Lonnie Johnson (2)

Pioneering blues and jazz singer, guitarist, banjoist, violinist and pianist. Known for being the first to record in a single-note soloing guitar style with string bending and vibrato.
Born: February 08, 1899 in New Orleans, LA.
Died: June 16, 1970 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

His musical influence includes Django Reinhardt and many, many more.

He started playing in cafes in New Orleans and in 1917 he traveled in Europe, playing in revues and briefly with Will Marion Cook's Southern Syncopated Orchestra. When he returned home to New Orleans in 1918 he discovered that his entire family had been killed by a flu epidemic except for one brother. He and his surviving brother, Duke Ellington. In March 1969 he was hit by a car while walking on a sidewalk in Toronto. He was seriously injured, suffering a broken hip and kidney injuries, from which he never fully recovered. Johnson died in 1970 "virtually broke".