Sonny Boy Williamson II - Tuberculosis

Struggling not to cough up blood during his performances, he played an impromptu jam, now the stuff of folklore, with the group Levon & The Hawks (who went on to become Bob Dylan’s back up unit The Band) just a fortnight before he passed away. Williamson’s failure to show up to present his radio show in May 1965 prompted KFFA to send someone to rouse him, but it was too late. Williamson had died in his sleep at his boarding house in Helena, Arkansas.

Sonny Boy Williamson II born March 12, 1905, died May 25, 1965

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