John Erby

Born in Cameron, Milam County, Texas - March 20, 1899.
Died in Los Angeles County, CA - July 11, 1982.

The son of Henry and Peggi Erby, John Erby was a prodigious pianist, vocalist, composer and arranger of jazz and blues music by the time he reached his early 20s. He wrote and recorded under his own name for Columbia Records, but also published under the pseudonym "J. Guy Sudoth". He also recorded and released one record for Paramount under the alias "Guy Smith". Many of his compositions were recorded by premier blues vocalists of the 1920s, including Ma Rainey ("Those All Night Long Blues", "Booze And Blues" & "Toad Frog Blues"), Ethel Waters ("Black Spatch Blues" & "I Want Somebody All My Own"), Ida Cox ("Moanin' Groanin' Blues" & "Graveyard Bound Blues") and Trixie Smith ("Praying Blues" & "Ada Jane's Blues"). He was married to Monette Moore for a few years in the mid-1920s.

Erby also accompanied numerous artists on the piano, including Victoria Spivey, Lonnie Johnson and Hattie McDaniel. During the 1940s-50s, he worked with Helen Humes, Amos Milburn, Willard McDaniel and B.B. King. He also started his own label, the obscure "A Natural Hit!" Record Company, which released only a handful of records in the late 1940s.