Floyd Lee & His Mean Blues Band - The Amogla Sessions, Vol. 1 (2022)

Born in August 1933 and given away by his mother when only a few months old, Floyd spent the first 10 years of his life growing up in Lamar Mississippi near Holly Springs. During the summer, he would often hear his adopted father sing blues songs while working in the cotton fields. Going to school in Memphis during the winter months living in a house located in Webbs Alley, Floyd would sneak out at night to watch his father, who was known in the local blues scene as Guitar Floyd, perform with other bluesmen such as young Guitar Slim.

Inspired by his father he would play his guitar when he wasn't looking. He remembers the guitar neck being too big for his hands. "Back in Mississippi, I remember a bluesman that would go from house to house, selling his 78 and would let you listen to it on a wind-up victrola, which he would carry with him. You'd hold up a tin can to your ear that he had hooked up to it and you could hear what he recorded. I don't remember his name." Floyd also recalls, "In Memphis my school was right on Beale Street. There was a park close to the school with a piano in it and there would always be this guy playing it. I would go watch him as much as I could. Then I'd also go down to the New Daisy (movie theatre) and me and my cousins would sneak in the side door."

Floyd left the South early on, put on a bus at the age of ten and sent on his own, with a sign around his neck that simply read "Chicago". Staying with relatives briefly, "right up there under the L train", he earned a living by shining shoes on 43rd and Indiana. "I was always a working man." He spent some time in Flint Michigan before moving on to Cleveland Ohio in 1947.

One of his early memories of living in Cleveland was winning a contest by selling the most newspapers (Cleveland Plain Dealer) to be a batboy for the Cleveland Indians for two weeks. "They won the world series that year. That was 1948. I still remember the lineup."

Floyd sang in the church choir where his talents as a singer were recognized. The preacher thought so highly of him that he gave Floyd his first guitar (a Gibson T125 electric with one pick up in the middle). Floyd converted the pulpit's PA system into a portable amplifier by hooking it up to a battery. This allowed him to play anywhere outdoors where electricity wasn't available. This was quite a novelty in the 1950's.

Cutting his teeth on Nat King Cole songs and later moving into Jimmy Reed material, Floyd made a name for himself around town as a singer and a guitar player at various gigs and rent parties using his portable system. Word got around, eventually landing him some regular gigs with Jimmy Reed, sitting in for Eddie Taylor when he couldn't make it (Eddie was Jimmy's main sideman). One of the more prestigious gigs was a show that included Stevie Wonder, The Supremes along with Jimmy Reed on the bill. "Jimmy would swing by the house and pick me up." While living in Columbus one memorable gig was opening for Wilson Pickett at the Club Regal.

Floyd moved to New York in the early seventies finding work in Spring Valley, eventually settling down in Harlem. Working for twenty-seven years as a doorman at the Normandy Apartments (86th & Riverside Dr.), Floyd continued to play the blues whenever he could and has made himself known around New York City as a true blues original. Floyd Lee has been there and done that. Retiring a few years back, he has been pushing himself harder than ever in keeping the blues alive. He is a self-driven bluesman who follows his own path. He has a distinct style all his own. Known locally as the "King of Harlem" or "Mississippi Delta Blues" or simply "Bluesman", Floyd has played constantly in NYC for the past 30 some years. He was a founding member of the Music Under New York program in the mid 1980's and has performed at such events as NYC Mayor Dinkins Inauguration and entertained visiting dignitaries such as Nelson Mandela. Yet for all these years keeping a low profile... until now when Floyd is ready to take on the world.