Linsey Alexander obit

Linsey Alexander Passed Away (1942-2025) 

He was not on the list.

Linsey Alexander’s family has confirmed that this Chicago blues master passed early this morning. Sad sad news for the blues community and for our Delmark family

Born in Mississippi and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Linsey Alexander discovered a down to earth city that truly understands and appreciates music on Chicago’s southside. In much the same way as many great blues artists before him, he grew up in a poor but honest and hard working family, learning early on that music has the power to lift the spirit and comfort the soul.

In Linsey’s own words, “Blues is not hard- it’s just a documentary about life

He was a fixture in clubs on Chicago's North Side for nearly two decades and played with numerous blues musicians, including Buddy Guy, A.C. Reed, Magic Slim, and B.B. King.

Alexander was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in an area along the Mississippi Blues Trail. His family was "poor but honest and hardworking" sharecroppers. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee, with his mother and a sister when he was 12 years old.

Alexander's interest in music started when a family friend he knew only as Otis taught him enough that when Otis left his guitar as a gift at Alexander's home, he was able pick it up and play. Alexander concentrated on singing as a teenager and later developed his guitar playing. His early influences were blues, country music, and rock and roll, including the blues keyboardist Rosco Gordon and the rock-and-roll artists Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley.

In Mississippi, Alexander worked as a porter in a hotel laundry room and later as a bicycle technician. In 1959, he pawned his first guitar to help pay his way to Chicago by Greyhound bus, following a girl he had met in Memphis. In Chicago, he had a series of jobs, working for a car dealer, at a gas station, and as a cook and busboy. He received a pension after he was wounded while working for the Chicago Police Department.

Alexander was pulled into the Chicago South Side music scene, where he heard soul artists like McKinley Mitchell and Bobby Day and the bluesman Howlin' Wolf. His first guitar was never recovered from the pawnshop, but he bought another guitar and formed a band, the Hot Tomatoes, which was "good enough to enter a talent show at the well-known nightclub on 63rd Street called The Place." Alexander went on to form another band, the Equitable Band, which played at the Launching Pad, at 75th Street and Stony Island, for about eight years. When Alexander was playing at Red's, a Chicago club at 35th Street and Archer, he was approached by an agent who introduced him to the popular North Side blues clubs B.L.U.E.S. and Kingston Mines. His entry into "Blue Chicago" (downtown) exposed him to tourists to whom he started selling independently recorded CDs, which are still selling well. Alexander was a fixture in Chicago North Side clubs for nearly two decades and played with blues notables including Buddy Guy, A.C. Reed, Magic Slim, and B.B. King. He performed for audiences in New York, Canada, and Europe and appeared at the Mississippi Blues Festival. Alexander was a regular performer at Kingston Mines.