Junior Wells Dies

By ERIC FIDLER
CHICAGO (AP) - Junior Wells, whose powerful harmonica playing and singing helped shape Chicago blues and influence generations of rock 'n' roll stars, died after a battle with cancer. He was 63.
Wells had been seriously ill since September, when he suffered a heart
attack and lapsed into a coma while being treated lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. He died Thursday evening at a Chicago hospital.
A hip, gregarious musician, the Grammy-nominted Wells was remembered as a generous, sharp-dressing showman with a sense of humor.
``There was something about this man that made you think he was going to be
here forever,'' harmonica player Sugar Blue, who had played with Wells and
satin on a rendition of his ``Messin' With the Kid,'' said early today after
hearing of his death.
``He had such a power in him, such emotive presence, that even listening to him on a record you could almost see him.''
Wells had a ``less is more'' style of playing, said his longtime manager,
Marty Salzman.
``Each note had to have the right feel, the right tone. Junior always said, `If I can't feel a song, I can't sing it,''' Salzman said.
Wells recorded and toured with guitarist Buddy Guy, both as headliners and as opening act for the Rolling Stones. In recent years Wells toured with his own eight-piece band.
He also played with Van Morrison and Carlos Santana, among other rock
musicians. His most recent albums were on the Telarc label.
``Junior was such a natural leader, and a hell of a singer and harmonica
player,'' said Bob Koester, owner of Chicago's Delmark Records and the Jazz Record Mart. ``If he'd gone into politics he would have been the mayor.''
Koester put out Wells' ``Hoodoo Man Blues,'' considered by many one of the
greatest blues albums, on Delmark in the 1960s.
Wells' parents worked a farm in Marion, Ark., and as a youngster he took an early interest in music and the Memphis, Tenn., blues scene. After learning to play harmonica, he worked the streets for tips. He moved to Chicago at age 12.
 jwells.gif (15019 Byte)Wells soaked in the music and the Chicago scene in the late 1940s, playing his first professional gig at 14 and finding frequent work as a sideman. He joined Muddy Waters' band in 1952, replacing Little Walter.
Stories abound of Wells lending or giving money to struggling friends and
other musicians, paying his sidemen wages that were far above average,
saving various people from getting beat up.
``He loaned everybody money. He knew some of it he'd never see again,''
Salzman said. ``There's at least one bluesman's headstone he paid for.''
One story about Wells that sounds apocryphal, but Salzman insists it is
true:
As a youngster, Wells worked all week on a soda truck to earn enough money to buy a harmonica he'd seen at a pawn shop. When told it cost $2, he put down his week's earnings of $1.50, grabbed the instrument and ran.
Wells told the judge he ``just had to have it,'' whereupon the judge demanded Wells play the harmonica. After listening, the judge gave the store owner 50 cents and dismissed the case.
``He regretted all his life he never got a chance to bring the judge a copy
of his first record because the guy died too soon,'' Salzman said.
Before he became ill, Wells completed scenes for the movie ``Blues Brothers 2000'' and also recorded a track for a Rolling Stones tribute album called ``Paint It Blue: Songs of the Rolling Stones.''
Bluesmen Luther Allison and Johnny Copeland died after recording their
final tracks for that album.
Last year, Wells' ``Come on in This House'' won the W.C. Handy Blues Award for traditional blues album. The record also was nominated for a traditional
blues Grammy.

AP-NY-01-16-98 0543EST
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