Born James Whiting, Sugar Blue was raised in a family deeply rooted in music, and grew up associating with greats such as Billie Holiday. As a boy, he learned the craft of the harmonica by playing along with Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder as their songs came on the radio. He began his recording career in 1975, and went on to play all across the world, winning a Grammy Award in the process.
At the early age of 10, Billy Branch fell in love with the harmonica. Born and raised in Chicago, Billy graduated from college in 1969 and was soon thereafter introduced to the blues. By 1975, he had made his first recording and was playing regularly in Willie Dixon's Chicago Blues All-Stars. Later, Billy would form his own band, the Sons of Blues. He would also go on to create "Blues In The Schools" in 1978, a program intended to introduce Chicago area elementary and middle schools to the blues.
Growing up in Goleta, Calif., Kim Wilson was taught the harmonica by George "Harmonica" Smith in the late 1960s. In 1974, Wilson moved to Austin, Texas and formed the band "The Famous Thunderbirds" along with guitarist Jimmy Vaughan. Wilson keeps up a busy schedule that involves performing up to 300 days out of each year, and has been called "the greatest harmonica player to come around since Little Walter."
Hooker moved to Detroit in the early 1940s from his home in the deep south and had his first hit by 1948. Hooked would go on to release more than 100 hits over the next decade, and then eventually moved out to California in 1970 and performed with several notable artists, such as Van Morrison. Hooker still gets a lot of credit to this day for increasing the popularity of the blues, and has been dubbed "The King of Boogie," according to JohnLeeHooker.com.