Jesse Fortune was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Chicago blues

Chicago blues

The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...

 singer and barber.

Biography

Born in Macon, Mississippi

Macon, Mississippi

Macon is a city in Noxubee County, Mississippi, United States, along the Noxubee River. The population was 2,461 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Noxubee County.-History:...

, Fortune was trained as a barber before moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1952. In Chicago, he worked as a barber during the day and a blues singer at night. Fortune became one of the most popular performers for "heavy duty vocal work" in the Chicago blues scene of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1952, he was hired by Otis Rush

Otis Rush

Otis Rush is a blues musician, singer and guitarist. His distinctive guitar style features a slow burning sound and long bent notes...

 as a vocalist for the Otis Rush Band show. He also performed as a vocalist with Buddy Guy

Buddy Guy

George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...

 and Willie Dixon

Willie Dixon

William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...

. Fortune became better known as the "Fortune Tellin' Man." Blues guitarist Dave Specter

Dave Specter

Dave Specter is an American Chicago blues and jazz guitarist.-Biography:Hailing from Chicago's Northwest side, Specter began to learn to play the guitar at the age of 18. His teacher was Steve Freund, who taught Specter between the latter's duties at Jazz Record Mart, and Delmark Records...

 said of Fortune, "He was one of the great Chicago blues singers. He had an amazingly powerful voice, kind of in the style of early B.B. King. He had so much presence he almost didn't need a microphone." Fortune's best known recording was "Too Many Cooks," released in 1963. The Robert Cray Band later covered Fortune's "Too Many Cooks." Fortune released a number of records for the USA label, but became disillusioned with the music business. He later said that he "never made a dime from his recordings."

In 1992, Fortune made a come back with the release of a new album titled Fortune Tellin' Man. Down Beat Magazine wrote, "Fortune's Delmark CD, Fortune Tellin' Man, showcases his gospelly vocal grit; he uses his love for B.B. King's style as a springboard instead of a crutch." And Cadence Magazine wrote, "His voice is expressive yet never sounds strained or labored. He is deeply soulful with a strutting rhythmic style ... that give this material such a freshness not often hear on Blues releases these days. Jesse Fortune's return to recording and gigging is a most welcome event." Fortune operated a barber shop on Chicago's west side in his later years and continued to perform occasionally in Chicago's blues clubs.

Delmark Records founder Bob Koester

Bob Koester

Robert Gregg "Bob" Koester is the American founder and owner of Delmark Records, one of the oldest independent record labels in the United States, and one of jazz's best-known imprints...

 recalled Fortune's love of being a barber: "Barbering was his trade and he took more than a little pride in it. He liked running his barbershop." Fortune once "had an opportunity to sing in Europe but turned it down because he didn't want to disappoint his haircut customers."

In August 2009, Fortune died at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago after collapsing on stage while performing at Gene's Playmate Lounge, a Chicago blues club

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

. An autopsy showed he died of coronary atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a condition in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol...

.