View source for Willie Nix

{{short description|American drummer}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name                = Willie Nix
| image               = File:American_blues_musician_Willie_Nix.png
| alt                 =
| caption             =
| image_size          =
| landscape           =
| background          = solo_singer
| birth_name          =
| alias               = The Memphis Blues Boy
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1922|8|6}}
| birth_place         = [[Memphis, Tennessee]], U.S.
| origin              =
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1991|7|8|1922|8|6}}
| death_place         = [[Leland, Mississippi]], U.S.
| genre               = {{hlist|[[Memphis blues]]|[[Chicago blues]]|[[electric blues]]}}
| occupation          = Musician
| instrument          = {{hlist|Vocals|drums|guitar}}
| years_active        = 1940s–1970s
| label               = {{hlist|[[RPM Records (United States)|RPM]]|[[Checker Records|Checker]]|[[Sun Records|Sun]]|[[Chance Records|Chance]]|[[Sabre Records|Sabre]]}}
| website             = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
}}
'''Willie Nix''' (August 6, 1922 – July 8, 1991)<ref name="AMG">{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p109962/biography|pure_url=yes}}|title=Willie Nix: Biography|author=Eder, Bruce |publisher=[[Allmusic]].com |access-date=November 10, 2011}}</ref> was an American [[Chicago blues]] [[singing|singer]] and [[drummer]], active in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], in the 1940s and 1950s.<ref name="Music">{{cite book
| first= Paul
| last= Du Noyer
| year= 2003
| title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music
| publisher= Flame Tree Publishing
| location= Fulham, London
| isbn= 1-904041-96-5
| page= 181}}</ref>
==Biography==
Nix was born in Memphis.<ref name="AMG"/> He learned to [[tap dance]] as a child and later, as a teenager, was a dancer and comedian with the [[The Rabbit's Foot Company|Rabbit Foot Minstrels]]. This led to work in various variety shows in the 1940s, and Nix later became a part of the blues scene that grew up around [[Beale Street]] (see [[Memphis blues|Memphis Blues]]).<ref name="AMG"/> His talent for music led to performing on local radio with [[Robert Lockwood Jr.]] He joined [[Willie Love]], [[Joe Willie Wilkins]] and [[Sonny Boy Williamson II]], billed as the Four Aces, who toured the [[Deep South]]. In further Memphis radio performances in the mid-1940s, Nix played with [[B.B. King]] and with [[Joe Hill Louis]]. Later the same decade he worked with [[the Beale Streeters]]. In 1951, Nix made his first [[sound recording and reproduction|recording]], for RPM Records, in Memphis. A year later he recorded for [[Checker Records]].<ref name="AMG"/>
He recorded for [[Sun Records]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Deep Blues|author=Robert Palmer|year=1981|author-link=Robert Palmer (American writer)|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/239 239]|isbn=978-0-14-006223-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/239}}</ref> and other [[record label|label]]s in the 1950s, including the [[Chicago]]-based [[Chance Records]]<ref>Rowe, Mike (1981). ''Chicago Blues: The City and the Music.'' New York: Da Capo. p. 106. {{ISBN|978-0-306-80145-7}}.</ref> and [[Sabre Records]]. Nix wrote the songs "Nervous Wreck" and "Try Me One More Time" and reworked others, such as "[[Robert Petway|Catfish Blues]]" and [[Curtis Jones (pianist)|Curtis Jones]]'s "Lonesome Bedroom Blues." At various times he worked with [[Big Walter Horton]], [[Elmore James]], [[Johnny Shines]], [[Memphis Slim]], and [[Ike Turner]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1993-06-14-9301180645-story.html|title=The Tainted Turner|last=Hinckley|first=David|date=June 14, 1993|work=New York Daily News|via=Sun-Sentinel}}</ref><ref name="Dead">{{cite web|author=Doc Rock |url=http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1990.html |title=The Dead Rock Stars Club 1990–1991 |publisher=Thedeadrockstarsclub.com |access-date=2015-10-05}}</ref><ref name="AMG"/> In the late 1950s Nix was briefly a member of [[Willie Cobbs]]'s band.<ref name="Olsson">Olsson, Bengt (1970). ''Memphis Blues''. London: Studio Vista. p. 88. {{ISBN|9780289700334}}.</ref>
By the end of the 1950s, Nix returned to Memphis. He spent a short time in prison before 1960. Over the next twenty years he performed sporadically. As his health declined, his behaviour became more eccentric. He did not record again, although his mid-1950s work is held in high regard for his lyrical dexterity and compelling beat.<ref name="AMG"/>
Nix died in [[Leland, Mississippi]], in 1991.<ref name="AMG"/>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nix, Willie}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:Memphis blues musicians]]
[[Category:American blues singers]]
[[Category:Chicago blues musicians]]
[[Category:Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee]]
[[Category:RPM Records (United States) artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American drummers]]
[[Category:American male drummers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]