Lonnie Johnson

Pioneering blues and jazz singer, guitarist, banjoist, violinist and pianist. Known for being the first to record in a single-note soloing guitar style with string bending and vibrato.
Born February 08, 1899 in New Orleans, LA, died June 16, 1970 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
His musical influence includes Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, T-Bone Walker, Django Reinhardt and many, many more.
He started playing in cafes in New Orleans and in 1917 he traveled in Europe, playing in revues and briefly with Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra. When he returned home to New Orleans in 1918 he discovered that his entire family had been killed by the Spanish flu epidemic except for one brother. He and his surviving brother, James "Steady Roll" Johnson (opens in a new tab), moved to St. Louis in 1920 where Lonnie played with Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs and with in their Mississippi riverboat bands. In 1925 Johnson married blues singer Mary Johnson and won a blues contest sponsored by the Okeh record company. Part of the prize was a recording deal with the company. Throughout the rest of the 1920s he recorded with a variety of bands and musicians, including Eddie Lang, Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five and the Duke Ellington And His Orchestra. In the 1930s Johnson moved to Cleveland, Ohio and worked with the Putney Dandridge And His Orchestra, and then in a tire factory and steel mill. In 1937 he moved back to Chicago and played with Johnny Dodds and Jimmie Noone. Johnson continued to play for the rest of his life, but was often forced to leave the music business for periods to make a living. In 1963 he once again appeared briefly with Duke Ellington. In March 1969 he was hit by a car while walking on a sidewalk in Toronto. He was seriously injured, suffering a broken hip and kidney injuries, from which he never fully recovered. Johnson died in 1970 "virtually broke".