October 6, 1932 –
Aaron Willis was born October 6, 1932 to a single mother sharecropper in Greensboro, AL. He grew up singing in the church and working with his mother on the farm. She called him Sonny, which became his nickname; and gave him a toy harmonica that he learned to play on, listening to country and blues music on the radio.
In 1953 he moved to Detroit, where he worked in a used car lot during the day and took Polaroid pictures of customers at the Hastings Street bar scene at night. One night he was blown away when he heard Sonny Boy Williamson II killing it with his harp. He got a few pointers from Sonny Boy and took them to heart. By 1955 he was playing in local bars with Washboard Willie, John Lee Hooker, Eddie “Guitar” Burns, Eddie Kirkland, and Baby Boy Warren. He continued playing the Detroit bar scene for the next 20 years, heading house bands at several venues.
He first started recording in 1958 with “I Gotta Find My Baby”, and had another single “Love Shock” but never made any money on his recordings so he started his own studio with a 2-track tape deck in the mid 1960s, Speedway Records”. Sonny recorded his tracks, then leased them to Excello who put out the singles.
He joined Stax Records in 1970 and released a few albums over the next 3 years. He spent the next 10-15 focusing on his photography, He has a large collection of blues artists photographs from over the years
Little Sonny staged a “comeback” in 1995, releasing “Sonny Side Up” featuring his son, Aaron Willis Jr. on guitar. Another son, Anthony, plays bass. He recorded another couple of albums and toured a little bit. He is very popular in Japan and Great Britain. He performed sporadically with his band this century; he still lives in Detroit.
Happy Birthday Little Sonny! I would love to browse through your pictures!
Little Sonny.The creeper returns.wmv
