Snooks Eaglin

Date of birth : 01/21/1936

Date of death : 02/18/2009

City of birth : New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Blues singer/guitarist Snooks Eaglin was born Fird Eaglin in 1936 in New Orleans, LA. Blind since infancy, he wanted to be a musician and taught himself to play guitar, and performed wherever he could, mainly on street corners and in churches. In his teens he came to the attention of Allen Toussaint, who let Eaglin join his band, The Flamingos. Eaglin later wrote what turned out to be an R&B classic, "Lucille", for Little Richard. He signed with and recorded singles for such labels as Folkways and Prestige before signing with a major label, Imperial Recirds, in 1960. He recorded more than ten singles for that label, but left them the next year. He only recorded very sporadically until 1987, when he signed with Black Top Records, for which he cut several albums.