| Summary: | Blues musician Emmett "Bobby Rush" Ellis, Jr. was born on November, 10, 1933 in Haynesville, Louisiana to Mattie Spivey Ellis and Emmett Ellis, Sr. He received his first guitar at seven years old, and learned to sing and play the blues from his father. At eleven years old, Ellis left school to work at a cotton gin. He began performing in Arkansas in 1950, and then moved to Chicago, Illinois. There, he formed Bobby Rush and the Four Jivers, and briefly recorded with Chess Records. Ellis went on to learn from the noted blues guitarists Jimmy Reed and J.B. Lenoir. He also integrated Chicago's Bourbon Street nightclub in 1954. With the club owner's help, Ellis secured the rights to his music from Chess Records. Ellis was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2006, and his album Porcupine Meat won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 2017.
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