In the collection
5 records
Played with
Tower Of Power
3 records together
Greg Adams
3 records together
Stephen Kupka
3 records together
Francis Rocco Prestia
3 records together
Chester Thompson
3 records together
Emilio Castillo
3 records together
Lenny Pickett
3 records together
Lenny Williams
3 records together
David Garibaldi
3 records together
Bruce Conte
2 records together
Mic Gillette
2 records together
Marilyn Scott
2 records together
About
Born: 3rd February 1935, Houston, Texas, USA.
Died: 17th May 1996, Yokohama, Japan.
Seminal electric blues & rhythm & blues guitarist of the mid-1950s, with hits like “Gangster Of Love”. Performed with artists such as Little Richard and worked in synthesizer productions in the 1960s.
In later years his work was a source for sampling by artists such as Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg. He also worked on a number of recordings and projects with , who cites Watson: “Watson’s 1956 song, ‘Three Hours Past Midnight’ inspired me to become a guitarist.”
Watson learned the rudiments of music on the piano as a child. He took up the guitar on the agreement with his preacher grandfather that he would not use it to ‘play the blues’. His family moved to Los Angeles in the ’50s and, as a teenager, he cut his teeth playing guitar, piano and singing in local LA ‘jump bands’. Watson collapsed and died onstage of cardiac infarction whilst performing in Japan.