🔎

American blues harmonica player and singer.

Born: September 15, 1921 in Lambert, Mississippi.
Died: October 18, 2006 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Pryor's blues developed during a stint with the army, when stationed near Chicago, jamming with the likes of Sonny Boy Williamson and Homesick James and playing on Maxwell Street. 1945 saw his musical career begin in earnest and In 1948 he made his recording debut with Telephone Blues, now considered one of the postwar Chicago blues classics.

He recorded intermittently throughout the 1950s and was also highly in demand as a session musician, playing on sides with Sunnyland Slim, Floyd Jones, Homesick James, and others of the Maxwell Street School.

Snooky withdrew from the music scene for much of the 1960s and 1970s, but started playing and performing regularly in the 1980s.

His son Richard Rip Lee Pryor is also a blues musician.