Henry Gray

Born in 1925 in Kenner, LA, blues piano player Henry Gray made his name as a session player in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s, and can be heard on the records of such icons as Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Jimmy Reed. His greatest claim to fame, however, is probably the fact that he was Howlin' Wolf's pianist for 12 years, in performances and on records. A self-taught pianist, Gray played at church services and house parties before being drafted into the army during World War II. When he left the service in 1946 he headed for Chicago and was soon playing piano in a local outfit called Little Hudson's Red Devil Trio. It wasn't long before he was in demand as a sideman in clubs all over Chicago, and that exposure paved his way into lucrative session work in the many recording studios in Chicago at the time, and he worked steadily at such institutions as Chess Records and Vee-Jay Records. In 1968 he left Chicago and Howlin Wolf's band behind and headed back to Louisiana. He lived and performed in the Baton Rouge area, and eventually formed his own band, The Henry Gray Cats. In 1977 he had a very successful tour in Germany and even recorded some albums there. In the 1980s he secured a contract with Blind Pig Records and issued his album, "Lucky Man", in 1988. He has stayed busy playing in festivals and jazz clubs, both in the US and abroad.