Biography

Huddie William Ledbetter, known as Lead Belly, was a talented American folk and blues singer, musician, and songwriter. He was known for his powerful vocals, mastery of the twelve-string guitar, and his popular renditions of songs such as "Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil". Lead Belly was proficient at playing several instruments, including the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and windjammer. Some of his recordings featured him singing while clapping his hands or stomping his foot. Lead Belly's repertoire covered a wide range of genres and subjects, including gospel music, blues about themes like women, alcohol, prison life, and racism, as well as folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also composed songs about notable figures such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, Jack Johnson, the Scottsboro Boys, and Howard Hughes. In recognition of his contributions to music, Lead Belly was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Despite variations in the spelling of his name on different releases, Lead Belly himself spelled it as "Lead Belly", which is consistent with the spelling on his tombstone and used by the Lead Belly Foundation.