Walter Davis

Walter Davis (March 1, 1912 – October 22, 1963) was an African American blues singer and pianist. Davis had a rich singing voice that was as expressive as the best of the Delta blues vocalists. His best-known recording, a version of the train blues standard "Sunnyland Blues", which he released in 1931, is more notable for the warmth and poignancy of his singing than for his piano playing. Two more of his best known songs were "Ashes In My Whiskey" and "Blue Blues". He was also billed as 'Hooker Joe'. Davis was born on a farm in Grenada, Mississippi, United States, and ran away from home at about 13 years of age, landing in St. Louis, Missouri. During the period from the late 1920s through the early 1950s he played club dates in the South and the lower Midwest, often with guitarist Henry Townsend and fellow pianist Peetie Wheatstraw, and recorded prolifically. Roosevelt Sykes accompanied him on his first records (1930–33); thereafter he had the ability or confidence to play for himself. He was among the most productive and popular recording artists in blues, cutting about 180 sides between 1930 and 1952, several of which ("M&O Blues", "Angel Child" and "Come Back Baby") have been taken up by other singers. Davis appears to have stopped performing professionally around 1953. Suffering from health problems, primarily a stroke, he settled in St. Louis, Missouri, supporting himself as a night clerk at a hotel and as a preacher.[5] He died in St. Louis in 1963, aged 51. He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2005.