Otis Rush

Otis Rush
Rush in 1997
Background information
Birth name	Otis Rush Jr.
Also known as	Little Otis
Born	(1934-04-29)April 29, 1934 Philadelphia, Mississippi, U.S.
Died	September 29, 2018(2018-09-29) (aged 84) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Blues Chicago blues R&B
Occupations	Musician songwriter
Instruments	Guitar vocals
Years active	1956–2003
Labels	Cobra Chess Duke Vanguard Cotillion Bullfrog Black & Blue P-Vine Delmark Sonet Blind Pig
Website	www.otisrush.net

Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018)^[1] was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes, sometimes two and three at a time. Compared to other groups at the time where the sound of the band was the focus, he, along with Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, is credited with bringing the guitar to the forefront with a sound that became known as West Side Chicago blues which influenced many musicians, including Michael Bloomfield, Peter Green and Eric Clapton.

As a performer, Otis was unique. He had an intense and powerful tenor voice that grabbed your attention and he played his guitar backwards and upside down. He had the low strings adjusted very low, and the G, B,and high E strings adjusted for slightly higher action so that he could curl his left pinky under the low strings and pull them downward. Albert King and Jimi Hendrix played the same way.^[2]