Arbee Stidham
Encyclopedia
Arbee Stidham was an American blues
singer and multi-instrumentalist
, most successful in the late 1940s and 1950s.
He was born in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
, United States
, to a musical family - his father played with Jimmie Lunceford
and his uncle with the Memphis Jug Band
- and learned to play harmonica, clarinet and saxophone as a child. Before his teens he had formed his own band, the Southern Syncopators, which backed Bessie Smith
on tour in 1930-31, and played on radio and in clubs in Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee
.
In the mid-1940s he moved to Chicago and met Lester Melrose
, who signed him to RCA Victor in 1947. His biggest hit, "My Heart Belongs to You
", was recorded at his first session, and reached # 1 on the US
Billboard
R&B
chart
in June 1948.
Arbee Stidham (February 9, 1917 – April 1988) was an American blues
singer and multi-instrumentalist
, most successful in the late 1940s and 1950s.
He was born in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
, United States
, to a musical family - his father played with Jimmie Lunceford
and his uncle with the Memphis Jug Band
- and learned to play harmonica, clarinet and saxophone as a child. Before his teens he had formed his own band, the Southern Syncopators, which backed Bessie Smith
on tour in 1930-31, and played on radio and in clubs in Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee
.
In the mid-1940s he moved to Chicago and met Lester Melrose
, who signed him to RCA Victor in 1947. His biggest hit, "My Heart Belongs to You
", was recorded at his first session, and reached # 1 on the US
Billboard
R&B
chart
in June 1948.
Arbee Stidham (February 9, 1917 – April 1988) was an American blues
singer and multi-instrumentalist
, most successful in the late 1940s and 1950s.
He was born in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
, United States
, to a musical family - his father played with Jimmie Lunceford
and his uncle with the Memphis Jug Band
- and learned to play harmonica, clarinet and saxophone as a child. Before his teens he had formed his own band, the Southern Syncopators, which backed Bessie Smith
on tour in 1930-31, and played on radio and in clubs in Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee
.
In the mid-1940s he moved to Chicago and met Lester Melrose
, who signed him to RCA Victor in 1947. His biggest hit, "My Heart Belongs to You
", was recorded at his first session, and reached # 1 on the US
Billboard
R&B
chart
in June 1948. He spent the rest of his career trying to emulate its success, recording for Checker
, States
, and other independent record label
s as a jazz
-influenced blues vocalist. After a car accident made it impossible to play the saxophone
, he took up the guitar in the 1950s under the tutelage of Big Bill Broonzy
, and played it on his early 1960s recordings for Folkways
.
Stidham continued to record occasionally up to the early 1970s, and also made many music festival
and club appearances nationwide and internationally. He lectured on the blues at Cleveland State University
in the 1970s, and appeared in the film The Bluesman in 1973.
He died in April 1988 in Cook County, Illinois
, aged 71.Secondhandsongs.com
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer and multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
, most successful in the late 1940s and 1950s.
He was born in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
De Valls Bluff is a town in and the county seat of the southern district of Prairie County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 783 at the 2000 census.-Geography:De Valls Bluff is located at ....
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, to a musical family - his father played with Jimmie Lunceford
Jimmie Lunceford
James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...
and his uncle with the Memphis Jug Band
Memphis Jug Band
The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group in the late 1920s and early to mid 1930s. The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles...
- and learned to play harmonica, clarinet and saxophone as a child. Before his teens he had formed his own band, the Southern Syncopators, which backed Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
on tour in 1930-31, and played on radio and in clubs in Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
.
In the mid-1940s he moved to Chicago and met Lester Melrose
Lester Melrose
Lester Melrose was one of the first American producers of blues records.-Career:He was born Lester Franklin Melrose in Sumner, Illinois, United States, the second of six children of Frank and Mollie Melrose who owned a small farm...
, who signed him to RCA Victor in 1947. His biggest hit, "My Heart Belongs to You
My Heart Belongs to You
"My Heart Belongs to You" is a 1948 song by Arbee Stidham. The single spent six months on the US Billboard R&B chart, reaching the number one position for one week."My Heart Belongs to You" is a 1948 song by Arbee Stidham...
", was recorded at his first session, and reached # 1 on the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
in June 1948.
Arbee Stidham (February 9, 1917 – April 1988) was an American blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer and multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
, most successful in the late 1940s and 1950s.
He was born in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
De Valls Bluff is a town in and the county seat of the southern district of Prairie County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 783 at the 2000 census.-Geography:De Valls Bluff is located at ....
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, to a musical family - his father played with Jimmie Lunceford
Jimmie Lunceford
James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...
and his uncle with the Memphis Jug Band
Memphis Jug Band
The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group in the late 1920s and early to mid 1930s. The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles...
- and learned to play harmonica, clarinet and saxophone as a child. Before his teens he had formed his own band, the Southern Syncopators, which backed Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
on tour in 1930-31, and played on radio and in clubs in Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
.
In the mid-1940s he moved to Chicago and met Lester Melrose
Lester Melrose
Lester Melrose was one of the first American producers of blues records.-Career:He was born Lester Franklin Melrose in Sumner, Illinois, United States, the second of six children of Frank and Mollie Melrose who owned a small farm...
, who signed him to RCA Victor in 1947. His biggest hit, "My Heart Belongs to You
My Heart Belongs to You
"My Heart Belongs to You" is a 1948 song by Arbee Stidham. The single spent six months on the US Billboard R&B chart, reaching the number one position for one week."My Heart Belongs to You" is a 1948 song by Arbee Stidham...
", was recorded at his first session, and reached # 1 on the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
in June 1948.
Arbee Stidham (February 9, 1917 – April 1988) was an American blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer and multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
, most successful in the late 1940s and 1950s.
He was born in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
De Valls Bluff, Arkansas
De Valls Bluff is a town in and the county seat of the southern district of Prairie County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 783 at the 2000 census.-Geography:De Valls Bluff is located at ....
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, to a musical family - his father played with Jimmie Lunceford
Jimmie Lunceford
James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...
and his uncle with the Memphis Jug Band
Memphis Jug Band
The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group in the late 1920s and early to mid 1930s. The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles...
- and learned to play harmonica, clarinet and saxophone as a child. Before his teens he had formed his own band, the Southern Syncopators, which backed Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
on tour in 1930-31, and played on radio and in clubs in Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
.
In the mid-1940s he moved to Chicago and met Lester Melrose
Lester Melrose
Lester Melrose was one of the first American producers of blues records.-Career:He was born Lester Franklin Melrose in Sumner, Illinois, United States, the second of six children of Frank and Mollie Melrose who owned a small farm...
, who signed him to RCA Victor in 1947. His biggest hit, "My Heart Belongs to You
My Heart Belongs to You
"My Heart Belongs to You" is a 1948 song by Arbee Stidham. The single spent six months on the US Billboard R&B chart, reaching the number one position for one week."My Heart Belongs to You" is a 1948 song by Arbee Stidham...
", was recorded at his first session, and reached # 1 on the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
in June 1948. He spent the rest of his career trying to emulate its success, recording for Checker
Checker Records
Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary to Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded Tape in 1969, shortly before Leonard's death.The label...
, States
States Records
States Record Company was a Chicago-based record label. A subsidiary of United Records, it was in business from May 1952 to December 1957. States focused on rhythm and blues, jazz, and gospel....
, and other independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
s as a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
-influenced blues vocalist. After a car accident made it impossible to play the saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, he took up the guitar in the 1950s under the tutelage of Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
, and played it on his early 1960s recordings for Folkways
Folkways Records
Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
.
Stidham continued to record occasionally up to the early 1970s, and also made many music festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
and club appearances nationwide and internationally. He lectured on the blues at Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University is a public university located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 when the state of Ohio assumed control of Fenn College, and it absorbed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1969...
in the 1970s, and appeared in the film The Bluesman in 1973.
He died in April 1988 in Cook County, Illinois
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
, aged 71.Secondhandsongs.com