Leadbelly (born Huddie William Ledbetter; January 21, 1885 – December 6, 1949) was an American folk and blues musician, notable for his clear and forceful singing, his virtuosity on the twelve string guitar, and the rich songbook of folk standards he introduced.
Leadbelly was born to Wesley and Sally Ledbetter in a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana, but the family moved to Leigh, Texas when he was five. It was there he received his first instrument, an accordion from his uncle, and by his early-20s, after fathering at least two children, he left home to find his living as a guitarist (and occasionally, as a laborer). Leadbelly would later claim that as a youth, he would "make it" with 8 to 10 women a night.
Leadbelly's boastful spirit and penchant for the occasional skirmish sometimes led him into trouble with the law, and in 1918 was thrown into a Texas jail for the second time, this time after killing a man in a fight. He was released seven years into his thirty year sentence after writing a song appealing to Governor Pat Neff for his freedom.
In 1930, Leadbelly was back in prison, this time in Louisiana for attempted homicide. It was there, three years later, that he was "discovered" by musicologists John and Alan Lomax, who were enchanted by his talent, passion and singularity as a performer, and recorded hundreds of his songs on portable recording equipment for the Library of Congress. The following year Leadbelly was once again pardoned, this time after a petition for his early release was taken to Louisiana Governor O.K. Allen by the Lomaxes (it was on the other side of a recording of one of his most popular songs, " Goodnight Irene").
Indebted to the Lomaxes, Leadbelly allowed Alan to take him under his wing, and in late 1934 migrated North to New York City with him, where he attained fame, though not fortune. In 1935 he married Martha Promise, and began recording with the American Record Corporation, but achieved little commercial success with these records (in part because the company insisted he record blues songs rather than the folk he was better known for), and the couple struggled financially. In 1939 he was back in jail for assault.
