Willie Foster

Although Willie Foster was a noted bluesman and accomplished harmonica player in his own right, he's best-known for playing alongside other blues greats, especially Muddy Waters. Foster discovered the blues and bought his first harmonica as a young man in the '20s, and as a teenager met Waters, who he would play with off and on throughout the years. But Foster didn't receive his first paying musical gig until the '50s, when he began playing at a St. Louis nightclub. It was during that decade that Waters and Foster played a concert together at New York City's famed Carnegie Hall. Foster kept playing throughout the years (despite being dealt such life-altering blows as losing a leg and being considered legally blind). The day after he performed at a private party in Jackson, TN, on May 19, 2001, Foster passed away from an apparent heart attack.