Memphis Slim
(born John Chatman, aka Peter Chatman)
September 3, 1915 - February 24, 1988
Birthplace: Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis Slim was an important blues pianist and composer whose recordings in the l940s helped connect the Chicago "Bluebird" sound of the 1930s with that of the early post-World War II period. His piano style was influenced by other great blues pianists such as Rossevelt Sykes and Speckled Red and included elements of boogie-woogie and traditional blues. Among Slim's most popular blues songs was the classic - 'Everyday (I Have the Blues),'' which was a big hit for Big Joe Williams and the Count Basie Band in 1955.

As a youth growing up in Memphis, Slim hung out on Beale Street and Occasionally worked its blues clubs, where he picked up valuable hints from other piano players. After roaming the South, Slim lived in Helena, Arkansas, before moving to Chicago in 1939. That same year he made his debut as a recording artist using the name of his father, Peter Chatman, and cutting some sides for the Okeh label. In 1940 he cut one of his trademark tunes, "Beer Drinking Woman" for Bluebird using his nickname, Memphis Slim. Later that year Slim teamed up with guitarist Big Bill Broonzy after Broonzy's regular piano player, Josh Theimer, had died. The two musicians played Chicago blues clubs and recorded together until 1944 when Slim branched off on his own and eventually formed "The House Rockers, a seven-piece band that included a sax Section. In 1946 Slim added the name of the band to Memphis Slim and His Solid Band.

Slim recorded regularly during the late 1940s and 1950s for a number of labels, including Miracle, Chess, Vee-Jay, Bluesville, and Folkways. He also performed as a soloist and with such artists as Willie Dixon and Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller). After a European tour with Dixon in 1960, Slim decided to leave Chicago and resettle there. In 1962 he moved to Paris, where he was able to record and perform regularly when other bluesmen back home were finding it increasingly difficult to secure steady work. Slim recorded for a variety of labels in the '60s, '70s and '80s and regularly toured Europe, where he was held in high esteem. When performing locally in Paris he'd show up at the club in a Rolls Royce. Before his death in 1988, the U.S. Senate honored him with the title of Ambassador-at-Large of Good Will while the French government bestowed on him the prestigious title of Commander of Arts and Letters. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1989.