Music
Little Sonny
born 1932 · blues harmonica player, singer, songwriter
Alabama-born harmonica player who came to Detroit in 1953, worked the city's clubs for decades and made three albums for a Stax subsidiary in the early 1970s.
- Born
Greensboro, Alabama
age 93- Birth name
- Aaron Willis
- Detroit years
- 1953–
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Aaron Willis moved to Detroit in 1953 and made his professional debut at the Good Times Bar as a member of Washboard Willie's backing group. He formed his own band in 1956 and for the next fifteen years played clubs all over the city, earning extra money by photographing customers between sets; his pictures of John Lee Hooker, Eddie Burns and other Detroit bluesmen became a valuable archive. His first single, "I Gotta Find My Baby," came out on Duke in 1958, followed by records for Excello, his own Speedway label and Detroit's Revilot, which issued "The Creeper" in 1966; "Sonny's Bag" was his first local Top 20 hit. Stax signed him to its Enterprise subsidiary, which released three albums between 1970 and 1973, and Hard Goin' Up reached the R&B Top 50. He appeared in the film Wattstax and later played the Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival in 2008.
Highlights
- Debut single "I Gotta Find My Baby" (Duke, 1958)
- "The Creeper" (Revilot, 1966) and the Detroit hit "Sonny's Bag"
- Three Enterprise/Stax albums, 1970–1973
- Hard Goin' Up (1973) reached No. 42 on the Billboard R&B chart
- Appears in the concert film Wattstax
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.
Performed here · 1953
Good Times Bar
Status being checked
Detroit bar where he made his professional debut in Washboard Willie's backing group; its location is not documented.
Recorded here · 1950s
Joe's Record Shop (Hastings Street)
Demolished · 1945–1960
Joe Von Battle recorded Little Sonny among the harmonica and guitar players who gathered at his Hastings Street shop.