Blues guitarist Eric “Guitar” Davis, son of drumming great Bobby “Top Hat” Davis, was killed early Thursday morning in a double-shooting in Chicago’s South Side. He was 41.
He was found behind the wheel of a car and was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:07 a.m., the Chicago Tribune reports. Davis is said to have spent the evening at Kingston Mines blues club in Lincoln Park in the hours before the shooting.
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Davis was a fixture of the local blues circuit and his calendar featured a trio of upcoming concerts booked at the Beale on Broadway in St Louis, Missouri, including a New Year’s Eve gig.
Davis’ talents were fostered by his father, who played with the likes of Ray Charles and Muddy Waters. “At the age of five,” Davis’ biog notes, “Eric began to follow in his Dad’s footsteps as a drummer. By the age of ten young Eric Davis could be found playing drums in Chicago’s hottest blues clubs, such as The Legendary Checkerboard Lounge and Theresa’s lounge behind legendary greats such as The late Jr. Wells, Lefty Dizz, Buddy Guy, BB King, B.B. Odom, Tyrone Davis and many more.”
The younger Davis played lead guitar and sang for the band Eric Guitar Davis and the Troublemakers, and he’d recently landed a record deal with Delmark Records.
At deadline, police were investigating the case and that of another man killed nearby. No arrests have yet been made.