Theodore Roosevelt
Darby, better known as Blind Teddy Darby (March 2, 1906 –
December 1975), was an American blues singer and guitarist.
Theodore was born in Henderson, Kentucky. He moved to
St. Louis with his family when he was a child. His mother taught him
to play the guitar.
He served some time for selling moonshine. In 1926, he lost
his eyesight because of glaucoma.
It should come as no surprise that blues
musicians of the 1920s and ’30s often recorded under more than one name,
whether it was to stay one step ahead of the law, to help secure contracts with
multiple record labels or just because a name rang a chord or stuck.
Blind Teddy Darby was no
exception.
He answered to the nicknames Blind Darby, Blind Blues Darby and
Teddy Darby; But Teddy’s most amusing professional alias may be that of Blind
Squire Turner.
Teddy was a friend of the blues musician Peetie
Wheatstraw. On December 21, 1941, Peetie 's 39th birthday, Teddy was invited to
go for a drive with Peetie and two others, but Darby's wife objected, and he
declined the invitation. Peetie and his two companions were killed when their
car struck a standing freight train.
In the late 1930s, his career came to an
abrupt end when he gave up performing following the murder of Tom Webb. He renounced
anything associated with the blues and became an ordained minister at the King
Solomon Holy House of Prayer in East St Louis. He briefly relented in 1960 when
he recorded again for Pete Welding of Testament Records but the recordings from
this session were never released.
