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Broonzy, Big Bill, 1893-1958

LC control no.no 88003463
Descriptive conventionsrda
LC classificationML420.B78 Biography
Personal name headingBroonzy, Big Bill, 1893-1958
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Variant(s)Big Bill, 1893-1958
Blues Boy Bill, 1893-1958
Bluesboy Bill, 1893-1958
Broomsley, Big Bill, 1893-1958
Broonzy, Bill, 1893-1958
Broonzy, William Lee Conley, 1893-1958
Chicago Bill, 1893-1958
Hunter, Slim, 1893-1958
Johnson, Big Bill, 1893-1958
Little Sam, 1893-1958
Little Son, 1893-1958
Natchez, 1893-1958
Sampson, Sammy, 1893-1958
Broonsey, Willie Lee, 1893-1958
Bradley, Lee, 1893-1958
Associated countryUnited States
Birth date[1893,1903]
18930626
Death date19580815
Place of birthPine Bluff (Ark.)
Place of deathChicago (Ill.)
Field of activityBlues (Music)
AffiliationIowa State University Columbia Records, Inc. OKeh Records (Firm) Vocalion (Sound recording label : New York, N.Y.)
Profession or occupationGuitarists Blues musicians Singers Jazz musicians
Found inBig Bill Broonzy [SR] p1957, surrogate
Feather, L.G. The ency. of jazz, 1984, c1960 p. 143 (Broonzy, William Lee Conley (Big Bill); singer, guitar; b. Scott, Miss., 6-26-1893; d. Chicago, Ill., 8-14-58)
Home again blues (1948-1953) [SR] 19--: label (Bluesboy Bill) container (Bluesboy Bill; Blues Boy Bill; guitarist, identity unknown)
Blues who's who: p. 68 (Broonzy, William Lee Conley "Big Bill"; aka Big Bill/Bill/Blues Boy Bill/Big Bill Broomsley/Chicago Bill/Slim Hunter/Big Bill Johnson/Little Sam/Little Son/Natchez/Sammy Sampson; b. June 26, 1893 in Scott, MS; d. Aug. 15, 1958 in Chicago, IL; instruments: guitar, mandolin, violin)
Broonzy, B.B. Key to the blues, 2009: label (Big Bill Broonzy) insert (born William Lee Conley Broonzy in Bolivar [Mississippi]; claimed to have been born in 1893, but after his death a sister believed to be his twin produced a birth certificate dated June 26, 1898; moved as an infant to Pine Bluff, Arkansas; recorded as Willie Lee Broonsey, aged 28, in the 1930 census; credited as Big Bill Broomsley on a 1930 Paramount release; died August 14, 1958)
Riesman, B. I feel so good, 2011: p. 7 (born Lee Bradley, June 26, 1903, Jefferson County, Arkansas, to Frank and Mittie Bradley; later adopted the name William Lee Conley Broonzy)
Find-a-grave WWW site, August 27, 2013 (William Broonzy; born June 26, 1893, Scott, Bolivar County, Mississippi; died August 15, 1958, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois; blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist known as "Big Bill"; photographic image of grave marker shows: "William L. Broonzy, Big Bill, 1893-1958")
Mississippi Blues Trail WWW site, August 27, 2013: MS River Blues - Scott (Big Bill Broonzy; real name: Lee Bradley; born June 26, 1903, near Lake Dick, Arkansas, outside Pine Bluff, although as an adult he identified Scott, Mississippi as his birthplace; died in Chicago on August 15, 1958)
   <http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/ms-river-blues>
African American National Biography, accessed December 21, 2014, via Oxford African American Studies Center database: (Broonzy, Big Bill; William Lee Conley Broonzy; blues singer, guitarist, jazz musician; born 26 June 1893 in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States; joined the Baptist Church as a preacher (1912); drafted and served with an army supply company in France (1918); took guitar lessons from Papa Charlie Jackson who introduced him to Paramount Records (1920s); recorded for Columbia, Okeh, and Vocalion labels (1930s-1940s); participated in John Hammond's From Spirituals to Swing programs at Carnegie Hall in New York City (1938); worked at New York's Cafe Society nightclub (1939-1940); performed in a Town Hall concert, New York (1947); worked as a janitor at Iowa State University, where he learned to read and write (1950-1951); introduced traditional American blues to British, European, Australian, African, and South American audiences (1950s); was diagnosed with lung cancer (1957); elected to the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in Memphis, Tennessee (1980); died 15 August 1958 in Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Invalid LCCNno 98012968 no 00052549