Born in McDade, Louisiana, a small community 40 miles from
Shreveport, Blackston, the eldest of 13 children, was raised on a cotton farm by his grandparents. Blackston casually played harmonica since he was four years-old, and credited
Sonny Terry as the foremost influence on his style of playing. Bored with the farming lifestyle, in 1946 Blackston relocated to Los Angeles where he lived with his father, and worked for a manufacturing company. After an automobile accident in 1954 temporarily left him jobless, Blackston began avidly practicing his harp skills; recalling how he knew "a guy by the name of Cleveland Weller that plays guitar and he invited me out to his house to play on a Saturday night with him. So I went out there. He gave me a mike and an
amplifier and I started blowing through that mike and amplifier and I would hear all my mistakes, and so then I went down town next day bought me a amplifier and a mike and so I went and practised for four months". In 1962, while Fats was collaborating with pianist Henry Strogin, he
demoed the
Hank Ballard tune "Tore Up", a frequently requested song of which Fats had modified the lyrics. Fats re-recorded the song with
session musicians, and released the single, backed by his original composition "I Get So Tired", on Skylark Records. It became an immense regional success,
bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 at 103, and established Fats as an in-demand touring musician. Skylark also distributed Fats' follow-up effort, "Mama, Mama Talk to Your Daughter for Me"; however, despite its popularity, it was the last recording by Fats issued for five years. In 1989, Fats and Pearl released the live album
Live at Cafe Lido, which captured Fats' on-stage enthusiasm and magnetism. The demand for the album prompted the two to establish Bee Bump Records and release their first studio album, titled
I Had to Get Nasty, in May 1991. Per Pearl's suggestion, the duo recorded acoustically on their final two albums,
Two Heads Are Better and
Blow, Fat Daddy, Blow!. Fats died on January 3, 2000; he was 72 years-old. ==References==