Blind Dog Radio

L.C. McKinley

Larry McKinley, b. October 18, 1930 in Winona, MS, d. January 19, 1970 in Chicago, IL. According to the United States Census in 1940, McKinley was living in Vaiden, Mississippi, with his wife, Bessie, and two sons. However, McKinley relocated to Chicago in 1941. He began to get work and, by 1947, had started to play professionally in the Chicago area. By the early 1950s, McKinley was a regular performer at the 708 Club, where he variously topped the bill or played accompaniment in the first half of 1954 with the Ernest Cotton Trio.

He began a working association with Eddie Boyd in the early 1950s and, in 1952, McKinley and Cotton backed Boyd on the latter's recording of "Five Long Years". It reached number one on the US Billboard R&B chart. McKinley also undertook recording sessions with several of Chicago's better known blues musicians, including Curtis Jones. In 1953 he recorded for Parrot Records, although his work was not released. He signed to States Records in January 1954, who issued his "Companion Blues" later that year.

In 1955, McKinley penned a recording contract with Vee-Jay Records. His single "Strange Girl" / "She's Five Feet Three" was issued by them the same year. Other tracks he recorded in that period, but were unissued at that time, included "Blue Evening", "Down With It", "Rosalie Blues", "Disgusted", and "Tortured Blues". In 1959, Bea & Baby Records released his single "Nit Wit".

McKinley made his last recordings in 1964, and they were released on the Sunnyland label in the UK.

After leaving the music industry, he latterly worked as a presser for a dry cleaning outfit in East Chicago.

McKinley died in East Chicago in January 1970, aged 51.