Phil Chess, legendary founder of Chess Records, dead at 95
Posted October 18, 2016 11:00 pm
Phil Chess, the legendary co-founder of Chess Records, a label many credit with helping to invent rock 'n' roll, has died in Tucson, Arizona, at 95.
With his brother, Leonard Chess, the Polish immigrants in 1947 started the Chicago label that recorded Muddy Waters, Etta James, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy and a cast of other top musicians who spread the gospel of the blues.
Teens in England and around the world heard the so called "race music," and the cross-pollination helped birth rock.
As Waters put it, "The Blues had a baby, and they named it rock 'n' roll."
Chess had been in fairly good health, given his age, said a nephew, Craig Glicken. He died overnight in Tucson.
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