Biography
Joe Guy (Birmingham, Alabama, September 20, 1920 - December, 1961 or January, 1962) was an American jazz trumpeter. He was Billie Holiday's second husband.
Joseph Luke Guy was a promising trumpeter influenced by Roy Eldridge. Guy played with Teddy Hill's Orchestra in 1938 (succeeding Dizzy Gillespie) and was a key soloist with the short-lived Coleman Hawkins big band of 1940. During 1940-42 Guy played regularly at Minton's Playhouse and he appeared on many privately recorded (and later released) jam sessions with long solos, heard next to Charlie Christian, Thelonious Monk, Hot Lips Page and Roy Eldridge. Guy worked with the big bands of Lucky Millinder, Charlie Barnet and Cootie Williams (in 1942 he encouraged Williams to use some of Monk's compositions). During 1945-46 was closely associated (both musically and personally) with Billie Holiday. However Joe Guy was eventually busted for drug possession and after 1947 very little was heard from him. He died in obscurity in his home town of Birmingham at the age of 41
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.