Legendary Chicago blues vocalist and guitarist Otis Rush died at the age of 84 on Saturday due to complications from a stroke in 2003.
He scored his first chart-topping hit in the ’50s with the single, “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” and he’s influenced everyone from Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin to Santana and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Rush, along with other blues musicians like Buddy Guy and Magic Sam, helped define Chicago’s West Side electric blues sound that would become so influential. Though Rush wasn’t as well known as B.B. King, Buddy Guy or Albert King, he influenced countless musicians, and he’s a quintessential member of the American blues canon.
Rush’s gospel tenor voice along with his sui generis guitar playing style (he was left-handed and his guitar was strung upside-down and backwards) that resulted in heavily bent notes made him truly one of a kind. Born in Philadelphia, Miss., the self-taught musician cut his teeth in the Chicago blues scene; he was initially inspired by seeing the legendary Muddy Waters perform. Rush’s refined take on urban blues eventually earned the admiration of many musicians past and present including Waters.
Recording for labels like Cobra, Duke and Chess Records, Rush became known for singles like “Double Trouble,” “My Love Will Never Die” and “Keep Loving Me Baby.” Through the years, Otis recorded with musicians like Little Walter, Big Walter Horton and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section. He performed live with musicians like Eric Clapton and Luther Allison and he later appeared on albums by Peter Green and John Mayall.
Rush was elected to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984 and this year, after a six decade-long career, he was honored by the Jazz Foundation of America with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2016, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel honored Rush by declaring June 12, “Otis Rush Day” in Chicago.
Gregg Parker, founder of the Chicago Blues Museum, said of Rush, “He was one of the last great blues guitar heroes. He was an electric god.”
Listen to a 1993 recording of Rush performing in New York City at Tramps below.