WILLIE MABONIn the early 50s, Willie Mabon was at the forefront
of the Chicago blues scene, with massive hit records on the
Chess label. After a quiet spell, his career was revitalised in
the 70s, when he discovered a new audience across the pond.
Although he is not well remembered today, there was a time when
Willie Mabon was a big star.  Born in rural Tennessee in 1925,
Willie James Mabon was brought up in Memphis at a time when
Beale Street was alive with original Blues players. When the
family moved to Chicago in 1942, Willie started taking piano
lessons, as he was surrounded by a different Blues environment.
He added some phrases from Roosevelt Sykes and Big Maceo to his
formal learning, and there were some jazz influences in there
too. When he got back from service in the Marines in WWII,
Willie started playing the Chicago club scene, developing a sly,
insinuating vocal style. In 1949, he cut his first records for
the Apollo label as ‘Big Willie’, but when he joined the Chess
label the following year, h