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Shuggie was born Johnny Alexander Veliotes, on 30 November 1953, in Los Angeles.
His Mother was of African-American and Filipino descent. Apparently, the name
‘Shuggie’ was derived from ‘sugar’, as his mother called him from the time of his
birth.

He started playing guitar virtually before he could walk, and became a highly
proficient multi-instrumentalist, like his father. Shuggie later stated that he was

forced to wear glasses and paint on a moustache in order to appear old enough to
frequent the venues the band played.

Having played on “Cold Shot”’ and “

Kooper Introduces”, the word about
Shuggie reached the ears of John
Hammond, the veteran jazz and blues
producer and talent spotter, and Larry

Cohn of Epic Records. Hammond urged
Cohn to sign Shuggie to his label. He
needed no persuading, but had not
realised that Otis senior had already

concluded a deal with Epic for not only
Shuggie, but also violinist Don
‘Sugarcane’ Harris, and indeed the entire
Johnny Otis entourage!

The deal produced the 1970 album
“Cuttin’ Up” which extensively featured
Shuggie playing a variety of instruments, and it was quickly followed by a solo album

entitled “Here Comes Shuggie Otis”, on which he played all the instruments apart
from a little bass guitar assistance from Wilton Felder and Al McKibbon, made his
vocal debut, and composed (or co-composed) every track on the album.

Shuggie was known as a blues guitarist, but his influences ranged far and wide,
including Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone and Arthur Lee (of the band Love), as well as the
expected names such as the Kings, T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulson (an

acknowledged major influence). During this period, apart from working with The
Johnny Otis Show, he was also to be found playing guitar for Bobby Bland and Etta
James.

In a 1970 issue of Guitar Player magazine B. B. King said Shuggie was his “favourite
new guitarist”!

His 1971 second album, “Freedom Flight”, contained the song ‘Strawberry Letter 23’,
which entered the Billboard 100, but also brought him to the attention of the
Brothers Johnson, and their producer Quincy Jones. They covered the song and
achieved a hit with it.