Champion Jack Dupree

A native of New Orleans, Champion Jack Dupree's exact birthdate is unknown, though it's likely in July between 1908 and 1910. He was orphaned at a young age and learned to survive in the city hustling and playing blues and barrelhouse piano. A move to Detroit in the early 1930s led to a meeting with Joe Louis and the beginning of a successful boxing career where he acquired the nickname Champion Jack. His 1941 song “Junker’s Blues” would later be considered the jumping off point for Fats Domino’s “The Fat Man”. After serving in WWII, Dupree established himself in New York and started recording regularly. Although his output was plentiful, his only real hit came in 1955 with the Teddy McRae duet “Walking the Blues”. He recorded his most admired album, Blues From the Gutter, for Atlantic in 1958 and then moved to Europe where he worked as both a musician and a chef. His reputation grew throughout the sixties as the British blues scene exploded and Dupree would record with modern bluesmen like Eric Clapton and John Mayall. He continued to record and gig for the rest of his life, and had a grand homecoming in 1990 when he played the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Dupree died in 1992.