Big Maceo

Major Merriweather, known as Big Maceo, was one of the most powerful and influential blues pianists in Chicago blues history. He moved from Georgia to Detroit in the 1920s and then to Chicago in the early 1940s, where he teamed with Tampa Red for a series of recordings on Bluebird that rank among the finest piano blues ever committed to record. His 1941 recording of 'Worried Life Blues' became one of the most performed standards in blues history, covered by virtually every subsequent Chicago blues pianist. His two-fisted, thundering style combined the power of barrelhouse with the sophistication of urban blues and directly influenced Otis Spann, Little Brother Montgomery, and Henry Gray. A devastating stroke in 1946 paralyzed his right side and effectively ended his performing career, though he continued to record occasionally with his left hand until his death in 1953.