Magic Slim & the Teardrops

Born Morris Hold on August 7, 1937, in Torrance, Missouri, the blues singer and guitarist is better known by his stage name Magic Slim. He first started playing the piano as a child but lost a finger on his right hand in an accident with a cotton separating machine and was forced to take up the guitar instead. Given his nickname Magic Slim by childhood friend Magic Sam, he played music at local juke joints before heading to Chicago in 1955 as a bass player in Sam's band. Slim returned home when it became apparent that his skills weren't up to scratch. He taught his brothers Nick Holt (bass) and Douglas ‘Lee Baby’ Holt (drums) to play and the three siblings practiced relentlessly. Magic Slim returned to Chicago in 1965 and joined Robert ‘Mr. Pitiful’ Perkins & The Teardrops as guitarist. When Perkins left the group, Magic Slim took over as bandleader. The group’s line-up would change over the years but by the mid 1970s, the Teardrops featured his brother Nick Holt. He won his first W.C. Handy Award in 1981 and would win many awards over the years. Over the course of Magic Slim’s career, his catalog - which featured more than 35 albums - would be split between solo releases and albums credited to Magic Slim & the Teardrops. The first bonafide Teardrops albums were released in 1982: Grand Slam and Raw Magic. By this time, Magic Slim developed a trademark heavy blues shuffle sound. The Teardrops would continue to release a series of classic blues albums including Blues from the Zoo Bar (1984), Gravel Road (1990), Don’t Tell Me About Troubles (1994), Spider in My Stew (1998), Snakebite (2000), and Bad Boy (2012). Magic Slim died on February 21, 2013, at the age of 75.

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