He was born in
Atlanta,
Georgia, United States, and grew up in
Chicago,
Illinois, where he began learning the saxophone at the age of 12. After leaving
Wendell Phillips High School, he studied law at
Chicago State University, playing in clubs in the evenings and at weekends. He played in
US Army bands between 1941 and 1946. After leaving the army, he joined
Miracle Records. He played on
Sonny Thompson's hit record "
Long Gone" in 1948, and on its follow-up, "
Late Freight", credited to the Sonny Thompson Quintet featuring Eddie Chamblee. Both records reached no. 1 on the national
Billboard R&B chart. Two follow-up records, "Blue Dreams" and "Back Street", also made the R&B chart in 1949. From 1947, he led his own band in Chicago clubs, as well as continuing to record with Thompson and on other sessions in Chicago, including
The Four Blazes' no. 1 R&B hit "Mary Jo" in 1952. In 1955 he joined
Lionel Hampton's band for two years, touring in Europe, before returning to lead his own group in Chicago. He accompanied both
Amos Milburn and
Lowell Fulson on some of their recordings, and then worked as accompanist to
Dinah Washington on many of her successful recordings in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The two performed vocal duets in a style similar to that later adopted by Washington with
Brook Benton, and were briefly married; he was her fifth husband. Chamblee also recorded for the
Mercury and
EmArcy labels, and with his own group in the early 1960s for the
Roulette and
Prestige labels. In the 1970s, he rejoined Hampton for tours of Europe, where he also played with
Milt Buckner, and he recorded for the French
Black & Blue label. He also performed with the
Count Basie Orchestra in 1982, and from the 1980s until his death with the
Harlem Blues and Jazz Band, as well as in clubs in
New York City. He died in New York in 1999, at the age of 79 from natural causes. ==Discography==