Little Milton - Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
N 35° 08.097 W 090° 03.528
15S E 767988 N 3891969
a lifesize bronze statue of the late 'Little Milton' a 1988 Blues Hall of Fame inductee, who became a musical spokesman for the African-American community. Shown seated in front of the Blues Hall of Fame, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
Waymark Code: WMYAX1
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 05/22/2018
Views: 2
"Milton was born James Milton Campbell Jr., in the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness and raised in Greenville by a farmer and local blues musician.
By age twelve he was a street musician, chiefly influenced by T-Bone Walker and his blues and rock and roll contemporaries. He joined the Rhythm Aces in the early part of the 1950s, a three piece band who played throughout the Mississippi Delta area.
One of the group was Eddie Cusic who taught Milton to play the guitar. In 1952, while still a teenager playing in local bars, he caught the attention of Ike Turner, who was at that time a talent scout for Sam Phillips' Sun Records. He signed a contract with the label and recorded a number of singles. None of them broke through onto radio or sold well at record stores, however, and Milton left the Sun label by 1955.
A lifelike statue of the late Little Milton Campbell, a 1988 Blues Hall of Fame inductee, was unveiled before a gathering of dignitaries, family and friends. The statue will be permanently installed next to the front entrance of the Blues Hall of Fame at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, directly across from the National Civil Rights Museum. The Blues Hall of Fame is scheduled for an on time opening May 8.
The statue, modeled after the cover art seen on Think of Me, Milton’s last studio album, is the creation of Memphis sculptor Andrea Holmes Lugar and was cast in bronze by her husband, Larry Lugar. The statue depicts Milton embracing his Gibson ES-335 guitar while seated on a “gar bench” — so-called because of the legs in the shape of gar fish found in the Mississippi River — found in Memphis area parks and created by the Memphis-based National Metal Museum.
Funding was provided by Milton’s friends and admirers at the North Atlantic Blues Festival, held annually in Rockland, Maine. The festival is headed by Paul Benjamin who was in attendance. Both he and Mrs. Pat Campbell, Milton’s widow, addressed the crowd, as did Blues Foundation President & CEO Jay Sieleman."
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