Arbee William Stidham, born on February 9, 1917, in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas, was an American blues singer and multi-instrumentalist. He began his career playing clarinet and saxophone, forming a group in his youth and performing with regional bands. His early work included collaborations with prominent artists, and in 1947 he signed with RCA Victor and released “My Heart Belongs to You,” which reached Number 1 on the Billboard Race Records chart in June 1948. After a car crash in the 1950s, he shifted to guitar and recorded for Folkways Records in the early 1960s. Stidham later lived in Chicago and remained active during the 1970s and early 1980s, including the release of A Time for Blues in 1972. He continued performing until the early 1980s and died on April 26, 1988, in Cook County, Illinois.
