James "Sugar Boy" Crawford

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James "Sugar Boy" Crawford
Ace, Checker Records, Imperial, Specialty

James "Sugar Boy" Crawford, Jr. (October 12, 1934  – September 15, 2012) was an American

Belle Stars, the Grateful Dead, Cyndi Lauper, and (as "Geto Boys") by Glass Candy
.

Life and career

Starting out on

Creole for "We Aren't Raccoons"), the title of an instrumental that they played. Crawford recalled, "During high school we had a little band, nothing real organized at first. I was back playing piano... The other fellows in the band were Edgar "Big Boy" Myles, Warren Myles, Nolan Blackwell, Irving "Cat" Banister, and Alfred Bernard- just a bunch of youngsters having fun."[2] The group was signed by Chess Records president Leonard Chess
and was renamed Sugar Boy and his Cane Cutters.

His song "Jock-A-Mo" became a standard at the

Offbeat magazine, he described how his career came to an abrupt halt in 1963, after a severe beating at the hands of state troopers incapacitated him for two years, forcing him to leave the music industry. In 1969, he decided to sing only in church.[1] In 2012, he made a guest appearance singing gospel in an episode of the HBO series Treme
. He died one month before the episode aired. James "Sugar Boy" Crawford was also Inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame.

Crawford appeared on the 1995 album Let Them Talk, by Davell Crawford, his grandson.[3] He made some stage appearances with Davell, including one at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival[1] in 1996 and at the seventh annual Ponderosa Stomp in April 2008.[4]

Among the artists Crawford recorded with was Snooks Eaglin.

Crawford died after a brief illness in a hospice in 2012, aged 77.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Talk with James 'Sugar Boy' Crawford by Jeff Hannusch". Offbeat.com. Archived from the original on 2009-09-22. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  2. ISBN 0-9614245-0-8
    .
  3. AllMusic Biography by Eugene Chadbourne
  4. ^ "Ponderosa Stomp #7 – Schedule, Artists, Tickets and Lineup". Ponderosastomp.com. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  5. ^ "James Crawford Obituary: View James Crawford's Obituary". The Times-Picayune. Obits.nola.com. 2012-09-15. Retrieved 2014-07-11.

External links

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