Page 22 - BiTS_03_MARCH_2020_Neat

HENRY GRAY — January 19, 1925 – February 17, 2020

Born in Kenner, Louisiana, Henry Gray played for more than seven decades and performed with
many artists, including Robert Lockwood Jr., Billy Boy Arnold, Morris Pejoe, the Rolling
Stones, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf. He has more than 58 albums to his credit,
including recordings for Chess Records. He is credited as helping to create the distinctive
sound of the Chicago blues piano. He was 95 at the time of his death.

After moving to Chicago in about 1946, he was befriended by Big Maceo Merriweather who
introduced him to musicians around the city. In 1956, Gray joined Howlin' Wolf's band and
was Wolf's main piano player for twelve years in performance and on recordings. Also during this time,
Gray became a session player for numerous artists on Chess Records. He recorded with many leading figures
of the blues, including Abb Lock,
Sonny Boy Williamson II, Homesick
James, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Billy
Boy Arnold, Muddy Waters, Johnny
Shines, Hubert Sumlin, Lazy Lester,
Little Walter Jacobs, Otis Rush, Buddy
Guy, James Cotton, Little Milton
Campbell, Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Reed,
and Koko Taylor. He played with
Elmore James on the night that Elmore
died of a heart attack in 1963.

In 1998, Gray was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Traditional
Blues Album for A Tribute to Howlin'
Wolf, released by Telarc Records.

Between 2002 and 2017, Gray was
nominated for six Blues Music Awards
(formerly the W.C. Handy Blues
Awards) in various categories,
including Traditional Blues Male Artist
and Traditional Blues Album (both in
2002).

Gray was a recipient of the 2006
National Heritage Fellowship by the
National Endowment for the Arts, the
nation's top honor for folk artists.

In 2017, Gray was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

On February 20, 2017, following surgery for a collapsed lung, Gray experienced a mild heart attack. He was aged 92.
Despite this double health scare, Henry Gray continued playing the blues. In recent years Gray was a regular visitor to
the blues club run by harp man Bob Corritore in Phoenix AZ, named the Rhythm Room.

On October 10, 2019, it was confirmed by Gray's family that he had entered hospice care in Baton Rouge. Gray died at
the age of 95 on February 17, 2020.

Henry leaves a wife, three childern and eight grandchildren.

In a 1993 interview, Gray expressed his belief that blues as a musical genre would endure. “Every person who’s ever
been through anything, they’ve gotten the blues,” he said.

Ian K. McKenzie

Text constructed from various sources