Leroy Carr was born March 27, 1905 in Nashville, Tennessee he was a self-taught piano player, a blues singer, songwriter and pianist who style was a laid-back, crooning technique. Music historian Elijah Wald has called him ‘The most influential male blues singer and songwriter of the first half of the 20th century’ He first became famous for ‘How Long, How Long Blues’, his debut recording released in 1928. Leroy had a long time partnership with Scrapper Blackwell. His light bluesy piano combined with Blackwell's melodic jazz guitar attracted a sophisticated black audience. The two recorded at the beginning in the 1920s. His music has been described as ‘Carefully written, blending soulful poetry with wry humour, his music had a light, lilting swing that could shift in a moment to a driving boogie. It’s so sad that Leroy had a severe alcohol addiction. His last recording session was held in Chicago on February 25, 1935, during which the known to be temperamental Scrapper stormed out before the session was finished leaving Leroy to record his final song, ‘Six cold feet in the ground’, alone.