Life
He was born in Horn Lake, Mississippi and started playing harp at the age of five. In his teens he went to Memphis and lived with little income and a lot of discrimination. In the 1930s he played with many musicians across the Mississippi delta region.
He made his first recording in Memphis with the guitarist Little Buddy Doyle. Due to poor health he worked outside the music industry in the 1940s. In the early 1950s he was one of the first musicians recording for Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, who would later record Elvis Presley. At this time he also was part of the Chicago blues scene, where he recorded amongst others with Eddie Taylor and Johnny Shines. After Junior Wells left the Muddy Waters Band he recorded one session with Waters. In the 1960s he recorded often as sideman for other musicians. He played frequently in the 1970s at blues and folk music festivals in the U.S. and Europe, often with Willie Dixon's Chicago Blues All-Stars. In 1977 he joined Johnny Winter and Muddy Waters on Winter's album I'm Ready. At that time he also recorded for Blind Pig Records. Horton appeared in the Maxwell Street scene in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. His final recordings were made in 1980.
He got his nickname "Shakey" because while playing he moved his head. He did his own first recording not until 1964 because he was a humble and shy person who did not like to be a leader. He felt more comfortable as sideman for others. Big Walter Horton died from heart failure in Chicago in 1981 aged 64.
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