Early career Littlefield was born in
El Campo, Texas, and grew up in Houston with his mother. By 1947, at the age of sixteen, he was already a local attraction in many of the clubs on Dowling Street in Houston and was recording for Eddie Henry, a local record shop proprietor who ran his own label, Eddie's Records. He formed his first band with the saxophonist
Don Wilkerson, a friend from school. He became a major nightclub attraction and recorded with West Coast musicians such as
Maxwell Davis. Don Wilkerson, Littlefield's schoolmate and the leading saxophone player in his band, also travelled to Los Angeles, but Milburn promptly persuaded him to lead Milburn's new band, the
Aladdin Chickenshackers. In 1951, his duet with Little Lora Wiggins, "I've Been Lost", reached number 10 on the R&B chart. In the late 1970s he toured Europe successfully, settling in the Netherlands and releasing a number of albums from 1982 into the late 1990s for the
Oldie Blues label from Martin van Olderen.
Retirement and comeback After touring for more than 50 years, Littlefield stopped in 2000. After five years of retirement in his adopted home country, the Netherlands, he decided to play again, starting in 2006, declaring, "I went fishing for five years – now I know every herring in Holland by name – it got boring. I feel great and I want to be back with my audience." In his later years Littlefield continued to perform occasionally, mainly at festivals, particularly in the UK. In 2008 he played at the 20th
Burnley Blues Festival, in 2008, and at the 5th annual UK Boogie Woogie Festival at
Sturminster Newton in Dorset, in July 2009. He performed at Shakedown Blues Club, at Castor Village Hall, near
Castor,
Peterborough, in 2006 and made a return appearance in October 2010. He died at his home in
Voorthuizen, Netherlands, in 2013, at the age of 81. He had cancer. ==Selected discography==