Tommy Bankhead
Blues Obits By: Greg Johnson
Article Reprint from the February 2001 BluesNotes
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Tommy BankheadBlues Obits By: Greg Johnson Article Reprint from the February 2001 BluesNotes |
One of the saddest tasks of being a source for Blues information lies in the role of reporting on those who have passed on. Many performers have touched our lives throughout the years, but alas, nobody is immortal and everybody's time eventually must come to an end. It is with a heavy heart that we relay the news of the deaths of three more much-beloved musicians who have left us for the hereafter.
Tommy Bankhead was a key member of the St. Louis Blues community for more than 50 years.
Born in Lake Comorant, Mississippi in 1931, Bankhead was a cousin of
Elmore James. Early in his professional career, he worked alongside the likes of
Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf and Bobby Bland on the streets of Memphis before moving to St. Louis in 1949.
Known primarily as a guitarist, he was also adept at the harmonica, drums and bass. Although he did not record much during his lifetime, Bankhead played with virtually everybody of recognition in the St. Louis Blues community, including Ike Turner, Oliver Sain, Albert King, Little Milton and Henry Townsend. Besides his role as a Bluesman, Bankhead also earned a living as a security guard and a sheriff's deputy. On December 16th, Tommy Bankhead died of complications stemming from emphysema. He was 69.
© 2001 Cascade Blues Association