Lonnie Youngblood

Saxman Lonnie Youngblood scored several R&B hits while recording steadily over the '60s and '70s, but is probably best remembered for hiring a young Jimi Hendrix and thus giving him the chance to play on one of his first professional sessions. Youngblood was born Lonnie Thomas in Augusta, GA, on August 3, 1941, and took up the saxophone after hearing his mother's favorite artist, Louis Jordan. He got his first professional gig backing singer Pearl Reeves in 1959, relocating to Newark, NJ; he made his first solo recording, "Heartbreak," not long after, and it became a regional ...