Big Bill Broonzy - maintained
that he was born William Lee Conley Broonzy in 1893 in Scott, Mississippi, In
any case he grew up in Arkansas. After becoming a musician, he often talked of
his early years, he moved to Chicago in 1920, where six years later he made his
recording debut as a guitar accompanist to African American blues singers.
Later he became a singer himself, and by 1940 he was recognised as one of the
best-selling blues recording artists
In 1951 Bill visited Europe and soon became popular across that
continent.
At the height of his popularity, in 1957, his vocal effectiveness
was reduced by a lung operation, and he died the following year of cancer.
Bill’s best-known songs include “I
Can’t Be Satisfied,” “Key to the Highway,” “W.P.A. Blues,” “All by Myself,”
and, perhaps most notably, “Black, Brown and White,” a protest song that
unequivocally addresses racism and Jim Crow laws. Many students of the blues
have found Bill Broonzy’s work almost as fascinating for its sociological as
for its strictly musical content. His autobiography, Big Bill
Blues, appeared in 1955. he was inducted into the Blues Hall
of Fame in 1980.