The late Milwaukee Slim (real name - Angelo Chambers) is remembered as a fine blues singer and master-of-ceremonies extraordinaire...... a fixture for many years on the Twin Cities blues scene. He was known for appearing on-stage at the Blues Saloon with Lamont Cranston or the Butanes, still in uniform from his 'day' job as a transit bus driver. He knew everyone in the blues...... when Albert King or Lowell Fulsom came to town, they were sure to call Slim up onstage to sing a number.
Born in Denton, Texas, Slim grew up in Dallas during the late 1940's, where he first encountered the blues at a Lemmon Avenue club where he worked as a waiter. Inspired by local blues legend T-Bone Walker, young Angelo took to the stage and microphone like a fish to water.
Over the years he lived in St Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Detroit, and Kalamazoo before finally settling in St Paul. He adopted numerous nicknames. The handle that finally stuck, Milwaukee Slim, was given to him by Sonny Boy Williamson one night when he sat in on drums.
He finally got his name on a record.......
Milwaukee Slim's 'fifteen minutes of fame' came with the 1991 release of his hit single, 'Mean & Evil Woman' / 'Cleo' (a two-sided hit!), which led to the recording of an album worth of material backed by long time associate 'Harmonica Tom' Schafer and Tom's band, the Hip Shakers, with additional material culled from sessions with Slim's own band, the Blue Birds. Final mixes were completed in 1993, just prior to Slim's death from cancer. The CD was released in 1995 and distributed world-wide.