Biography
Preston Shannon (October 23, 1947 – January 22, 2018) was an American electric blues and soul blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Among the songs he wrote are "Beale Street Boogaloo" and "Midnight in Memphis".
He was born in Olive Branch, Mississippi, United States. He relocated with his family to Memphis, Tennessee at the age of eight. Despite initial misgiving from his Pentecostal parents, Shannon developed an interest in the blues and played part-time with several local bands, whilst his daytime occupation was with a hardware firm. He began a full-time musical career when he secured a spot in Shirley Browns backing ensemble.
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In 1993, his own Preston Shannon Band played at the Long Beach Blues Festival in Long Beach, California. After being spotted leading his own band in Memphis Beale Street clubs, he signed to Rounder Records subsidiary, Bullseye Blues, and released his debut solo effort, Break the Ice in 1994. Then followed the Willie Mitchell produced efforts, Midnight in Memphis (1996) and All in Time (1999). However, with no immediate follow-up available, Preston lost momentum.
After moving to Title Tunes, he released Be with Me Tonight (2006).
Shannon played at Memphis in May in both 2008 and 2011. In February 2012, Shannon appeared on season two of The Voice, singing "In the Midnight Hour".
He was a regular performer at B.B. Kings Blues Club in Memphis. Shannons most recent album release was Dust My Broom (2014).
Allmusic noted that "Shannons speciality is a blend of Southern-fried soul and blues, and his albums and live shows - always with a horn section - are an eclectic mix of danceable, grooving tunes and slow, soulful ballads".
Discography
Albums
YearTitleRecord label
1994Break the IceBullseye Blues
1996Midnight in MemphisBullseye Blues
1999All in TimeBullseye Blues
2006Be with Me TonightTitle Tunes
2011Goin Back to MemphisContinental Blue Heaven
2014Dust My BroomContinental Blue Heaven
Singles
YearTitleRecord label
1999"Tired of the Ghetto Bringing Me Down"Bullseye Blues
Preston Shannon has been called the King of Beale Street for his longtime tenure playing the clubs along that Memphis byway. Soulful vocals and stinging guitar work make for an incredible live performer, who has been described as a cross between Otis Redding and Bobby Womack. But perhaps a comparison to the late Little Milton may be the most apropos since his styling of blues drenched with soul and R and B are much more akin with Milton’s. Shannon has released four albums, his latest titled Goin’ Back to Memphis (actually a re-release of his 2006 disc Be With Me Tonight) are all outstanding and he received three Grammy nominations for his 1999 release All In Time Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.