Music / Business & brands
Bobo Jenkins
1916–1984 · blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, label owner
Alabama-born bluesman who worked 27 years at Chrysler, recorded "Democrat Blues" for Chess, ran his own Detroit label and launched the first Detroit Blues Festival.
- Born
Forkland, Alabama- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 68- Birth name
- John Pickens Jenkins
- Detroit years
- 1944–1984
- Field
- Music, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
After his Army discharge in 1944 Jenkins settled in Detroit, where he worked for Packard, managed a garage and then spent 27 years on the line at Chrysler. He liked to say the whirring of the machines gave him his beat. His 1954 single "Democrat Blues" for Chess in Chicago made his name, and in 1957 Detroit's Fortune Records released "Ten Below Zero." Tired of waiting on other people's labels, he built his own studio and in 1959 started Big Star Records, recording himself and fellow Detroit players. In 1972 he promoted the first Detroit Blues Festival, and the next year he headlined the Detroit blues revue at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. His 1977 album Detroit All Purpose Blues, known to collectors as the yellow album, featured local sidemen. He died in Detroit in 1984; in 2018 the Killer Blues Headstone Project marked his grave at Detroit Memorial Park.
Highlights
- "Democrat Blues" on Chess Records (1954)
- "Ten Below Zero" on Detroit's Fortune Records (1957)
- Founded the Big Star label and studio in 1959
- Promoted the first Detroit Blues Festival in 1972
- Album Detroit All Purpose Blues (1977)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Recorded here · 1957
Fortune Records
Demolished · 1956–1995
Jack and Devora Brown's Detroit label issued his "Ten Below Zero" in 1957; the Third Avenue building was demolished in 2001.
Buried here · 1984
Detroit Memorial Park East
His grave received a headstone from the Killer Blues Headstone Project in 2018.