording the blues anthem "The Blues Is Alright" never
awoke from a coma following a stroke he suffered on July 27 in
Memphis, said Valarie Kashimura of The Malaco Music Group.

"We've lost a great soldier," Kashimura said.

Born to sharecropping farmers near the Mississippi Delta town of
Inverness -- his father, "Big" Milton Campbell, was a local blues
musician -- "Little" Milton picked up a guitar at age 12 and recorded
his first hit for Sam Phillips' Sun Records at age 18. It was the
same year the Memphis label recorded Elvis Presley for the first time.

Discovered by blues-rock pioneer Ike Turner, Campbell went on to
score dozens of rhythm and blues hits and was inducted into the Blues
Hall of Fame in 1988.

Though acclaimed in blues circles, Campbell never achieved the fame
of King and some other American bluesmen. Nevertheless, his nearly
constant touring took him all over the world.

After signing with Bobbin Records in East St. Louis, Illinois,
Campbell recorded "I'm a Lonely Man" and "That Will Never Do." A long
association with Chicago's Chess Records produced the 1965 hit "We're
Gonna Make It," which coincided with the civil rights movement. Other
hits included "Baby I Love You," "If Walls Could Talk," "Feel So
Bad," "Who's Cheating Who?" and "Grits Ain't Groceries."

"Annie Mae's Cafe" and "Little Bluebird" were hits he recorded with
Memphis' Stax Records, which he joined in 1971 before the label's
demise. Most recently, he recorded for The Malaco Music Group in
Jackson, Mississippi, for whom he produced albums entitled "Your Wife
is Cheating on Us" and "A Nickel and a Nail."