Luther Allison

Luther Sylvester Allison was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was born in Widener, Arkansas, although some accounts suggest his actual place of birth was Mayflower, Arkansas. Allison was interested in music as a child and during the late 1940s he toured in a family gospel group called The Southern Travellers. He moved with his family to Chicago in 1951 and attended Farragut High School where he was classmates with Muddy Waters' son. He taught himself guitar and began listening to blues extensively. Three years later he dropped out of school and began hanging around outside blues nightclubs with the hopes of being invited to perform. Allison played with the bands of Howlin' Wolf and Freddie King, taking over King's band when King toured nationally. He worked with Jimmy Dawkins, Magic Sam and Otis Rush, and also backed James Cotton. Chicago Reader has called him "the Jimi Hendrix of blues guitar".

17 August 1939

Born on the same birth day (17 August): Charles I of Austria • Dustin Pedroia • Jan Kromkamp • Lida Moser • Mae West • Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) • Mark Felt • Nicola Porpora • Richard Hunt (puppeteer) • Seamus Mallon • Tõnis Kint • Wilf Copping

Born in the same month (August 1939): Apoorva Sengupta • Brito (footballer, born 1939) • David King (chemist) • Fernando Poe Jr. • Festus Mogae • Joel Schumacher • John Peel • Jolán Kleiber-Kontsek • Robert James Waller • Romano Prodi • Seán Brady (cardinal)