
Willie Dixon
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Year:
1994
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Inducted by:
Chuck Berry
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Category:
Early Influences
Introduction
The poet laureate of the blues.
Willie Dixon was a consummate bluesman and a key architect of the Chicago blues. He worked with such icons as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

"Wang Dang Doodle"
Chuck Berry, Bruce Hornsby, John Popper, Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and Willie Dixon's son, Shirley Dixon, perform "Wang Dang Doodle" in tribute to Willie Dixon at the 1994 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony-
"Wang Dang Doodle"00:07:39
Hall of Fame Essay
1994
There never was anybody quite like Willie Dixon.
The first thing you saw when you met him was that huge grin atop the larger-than-life body; his enormous personal warmth, combined with an inexhaustible fund of street-smart music business wisdom and a tireless devotion to promoting awareness of the blues, won him friends and admirers everywhere he went.


So he made me what I am, so far as the basics of my music.
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Photography: Kevin Mazur, WireImage