Juke Boy Bonner

Vocation

American blues singer, harmonica player, and guitarist. Bonner was influenced by Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, and Slim Harpo. He described the bleak prospects of black urban existence in songs like "Life is a Nightmare", "Struggle Here in Houston" and "Going Back to the Country", accompanying himself on guitar, harmonica and drums. At the age of twelve he taught himself the guitar, gaining the nickname "Juke Boy" as a youth, because he frequently sang in local bars accompanied by the juke box. Between 1954 and 1960 he recorded several singles, but not all were released at the time. In 1963 he was diagnosed with a large stomach ulcer, and had to have almost half of his stomach removed in surgery. In 1967, Bonner recorded his first album then released two more, I'm Going Back to The Country (1968) and The Struggle (1969). Bonner recorded mostly original song material through his recording career. He was a guest at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, the American Folk Blues Festival, and the Montreux Blues and Rock Festival. He released LPs in 1972 and 1975. Bonner died in his apartment on 29 June 1978, aged forty-six, of cirrhosis of the liver. Link to Wikipedia biography