- Floyd Dixon
"For the American football player see
Floyd Dixon (American football) "Floyd Dixon (
8 February 1929 –July 26 2006 ) was an Americanrhythm and blues pianist .Career
Dixon was born Jay Riggins Jr. in Marshall,
Texas . He was influenced byblues , gospel,jazz andcountry music growing up. His family moved to Los Angeles,California in 1942 and Dixon met his influence Charles Brown there.Self-dubbed "Mr. Magnificent," Dixon signed a
recording contract withModern Records in 1949, specializing injump blues and sexualizedsong s like "Red Cherries", "Wine Wine Wine", "Too Much Jelly Roll" and "Baby Let's Go Down to The Woods".Dixon switched to the
Specialty Records label in 1952, and theAtlantic Records subsidiary Cat Records in 1954. "Hey Bartender" (later covered byThe Blues Brothers ) and "Hole In The Wall" were hits during this time.In the 1970s Dixon left the
music industry for a quieter life in Texas, though he did occasional tours in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984 he was commissioned to write "Olympic Blues" for the1984 Summer Olympics .In 1993, Dixon received a Pioneer Award from the
Rhythm and Blues Foundation . In the mid 1990s, he secured a contract withAlligator Records , releasing the critically-acclaimedalbum , "Wake Up And Live".Dixon died in Los Angeles in July 2006, at the age of 77, from kidney failure. A public memorial service was held at Grace Chapel, in the grounds of the
Inglewood Park Cemetery .ee also
*
List of Jump blues musicians
*List of West Coast blues musicians
*List of stage names
*List of people from Marshall, Texas
*List of blues musicians
*West Coast blues External links
* [http://www.rhythmandtheblues.org.uk/artists/floyddixon.shtml Floyd Dixon biography]
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