Sonny Boy Williamson II

Sometimes known as Sonny Boy Williamson II, bluesman Rice Miller took his musical moniker from another blues singer who used it first, though Miller was the best-known Sonny Boy Williamson. He began performing in the 1920s, but the Mississippi singer/harmonica player is best known for his pioneering Chicago-style work in the '50s, which influenced Chicago blues singers and harmonica players in equal measure. In the '60s, he was one of those influential blues musicians embraced by British rockers, and he recorded with the Yardbirds, the Animals, and others before his death in 1965.