Blues Rocker Tony Joe White (75) is dead

With The Rainy Night in Georgia and The Polk Annie Salad both of 1969, White, a white man in black blueszeel, brought songs for the fields of eternal music . Celebrities like Elvis Presley, Randy Crawford, Ray Charles and Tina Turner covered songs written by him; musicians and groups such as Eric Clapton and Creedence Clearwater Revival admit to being influenced by him.

White is 75 years old. According to his record label, he died at his home in Leiper's Fork "under natural circumstances."

More than half a century of activity, another new album is out. In All Mouthin he returned to the sources with the classic, mostly reduced genre, raw blues with guitar and harmonica. On the album, his voice is very different from the dark sound with which he sang his classic and melancholy ballad Rainy Night In Georgia . This was not a problem for music critics: as they almost always wrote to White the (four) stars.

Rainy Night In Georgia – not autobiographical, as White was born in Louisiana – is written by dozens of other musicians covered, including the African-American Brook Benton (who had a greater success in 1970 than White himself), Ray Charles, Randy Crawford, Aaron Neville, Shelby Lynne and Boz Scaggs. Polk Salad Annie after White, more than forty other singers, from Johnny Hallyday about Tom Jones to Elvis Presley. In the 1970s, guided "The King of Rock 'n Roll" with for Ol' Times Sake and J & # 39; have one thing about you baby ] two other white songs in the charts.

The 80s, the time of the new wave, were not interested in White's rock swamp rock. Until Tina Turner – then at the height of her career – collaborated with him in 1989 for her album Foreign Affair . For this album, he wrote four songs and played harmonica and guitar. He did it on the song Steamy Window a gigantic hit. It was only then that White became a respected personality in the world of music with a series of albums and tours

. This word can truly adorn his tombstone.