Quick Facts
Biography
Jimmy Liggins (born James L. Elliott, October 14, 1918 – July 21, 1983) was an American R&B guitarist and bandleader. His brother was the more commercially successful R&B/blues pianist, Joe Liggins.
Career
The son of Harriett and Elijah Elliott, he was born in Newby, Oklahoma, United States, and adopted his stepfather's surname, Liggins, as a child. He moved with his family to San Diego, California in 1932. He fought under the name of Kid Zulu as a professional boxer until age 18, when he began as a driver for his brother Joe's band, the Honeydrippers.
Liggins started his own recording career as a singer, guitarist, and leader of the Drops of Joy, on Art Rupe's Specialty label in 1947. One of his early releases, "Cadillac Boogie" was a direct forerunner of "Rocket 88", itself often called the first rock and roll record. Recordings such as "Tear Drop Blues" (1948) and, later, "I Ain't Drunk" (1954), featuring leading saxophone players such as Maxwell Davis, made him one of the most successful bandleaders in the jump blues period of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Liggins left Specialty in 1954, recording "I Ain't Drunk" (1954), later covered by Albert Collins, at Aladdin, before fading from the scene. He began his own management and record company Duplex Records in 1958. His wild stage presence and manic delivery influenced Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and Elvis Presley.
Liggins died in July 1983, at the age of 64, in Durham, North Carolina.
Selected discography
SINGLES
Specialty Records
- 520 -- "I Can't Stop It" / "Troubles" (1947)
- 521 -- "Teardrop Blues" / "Cadillac Boogie" (1948)
- 523 -- "Rough Weather Blues" / "Move Out Baby" (1948)
- 319 -- "Homecoming Blues" / "Careful Love" (1948)
- 322 - "Looking For My Baby" / "I Can't Forget You" (1948)
- 339 - "Night Life Boogie" / "Don't Put Me Down" (1949)
- 353 - "Mississippi Boogie" / "Misery Blues" (1949)
- 362 -- "Answer To Tear Drop Blues" / "That Song Is Gone" (1949)
- 374 -- "Sincere Love's Blues" / "Saturday Night Boogie Woogie Man" (1950)
- 380 -- "I Want My Baby For Christmas" / "Shuffle Shack" (1950)
- 397 -- "Down And Out Blues" / "Lonely Nights Blues" (1951)
- 406 -- “The Washboard Special" / "Lover's Prayer" (1951)
- 418 -- "Going Down With The Sun" / "That's What's Knocking Me Out" (1951)
- 427 -- "Stolen Love" and "Low Down Blues" (1952)
- 434 -- "Brown Skin Baby" / "Dark Hour Blues" (1952)
- 470 -- "Drunk" / "I'll Never Let You Go" (1953)
- 484 -- "Come Back Home" / "I'm Going Away" (1954)
Aladdin Records
- 3250 -- "I Ain't Drunk" / "Talkin' That Talk" (1954)
- 3251 -- "Boogie Woogie King" / "No More Alcohol" (1954)
Duplex Records
- 1002 – “Last Round” / “Blues for Love” (1958)
- 9010 – “Knocked Out” / “Ada from Decatur” (1960)
- 9014 -- "Working Man Blues" / "Good Loving Baby" (1961)
COMPILATION ALBUMS
- Jimmy Liggins & His Drops of Joy (Specialty SPCD 7005, 1989)
- Jimmy Liggins & His Drops of Joy, Vol. 2: Rough Weather Blues (Specialty SPCD-7026-2, 1992)
- Jimmy Liggins Presents The Best of Duplex Records (Bluebeat, 2014)