Furry Lewis

American country blues singer and guitarist
Born: 6 March 1893 (or 1899), Greenwood, Mississippi, USA
Died: 14 September 1981, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Lewis began recording on the Vocalion label in 1927. His stamping ground - despite the fact he had lost a leg - was in and around the Memphis scene, such as Pee Wee Saloon near his home on Beale Street, with a day job as a street-sweeper until his retirement in 1966.
In 1972 he was part of the renowned Memphis Blues Caravan, along with artists such as Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes & Sam Chatmon. He twice opened for The Rolling Stones and even acquired a profile in Playboy magazine. He died of heart-failure aged 82, shortly after contracting pneumonia, and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery, South Memphis.