Billy Boy Arnold

Come Back Baby I Wish You Would

The hit with this number in the UK was by the Yardbirds.

I Ain't Got You

These were great original blues tracks by Billy Boy Arnold - a protégé of Sonny Boy Williamson (the first).

                        
Billy Boy Arnold made a comeback In the nineties  - the Chicago based Harmonica Man  did two great albums for Alligator -  Back Where I Belong and Eldorado Cadillac.

Born in Chicago, the young Billy Boy in 1948. knocked on the front door of harmonica great Sonny Boy Williamson, a neighbour. Sonny Boy gave a couple of harp lessons, but their relationship was tragically cut short when Williamson was murdered.

In his teens, he made a 78 for an obscure label: Cool logo in 1952. The result Hello Stranger got nowhere but gave him his nickname when its label unexpectedly read 'Billy Boy Arnold.'



In 1955 'Billy Boy' joined forces with Bo Diddleyand played on the Bo Diddley / I'm a Man for Checker.
After mistakenly believing that Leonard Chess didn't like him, he signed with Vee Jay. And here he recorded  I Wish You Would, drawing upon the Bo Diddley beat, it sold well and inspired a later more famous cover by the Yardbirds. Later they also covered: I Ain't Got You. Other tracks he released on Vee-Jay were Prisoner's Plea  and Rockinitis.

In 1963 he released More Blues on the South Side an album and in 1993/4
Back Where I Belong and Eldorado Cadillac on Alligator - both great albums