Otis Rush, Pioneering Chicago Blues Guitarist, Dead at 84

Otis Rush, Pioneering Chicago Blues Guitarist, Dead at 84
Otis Rush, picture by Paul Natkin/Getty Images

Chicago blues guitarist Otis Rush has died. His spouse, Masaki Rush, confirmed the information in an announcement on his website. Rush handed as a consequence of problems from a stroke which he initially suffered in 2003. He was 84 years outdated. Rush was one of many pioneering musicians in Chicago’s West Side sound that developed within the ’50s and early ’60s. Notably, Rush was a left-handed guitarist and strummed together with his left hand whereas fretting together with his proper. He additionally held his guitars upside-down, contributing to his distinctive enjoying fashion.

Born in Mississippi, Rush moved to Chicago within the ’40s and started enjoying in blues golf equipment. In the late ’50s, he started recording for Cobra Records, the label that established the West Side sound with Rush and his labelmates Magic Sam and Buddy Guy. Rush’s first single, “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” peaked at No. 6 on the charts in 1956. In the next years, he launched extra songs that at the moment are thought of blues classics, together with “Double Trouble” (later recorded by Eric Clapton) and “All Your Love (I Miss Loving).”

Rush launched his debut report This One’s a Good One in 1968 and continued recording by the ’70s. His final studio album was 1998’s Any Place I’m Goin’, which earned him the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. Rush was elected to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984. In 2016, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel declared June 12 to be Otis Rush Day within the metropolis.

In an announcement on Rush’s web site, his spouse Masaki writes:

The household requests privateness at this tough time and can announce extra particulars at a future date. Cards and condolences could also be despatched to the Rush household to the handle beneath.

Rush Family
c/o Bates Meyer, Inc.
PO Box 2821
Big Bear Lake,
California USA 92315

 
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