Willie "Big Eyes" Smith,American blues musician, died at 75.

Willie "Big Eyes" Smith was a Grammy Award-winning American electric blues vocalist, harmonica player, and multi-award winning drummer.^[2] He was best known for several stints with the Muddy Waters band beginning in the early 1960s.

(January 19, 1936 – September 16, 2011)^[
Born in Helena, Arkansas, United States, Smith learned to play harmonica at age seventeen just after moving to Chicago, Illinois. Smith's influences included listening to 78s and to KFFA King Biscuit radio shows, some of which were broadcast from Helena's Miller Theater, where he saw guitar player Joe Willie Wilkins, and harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson II. On a Chicago visit in 1953 his mother took him to hear Muddy Waters at the Zanzibar club, where Henry Strong's harp playing inspired him to learn that instrument. In 1956, at the age of eighteen he formed a trio. He led the band on harp, Bobby Lee Burns played guitar, and Clifton James, who was the drummer. As "Little Willie" Smith he played in the Rocket Four, led by blues guitarist Arthur "Big Boy" Spires, and made recordings that were later reissued on the Delmark label. In 1955 Smith played harmonica on Bo Diddley's recording of the Willie Dixon song "Diddy Wah Diddy" for the Checker label.^{[citation needed]} Drummers were in more demand than harp players, so Smith switched to drums and starting playing with Muddy Waters band. In 1959, Smith recorded with Waters on the 1960 album Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy a tribute to Big Bill Broonzy^[3]
In 1961 Smith became a regular member of Muddy Water's band, which then consisted of George "Mojo" Buford, Luther Tucker, Pat Hare, and Otis Spann. By the mid '60s he'd left the band for more steady work as a cab driver. In the late '60s he rejoined Muddy's band and remained a permanent member until 1980. All of Muddy's Grammy Award winning albums (Hard Again, I'm Ready, They Call Me Muddy Waters, Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live, The London Muddy Waters Session, and The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album^[4]) were released between 1971 and 1979, during Smith's tenure with the band. Though he did not play on all of these albums, Smith is estimated to have participated in twelve sessions yielding eighty-four tracks.^[5]
In June 1980 Smith and other members of Muddy's band, Pinetop Perkins (piano), Calvin Jones (bass), and Jerry Portnoy (harmonica), and Smith on drums, stuck out on their own, also recruiting veteran Chicago blues man Louis Myers (harmonica/guitar) to form The Legendary Blues Band, with the vocals shared by all. Later that year, Smith and the Legendary Blues Band appeared backing John Lee Hooker in the movie The Blues Brothers (1980). Smith was the only band member, besides Hooker, to appear onscreen in close-up.^[6] With varying personnel over the years, the Legendary Blues Band recorded seven albums, Life of Ease, Red Hot 'n' Blue, Woke Up with the Blues (nominated for a W. C. Handy Award), U B Da Judge, Prime Time Blues, and Money Talks, were recorded between 1981 to 1993. By the time Money Talks came out in 1993, Smith had become a very credible singer. The Legendary Blues Band toured with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and Eric Clapton.
His first solo recording started in 1995 with Bag Full of Blues, with Pinetop Perkins, harpist Kim Wilson, plus guitarists James Wheeler, Nick Moss, and Gareth Best. In 1999, Smith recorded with Muddy Waters son Big Bill Morganfield on his album Rising Son. Smith's album Way Back (2006), contained 11 songs, half of which he wrote. He was backed by Bob Margolin and Frank Krakowski on guitar, Pinetop Perkins on piano, and guest shots by James Cotton and others.
Smith's 2008 album, Born in Arkansas, utilized bassman Bob Stroger, pianist Barrelhouse Chuck, guitarist Billy Flynn, guitarist Little Frank Krakowski (who has worked with Smith for years) and his son and drummer, Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith. In June 2010, Smith released Joined at the Hip with Pinetop Perkins. Joining these two in the studio were bassist Bob Stroger, and Kenny Smith on drums. John Primer, who was another Muddy Waters band alumnus, joined on lead guitar along with Frank Krakowski.
On February 13, 2011, Smith won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album for Joined at the Hip, an album he recorded with Pinetop Perkins.

Death

Smith died following a stroke on September 16, 2011.^[1]

The Blues Foundation Awards

Blues Music Awards[7]
Year	Category	Result
2011	Traditional Blues Album of the Year- Joined at the Hip(w/Pinetop Perkins)	Winner
2009	Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
2008	Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
2007	Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
2006	Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
2005	Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
2004	Blues Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
2003	Blues Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
2002	Blues Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
1999	Blues Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
1998	Blues Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
1997	Blues Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner
1996	Blues Instrumentalist-Drums	Winner

Selective discography

As bandleader

2010	Joined At the Hip (with Pinetop Perkins)	Blues	Telarc
2008	Born in Arkansas	Blues	Big Eyes Records
2006	Way Back	Blues	Hightone
2004	Bluesin' It	Blues	Electro-Fi
2000	Blues from the Heart	Blues	Juke Joint
1999	Nothin' But The Blues Y'all	Blues	Juke Joint
1995	Bag Full of Blues	Blues	Blind Pig

Legendary Blues Band

Year	Title	Genre	Label
1993	Money Talks	Blues	Wild Dog Blues
1992	Prime Time Blues	Blues	Wild Dog Blues
1991	U B Da Judge	Blues	Ichiban
1990	Keepin' the Blues Alive	Blues	Ichiban
1989	Woke up with the Blues	Blues	Ichiban
1983	Red Hot 'n' Blue	Blues	Rounder
1981	Life of Ease	Blues	Rounder

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