Biography
Before Lester "Big Daddy" Kinsey and his family reached audiences on the worldwide blues circuit, he had already secured his standing as Gary, Indiana's modern blues patriarch and the Steel City's counterpart to Muddy Waters. Drawing from Mississippi Delta traditions as well as postwar Chicago blues, the slide guitarist and harp player joined local groups only until his sons developed into elite musicians. Once Big Daddy issued his first album, Bad Situation, in 1984, the family ensemble quickly ranked among the strongest draws in contemporary blues. His songs moved from intense blues echoing Muddy Waters to forceful blues laced with funk and reggae accents supplied by Donald and Ralph, both of whom pursue wider musical paths in their Kinsey Report releases. Early in the 1990s Kinsey delivered I Am the Blues, one of the most successful albums of his career, which incorporated contributions from Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Sugar Blue, and Pinetop Perkins. On April 3, 2001, he died of prostate cancer at the age of 74.