List of Electric Blues Musicians - D

D

• Larry Dale - Born January 7, 1923 in Wharton, Texas, Dale was an R&B guitarist and occasional singer active in the 1950s and 1960s. He performed in New York City with a band that included Champion Jack Dupree and Mickey Baker. He was an exponent of East Coast blues, and released several recordings for Grover Records.
• Lester Davenport - Born January 16, 1932 in Tchula, Mississippi and moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1945, Davenport is an electric Chicago blues harmonica player and vocalist. He is also sometimes called "Mad Dog" Davenport. He recorded his first album in 1991 for Earwig Records, and then in 2002 released I Smell a Rat for Delmark Records.
• Debbie Davies - Born August 22, 1952 in Los Angeles, California, Davies is a modern electric blues guitarist and singer who has performed for a variety of bands. She has also done some solo work and worked with John Mayall, recording at least nine albums. Her current record label is Telarc.
• Larry Davis - (December 4, 1936 – April 19, 1994) Born in Kansas City, Missouri but raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Davis was an acoustic and electric Texas blues and soul blues musician who was greatly influenced by Albert King. He recorded often with Fenton Robinson. He released albums for many labels, including Bullseye Blues, Duke Records, and many others.
• Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis - (March 2, 1925 – December 28, 1995) Born in Tippo, Mississippi, Davis played with John Lee Hooker, recorded an album for Elektra Records in the mid 1960s, and remained a regular street musician on Maxwell Street, Chicago, for over 40 years.
• Jimmy Dawkins - Born October 24, 1936 in Tchula, Mississippi and moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1955, Dawkins is a guitarist and vocalist and a fixture of the modern electric Chicago blues scene. His first album was Fast Fingers, recorded in 1969 for Delmark Records, for whom he recorded several others. He has also worked for the Earwig Music label, among others.
• Bo Diddley - (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008) Born in McComb, Mississippi, Bo Diddley was a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter and was universally recognized as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll music and a pioneering figure in electric Chicago blues and rhythm and blues. He had a very long career that began in the 1950s and continued nearly until his death. He recorded well over thirty albums for labels like Checker Records, Chess Records and Atlantic Records, among others.
• Willie Dixon - (July 1, 1915 – January 29, 1992) Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, double-bassist, singer–songwriter, record producer and guitarist Dixon was a key figure on the acoustic and electric Chicago blues scene. He was heavily involved in helping start the careers of artists like Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters, to name only a few. He recorded for numerous labels. He also performed jump blues and would sometimes sang Jive.
• Lefty Dizz – (April 29, 1937 – September 7, 1993) Born Walter Williams in Osceola, Arkansas, and before his four-year tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force ended in 1956, Lefty began to play the guitar. When he returned to Chicago later that year, he came under the tutelage of Lacy Gibson and Earl Hooker. In 1958, Lefty joined Sonny Thompson's road band, playing rhythm 'n' blues throughout the country. During a gig in Seattle, a teenage guitarist named Jimi Hendrix, hung out with, and was influenced by, Lefty Dizz. In 1960, Lefty moved to Detroit, where he remained for four years, working with Junior Cannady and John Lee Hooker. From 1964 to 1971, Lefty worked with Junior Wells, during which time they toured the U.S., Canada, Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Fiji Islands and Indonesia. Lefty then joined Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers, performing extensively until Hound Dog's passing in late 1975. He then formed his own band, Lefty Dizz and Shock Treatment, which became the vehicle for his unique brand of flamboyant and humorous showmanship featuring raucous performances of "low-down and dirty" Chicago Blues throughout Chicago and on numerous international tours. Lefty performed regularly at the Kingston Mines and B.L.U.E.S on Chicago's North Side, and at the Checkerboard Lounge on the City's South Side, where he hosted the Blue Monday Blues Jam for a decade, beginning in the late 1970s. International rock stars, including members of the Rolling Stones, Foghat and many others would come to sit in on Lefty's gigs, and the City's best blues musicians also were regulars at the Blue Monday Blues Jam. His most well-known compositions include "Bad Avenue", "I Found Out", If I Could Just Get My Hands on What I Got My Eyes On", Funny Acting Woman", "Somebody Stole My Christmas" and "Ain't It Nice to be Loved". Lefty Dizz succumbed to esophageal cancer on September 7, 1993 at age 56.
• Little Arthur Duncan – (1934–2008)
• Johnny Dyer - Born December 7, 1938 in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, Dyer has released five albums since 1983.