Otis Rush (Born 29/04/1934)

He first found real success on the Cobra label with 'I Can't Quit You Baby', masterminded by Willie Dixon, who wrote and arranged. The Cobra years are represented on the Charly Blues Masterworks CD "Double Trouble", which has contributions from Dixon, Little Brother Montgomery and the tenor sax player Red Holloway. You can also find the 50s material on the "Essential Collection" on Varese, which contains 24 remastered tracks.
He also undertook a session for Chess in 1961 (originally he had been rejected by the label which is why Dixon took him to Cobra). Although at the time the session remained unreleased, it did include the fine 'So Many Roads' which became one of his best known songs.
Like many others at the time, he turned to the college circuit in the 60s to sustain himself and in the 70s found an appreciative audience in both Europe and Japan.

In 1971, he recorded "Right Place, Wrong Time" for Capitol but, inexplicably, it was not released until 1976 on the Bulldog label - a superb set, its delayed release makes you wonder what the hell Capitol were doing!
Never the most overtly commercial artist and dogged by the kind of bad luck described above, his influence has nevertheless been extensive - although there has always been a danger he would end up a guitarist's guitarist whose influence might never get reflected in record sales.

However, there is now a possibility that the rejuvenation of careers such as Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker and others (with their superstar accompanists and patronage) will now rub off on Rush, where albums such as the excellent "Ain't Enough Comin' In" on the This Way Up label (1994) showcase his stinging single note guitar playing to fine effect. It remains to be seen whether or not Rush can or will assume the role of Chicago blues king for the blues record buying public before the grim reaper finally comes calling.