Jimmy Nelson
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| Jimmy Nelson | |
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 Jimmy "T99" Nelson at the Long Beach Blues Festival,1996
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | Jimmy "T99" Nelson |
| Born | April 7, 1928 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Died | July 29, 2007 (aged 79) Houston, Texas, USA |
| Genre(s) | Blues, swing |
| Occupation(s) | singer |
| Instrument(s) | vocals |
| Years active | 1948 - 2007 |
| Label(s) | Olliet Records RPM Records Kent Records Chess Records Music City Records Paradise Records All Boy Records Bullseye Blues & Jazz Nettie Marie Records |
Jimmy "T99" Nelson (April 7, 1928 - July 29, 2007) was a blues shouter and songwriter. With a recording career that spanned over 50 years, Jimmy "T99" Nelson became a distinguished elder statesman of American music.
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[edit] Career
Nelson got his start singing in church. In 1941, he saw a performance by Big Joe Turner while he was visiting Oakland, California, and realized he wanted to sing the blues.[1] Big Joe taught Jimmy about singing, performance and the music business. Jimmy, in turn, absorbed the shouting style of his mentor.
From 1951 through 1961, Jimmy Nelson and the Peter Rabbit Trio released eight singles with the Bihari Brothers' Modern/RPM label. The biggest of these was the classic "T-99 Blues" (which refers to old Texas Highway #99), which debuted in June 1951. It stayed on the national R&B charts for twenty-one weeks and reached #1. In 1952, Nelson had another RPM hit with "Meet Me With Your Black Dress On."
Nelson began touring, performing with bands led by Joe Liggins and Roy Milton and playing venues including the Apollo and Howard theaters. He cut singles for a number of labels including Kent, Chess, Music City, Paradise and All Boy.
In 1955, Nelson met and married his Nettie (who is now deceased) and adopted Houston as his hometown. For the next 20 years, Nelson settled down and took a job working construction, though he continued to write songs and sit in with bands.
In the 1980s, Nelson came to the wider attention of blues fans when Ace issued ten of his sides on an album. Sweet Sugar daddy a compilation CD from Japanese P-Vine Records which mainly consisted of unreleased studio recordings from the 1960s and 1970s was also released in 1988.
Nelson since has resumed touring and in 1999, released a comeback album Rockin' and Shoutin' the Blues from the Bullseye Blues & Jazz label. This album was nominated in two categories of the W.C. Handy Awards the following year.[2] Two more newly recorded albums followed on his own Nettie Marie label prior to his death, both featuring an allstar backup band including Duke Robillard. In 2004, Ace released "Cry Hard Luck" featuring re-issues of Nelson's Kent & RPM recordings from 1951-1961.
Nelson died of cancer at a nursing home in Houston on July 29, 2007.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Liner notes to "Rockin' and Shoutin' the Blues by Roger Wood
- ^ 2000 - 21st W.C. Handy Blues Awards
- ^ eJazzNews Obituaries: Jimmy T99 Nelson Passes
[edit] Discography
- 1999 Rockin' Shoutin' the Blues (Bullseye Blues & Jazz)
- 2002 Take Your Pick (Nettie Marie)
- 2005 The Legend (Nettie Marie)
[edit] Compilations
- 1981 Jimmy "Mr. T99" Nelson (Ace)
- 1988 Sweet Sugar Daddy (P-Vine)
- 2003 Cry Hard Luck: The RPM and Kent Recordings 1951-61 (Ace)
