McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1915 - April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician and is generally considered "the Father of Chicago blues". He is also the actual father of blues musician Big Bill Morganfield. Muddy Waters is generally considered one of the greatest bluesmen of all time, and in 2004 he was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".

George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues and rock guitarist and singer. Known as an inspiration to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and other 1960s blues and rock legends, Guy is considered an important exponent of Chicago blues. He is the father of female rapper Shawnna. Guy is known for his showmanship; for example, he plays his guitar with drumsticks, or strolls into the audience while jamming and trailing a long guitar cord.

Magic Slim (born Morris Holt on August 7, 1937 in Torrence, Mississippi) is a blues singer and guitarist. He and Magic Sam are the best known representatives of the West Side Chicago blues.

Carey Bell (November 14, 1936 - May 6, 2007) was an American musician who played the harmonica in the musical style of Chicago blues. Bell played harp and bass for other blues icons for decades, including Earl Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, Lowell Fulson, Eddie Taylor and Jimmy Dawkins.

Lonnie Brooks (December 18 1933-) is an American blues singer and guitarist. He was born Lee Baker, Jr. in Dubuisson, Louisiana. He began performing with Clifton Chenier during the 1950s under the name Guitar Junior. He recorded some songs under that name which had local success. In 1960, he moved to Chicago. Luther Johnson was already using the name "Guitar Junior" there, so he adopted the stage name Lonnie Brooks.

Rod Piazza (born November 18, 1947 in Riverside, California) is a blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. He has been the driving force behind Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers since 1979, along with his wife Honey Piazza on piano and upright bass player Bill Stuvee, guitarists such as Alex Schultz and Rick Holmstrom and drummer Jimmy Bott. Their boogie sound combines the styles of Jump blues, west coast blues and Chicago blues.

Earl Hooker (January 15, 1929 - April 21, 1970) was an American blues guitarist. Born Earl Zebedee Hooker in Clarksdale, Mississippi, his impoverished family moved to Chicago, Illinois when he was still an infant. Influenced by parents and relatives who played music, he was a cousin of John Lee Hooker and began playing guitar as a teenager.

Tab Benoit (born November 17, 1967 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States) is a blues guitarist, musician and singer. He plays a style that is a combination of Swamp blues, Soul blues and Chicago blues. He plays Fender guitars and writes his own music compositions. Benoit graduated from Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma, Louisiana in May, 1985.

Edward Taylor was an American blues guitarist and singer. Born in Benoit, Mississippi, as a boy Eddie Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing at venues around Leland, Mississippi where he taught his friend Jimmy Reed to play guitar. Bringing with him a style deeply rooted in the Mississippi Delta tradition, in 1949 Eddie Taylor moved to Chicago. While Taylor never achieved the stardom of some of his compatriots in the Chicago Blues scene, …

Bernard Allison was born on 25 November, 1965 in Chicago, Illinois. He is a blues guitarist based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father, Luther Allison was a Chicago blues legend in both the United States and abroad. Bernard is the youngest of nine children and had many different musical influences while growing up.

Tommy Castro (born in 1955 in San Jose, California) is a blues guitarist and singer. He began playing guitar at a young age and was influenced and inspired by electric blues, Chicago blues, west coast blues, soul music, '60's rock and roll and Southern rock. His style has always been a hybrid of all his favorite genres. Since the late 1980s he has lead bands featuring a drummer, …

James Edward "Snooky" Pryor was an American blues harp player. He pioneered the thicker, amplified sound of blues harmonica. Pryor was born in Lambert, Mississippi and developed a Delta blues style influenced by both Sonny Boy Williamson I and Sonny Boy Williamson II. He moved to Chicago around 1940. While serving in the Army he would blow bugle calls through the powerful PA system, which led him to experiment with playing the harmonica that way.

Alexis Korner (born Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner, 19 April 1928 in Paris, France - died 1 January 1984 in Westminster, Central London), was an English blues musician, born to an Austrian father and Greek mother.

Joshua Daniel White, best known as Josh White, was a legendary American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. Today, he is widely remembered for his powerful and highly sensual stage presence, while some still remember that he almost single-handedly introduced Negro folk, blues, and gospel music to a world audience in the 1940s.

Anson Funderburgh (born November 15, 1954 in Plano, Texas) is a blues guitar player and band leader. He has led Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1979. In 1985 he invited legendary blues musician Sam Myers to record with him. Myers handled vocals and played harmonica until his death in July 2006. Funderburgh's guitar playing has been described as "less is more" - he can really blast it, or play it cool, crisp and soulful.

Scrapper Blackwell was an American blues guitarist and singer. Best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was an acoustic single-note picker in the Chicago blues style, with some critics noting that he veered towards jazz.

Fenton Robinson (23 September 1935, Greenwood, Mississippi — 25 November 1997, Rockford, Illinois) was a much-respected, but under-appreciated, blues singer and exponent of Chicago Blues guitar. Several times in his life he seemed to be on the verge of wider fame, beyond the Chicago community, but each time he was frustrated by outside forces. His signature song, "Somebody Loan Me a Dime" was covered by Boz Scaggs, but wrongly attributed to Scaggs himself, …

J. T. Brown was a major tenor saxophone musician of the Chicago blues era. Brown played and recorded with names such as Elmore James and Fleetwood Mac In Chicago/Blues Jam In Chicago vols 1 & 2. He was born on April 2, 1918 in Mississippi. He died on November 24, 1969 in Chicago.

Born in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, 1943, Bryan Lee completely lost his eyesight by the age of eight. His avid interest in early rock and blues was fostered through the 1950s by late night listening sessions via the Nashville-based radio station WLAC AM, where he first encountered the sounds of Elmore James, Albert King and Albert Collins. Bryan remembers thinking he didn't understand the music, but knew that's what he wanted to play.

Kokomo Arnold (15 February 1901-8 November 1968) was an American blues musician. Born James Arnold in Lovejoy's Station, Georgia, Arnold received his nickname in 1934 after releasing "Old Original Kokomo Blues" for the Decca label; it was a cover of the Scrapper Blackwell blues song about the Kokomo brand of coffee. A left-handed slide-guitarist, his intense slide style of playing and rapid-fire vocal style set him apart from his contemporaries.

Luther Johnson (April 11 1939-) is a Chicago blues singer and guitarist, who performs under the name Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson. He is not billed as simply "Guitar Junior". He was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, USA in 1939 and moved to Chicago with his family in 1955. During the 1960s, he performed with Magic Sam. Johnson performed in Muddy Water's band from 1972 to 1980. In 1980, four of his songs were included on an anthology by Alligator Records.

Lester Franklin Melrose (December 14, 1891 - April 12, 1968) was one of the first producers of blues records.

Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 - December 19, 2000) was a Mississippi-born gospel and R&B musician. He was the patriarch and member of singing group The Staple Singers, which included his son Pervis and daughters Mavis Staples, Yvonne, and Cleotha. He was an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and singer. He was nominated for a Grammy Award multiple times, and in 1995 won the Best Contemporary Blues Album.

John Henry Barbee was an American blues singer and guitarist. He was born William George Tucker, and changed his name with the commencement of his recording career to reflect his favourite folk song, "The Ballad of John Henry".

Little Hatch (born October 25, 1921, died January 16, 2003) was a blues singer, musician and harmonica player. Born Provine Hatch Jr. in Sledge, Mississippi, he learned to play harmonica from his father. Hearing blues and gospel music, Hatch knew he wanted to make music for a living. At age 14, his family moved to Helena, Arkansas and the blues scene caught his attention. Hatch joined the Navy in 1943 and after his tour of duty he relocated to Kansas City, …

The defining characteristic of any given jazz musician is frequently his sound. The more control a player has over the nature of that sound, the more likely he is to project a distinctive musical personality.

Nick Katzman (b. c. 1955) is an American Blues musician. Katzman was born in New York City, and lives in both Manhattan and Berlin, Germany. He plays in a variety of musical genres -- including Chicago blues, Mississippi blues, Texas style, and ragtime.