Robert McCoy

Blues singer and barrelhouse pianist, born in the small town of Aliceville, Alabama, March 31, 1910, died in Birmingham, February 12, 1978. McCoy moved to Birmingham when only a baby and spent the rest of his life there. McCoy's first recorded as a leader in the 1930s, a decade that found him working with Jaybird Coleman and Guitar Slim (2) as well as James Sherell, aka Peanut The Kidnapper. He continued to sing and play the piano on the side in the 1940s and 1950s. It wasn't until the early 1960s that he recorded again. In 1961, McCoy came to the attention of Patrick Cather, an aspiring blues producer who also lived in Birmingham and who wanted to start a label. In 1962, Cather produced McCoy's first LP Barrel House Blues And Jook Piano, released on Cather's own Vulcan (6) Records. The following year, Cather produced McCoy's sophomore album, Blues and Boogie Classics, also released on Vulcan. After Blues and Boogie Classics, McCoy didn't record any more albums.