McKinley? Morganfield (April 4, 1915 or 1913 – April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally considered "the father of Chicago blues." He is also the father of blues musician Big Bill Morganfield.
Morganfield was born in Jug's Corner, an area of Issaquena County, Mississippi, near the Mississippi River. The nearest town, Rolling Fork, is incorrectly believed to be his birthplace.
Waters' mother, Berta Jones, died when he was very young, and he was subsequently raised by his grandmother. He moved with his grandmother to the Stovall Plantation outside Clarksdale, Mississippi when he was three. He was very eager to play music as a child, and after learning the harmonica, he bought his first guitar in 1930. He was soon in a regional outfit, the Son Sims Four, as a vocalist. Waters worked on his guitar style with the group.
Waters was first recorded at his cabin on Stovall plantation by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1941. Lomax had traveled to Mississippi to make recordings of Robert Johnson, u...
| date of birth | April 4, 1915 or 1913 |
| place of birth | Issaquena County, Mississippi, United States |
| date of death | April 30, 1983 |
| place of death | Westmont, Illinois |
