“and when he played back the first song I sounded just like anybody”
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Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues".
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entertainment · American blues/foundational rock and roll musician (1913–1983) · guitarist · singer · singer-songwriter · street artist · composer · blues musician · musician · also Muddy Waters, McKinley Morganfield, Waters
Born 4 April 1913 · Died 30 April 1983 · Q220707
137 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 5 entries
Ubisoft: Skull and Bones: Y3S2 Crimson Waters Gameplay Trailer
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SURFER Magazine: Pristine Waters, Timeless Style, and Canada’s Coolest Surf Contest
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Risk & Insurance: AXA XL Names Matt Waters Head of Large Commercial and Specialty
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The Guardian: University spinout to launch water quality app for UK and US waters
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2023· 1 entry
Rolling Stone ranked him at number 72 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time
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2021· 1 entry
As Muddy Waters: The Montreux Years
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2018· 1 entry
And, as of 2023, the disputed arrangement remained unchanged
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2017· 2 entries
His youngest son, Joseph "Mojo" Morganfield, began publicly performing the blues, and played occasionally with his brothers; he died in 2020 at the age of 56
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A ten-stories mural commissioned as a part of the Chicago Blues Festival and designed by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra was painted on the side of the building at 17 North State Street, at the corner of State and Washing
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2010· 1 entry
His heirs were petitioning the courts to appoint Mercy Morganfield, his daughter, as administrator who would then control the assets of his estate which were mainly copyrights to his music
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2008· 2 entries
Released album “Live the Life”.
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The Mississippi Blues Commission marked the site of his cabin with a marker as part of the Mississippi Blues Trail in Clarksdale, Mississippi
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2003· 2 entries
Rolling Stone magazine placed it at number 280 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
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Rolling Stone included The Anthology: 1947-1972 on its list of greatest albums
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1997· 2 entries
Released album “His Best, 1956 to 1964”.
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Released album “His Best, 1947 to 1955”.
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1996· 8 entries
Released album “Hoochie Coochie Man”.
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Released album “Rollin' and Tumblin'”.
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Released album “Muddy Waters at Newport / Muddy Waters Live”.
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Released album “The Collection”.
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Released album “Two Great Guitars / The Super Super Blues Band”.
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Released album “Mississippi Rolling Stone”.
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Released album “Blues Legend”.
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Released album “Mannish Boy”.
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1995· 6 entries
Released album “Baby Please Don't Go (Real Blues)”.
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Released album “The Blues”.
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Released album “Chicago Blues Masters, Volume 1”.
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Released album “The Very Best Of”.
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Released album “Electric Mud & More”.
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Released album “The Original Rollin’ Stone”.
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1994· 5 entries
Released album “My Home Is in the Delta”.
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Released album “One More Mile: Chess Collectibles, Volume 1”.
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Released album “The Very Best of Muddy Waters: The Millenium Edition”.
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Released album “John Lee Hooker / Muddy Waters”.
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Released album “Double Goldies”.
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1993· 7 entries
Released album “Got My Mojo Working”.
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Released album “The Complete Plantation Recordings”.
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Released album “Charly Blues Masterworks, Volume 39: Funky Butt”.
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Released album “Anthology”.
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Paul Rodgers released the album Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters, on which he covered a number of his songs, including "Louisiana Blues", "Rollin' Stone", "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I'm Ready" in collaboratio
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Released album “28 Great Blues Songs”.
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Released album “The Great Muddy Waters”.
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1992· 9 entries
Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1992).
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Released album “Baby Please Don't Go”.
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Released album “Library of Congress Recordings (1941-1942)/Early Commercial Recordings (1946-1950)”.
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Released album “Blues Sky”.
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Released album “The Muddy Waters Gold Collection”.
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Released album “Down South Blues”.
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Released album “Charly Blues Masterworks, Volume 10: Rock Me”.
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Released album “Charly Blues Masterworks, Volume 15: Live Action!”.
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Released album “The Complete Muddy Waters, 1947–1967”.
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1991· 3 entries
Released album “Rare and Unissued”.
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Released album “Anthology: The Finest Recordings”.
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Released album “The Essential Recordings”.
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1990· 6 entries
Released album “Chicago-London”.
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Released album “The Father of Chicago Blues”.
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Released album “Rollin' & Tumblin'”.
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Released album “Blues Anthology”.
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Released album “Muddy Waters”.
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Released album “They Call Me Muddy Waters”.
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1989· 6 entries
Released album “The Chess Box”.
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Released album “Trouble No More: Singles (1955–1959)”.
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Released album “"Baby Please Don't Go"”.
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Released album “The Muddy Waters Collection”.
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Released album “Rollin' Stone”.
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Released album “The Muddy Waters Story”.
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1988· 4 entries
Released album “More Real Folk Blues”.
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"Mannish Boy" was also used in a Levi's 501 commercial and re-released in Europe as a single with "Hoochie Coochie Man" on the flip side
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Released album “They Call Me Muddy Waters: 16 Blues Classics”.
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Released album “Masters of the Blues: The Best of Muddy Waters”.
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1987· 2 entries
Awarded Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987).
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Released album “The Muddy Waters Collection: 20 Blues Greats”.
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1986· 1 entry
Released album “Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy / Folk Singer”.
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1985· 1 entry
Released album “Muddy Waters (The Chess Box)”.
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1984· 3 entries
Released album “The Original Hoochie Coochie Man”.
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Released album “Muddy Waters on CHESS, Vol. 2: “1951–1959””.
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Released album “Muddy Waters on CHESS, Vol. 1: “1948–1951””.
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1983· 4 entries
Died 1983-04-30.
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From heart failure and cancer-related complications, aged 70
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Released album “Rolling Stone”.
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Released album “In Memoriam”.
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1982· 3 entries
Released album “Blues Roots, Volume 11: I'm a Country Boy”.
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Released album “Muddy & The Wolf”.
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Cut way back on performing due to declining health
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1981· 3 entries
Released album “King Bee”.
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ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons went to visit the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale with The Blues magazine founder, Jim O'Neal
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Was invited to perform at Chicago Fest, the city's top outdoor music festival
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1978· 2 entries
Released album “I’m Ready”.
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“They say my blues is the hardest blues in the world to play.”
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1977· 2 entries
Released album “Hard Again”.
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Met Marva Jean Brooks, whom he nicknamed "Sunshine", at a Florida hotel; Eric Clapton served as best man at their wedding in 1979
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1975· 2 entries
Released album “The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album”.
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With a new band, guitarist Bob Margolin; pianist Pinetop Perkins and Paul Butterfield on harmonica with Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of the Band on drums, organ, accordion and saxophone
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1974· 3 entries
His backing musicians in Montreux included Buddy Guy, Pinetop Perkins, Junior Wells, and Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman
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Released album “London Revisited”.
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Released album ““Unk” in Funk”.
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1973· 1 entry
Released album “Can’t Get No Grindin’”.
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1972· 3 entries
Won his first Grammy Award, for Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording for They Call Me Muddy Waters, a 1971 album of old but previously unreleased recordings
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Flew to England to record the album The London Muddy Waters Sessions
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Released album “The London Muddy Waters Sessions”.
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1971· 4 entries
Released album “McKinley Morganfield A.K.A. Muddy Waters”.
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Chess recorded a show at Mister Kelly's, an upscale Chicago nightclub
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Released album “Back in the Early Days, Volumes 1 and 2”.
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Released album “We Three Kings”.
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1970· 1 entry
Released album “Chicago Bound”.
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1969· 3 entries
Released album “Fathers and Sons”.
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Released album “After the Rain”.
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Recorded and released the album Fathers and Sons, where he returned to his classic Chicago sound
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1968· 2 entries
Released album “Electric Mud”.
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At the insistence of Marshall Chess, he recorded Electric Mud, an album intended to revive his career by backing him with Rotary Connection, a psychedelic soul band that Chess had put together
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1967· 3 entries
Released album “Super Blues”.
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Re-recorded several blues standards with Bo Diddley, Little Walter, and Howlin' Wolf, which were marketed as Super Blues and The Super Super Blues Band albums in Chess' attempt to reach a rock audience
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Released album “The Super Super Blues Band”.
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1966· 3 entries
Released album “Down on Stovall’s Plantation”.
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Released album “Muddy, Brass and the Blues”.
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Released album “The Real Folk Blues”.
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1964· 1 entry
Released album “Folk Singer”.
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1960· 2 entries
Released album “Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy”.
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Was recorded and released as his first live album, At Newport 1960
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1958· 4 entries
Released album “The Best of Muddy Waters”.
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Traveled to England, laying the foundations of the resurgence of interest in the blues there
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Chess released his first compilation album, The Best of Muddy Waters, which collected twelve of his singles up to 1956
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Where they were backed by local Dixieland-style or "trad jazz" musicians, including Chris Barber and members of his band
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1955· 2 entries
Jimmy Rogers left to work exclusively with his own band which had been a sideline until that time
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And "Trouble No More", "Forty Days and Forty Nights", and "Don't Go No Farther" in 1956
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1954· 1 entry
Howlin' Wolf moved to Chicago with money that he earned through the success of the singles he recorded at Sun Records which Chess released, and the legendary rivalry with Muddy began
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1952· 1 entry
Little Walter left when his single "Juke" became a hit, although he continued working with Muddy long after he left the band, appearing on most of Muddy's classic recordings in the 1950s
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1948· 1 entry
"I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home" became hits, and his popularity in clubs began to take off
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1947· 1 entry
Played guitar with Sunnyland Slim on piano on the cuts "Gypsy Woman" and "Little Anna Mae"
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1946· 2 entries
Recorded his first records for Columbia Records and then for Aristocrat Records, a newly formed label run by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess
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Recorded some songs for Mayo Williams at Columbia Records, with an old-fashioned combo consisting of clarinet, saxophone and piano; they were released a year later with Ivan Ballen's Philadelphia-based 20th Century la
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1944· 1 entry
Bought his first electric guitar and then formed his first electric combo
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1943· 2 entries
Headed to Chicago with the hope of becoming a full-time professional musician
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Moved to Chicago to become a full-time professional musician
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1915· 1 entry
At Rolling Fork in Sharkey County, Mississippi, but other evidence suggests that he was born in the unincorporated community of Jug's Corner, in neighboring Issaquena County, in 1913
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1913· 1 entry
Born 1913-04-04.
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