Music
Lightnin' Slim
1913–1974 · blues singer, guitarist
Louisiana swamp-blues star of Excello Records who later worked in a Pontiac foundry, was rediscovered there in 1970, and died in Detroit in 1974.
- Born
Good Pine, Louisiana- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 61- Birth name
- Otis Verries Hicks
- Detroit years
- late 1960s–1974 (Pontiac)
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Otis Hicks grew up around Baton Rouge and, as Lightnin' Slim, became the leading voice of the swamp-blues sound that producer J. D. Miller recorded for Excello Records, often with harmonica player Lazy Lester. When his recording career stalled in the 1960s he moved north to Pontiac, Michigan, and took a job in a foundry, where the heat constantly scorched his hands. He was living in a rented room in the house of Slim Harpo's sister when blues enthusiast Fred Reif found him in 1970 and helped him get a new Excello contract. The comeback took him to the University of Chicago Folk Festival in 1971 and on several European tours, including the Montreux Jazz Festival and a final British tour in 1973. He died of stomach cancer in a Detroit hospital in July 1974 and was buried in Pontiac's historic Oak Hill Cemetery.
Highlights
- Leading voice of Louisiana swamp blues on Excello Records for about 12 years
- Debut single "Bad Luck" (1954), produced by J. D. Miller
- Rediscovered in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1970
- Buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
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.
Buried here · 1974
Oak Hill Cemetery
Pontiac's historic city cemetery, where Lightnin' Slim was buried in 1974.