Roosevelt Sykes

Roosevelt Sykes was a prolific blues pianist with a lot of mix between ragtime and blues. He was a great entertainer almost always with a cigar in his mouth. He got to cut a record under the Okeh label around 1929. "44 Blues" became a hit and he moved to Chicago and started a band and played frequently during the thirties and forties. He left Chicago in the mid-fifties and moved to New Orleans. The electric blues had taken over Chicago and he found it easier to get work in that area. He toured the Europe in the sixties with the blues festival-revival. Roosevelt Sykes continued to touring nightclubs and festivals until his death in 1983.