Blinded by glaucoma as a toddler, 5-year-old Fird Eaglin Jr. taught himself to play guitar by copying what he heard on the radio. At 12, he won a talent show at Hayes Chicken Shack by performing “Twelfth Street Rag.”
After trying several stage names, the guitarist chose Snooks Eaglin, and became “one of New Orleans’ most beloved musicians,” the Music Rising at Tulane states. “Eaglin was both a troubadour and a headliner, and his local shows were lionized in a T-shirt: ‘There ain’t nothing more New Orleans than Snooks Eaglin playing at the Mid City Rock ‘N’ Bowl.’ ”
Born in New Orleans on Jan. 21, 1936, Eaglin dropped out of a school for the blind to pursue music at 15. In 1952, he joined the Flamingos, a band started by 13-year-old Allen Toussaint. ’
Eaglin played everything from blues to country. His “stunningly vast selection of songs earned him the moniker ‘the Human Jukebox,’ ” All Music states.
In the 1999 article, “Snooks Eaglin: On the Trail of the Most Elusive Guitar Player in New Orleans,” Karl Bremer wrote, “Delightful to listen to and a marvel to watch. Snooks confounds even the best players with his inimitable finger-picking style.
“As much as his blindness may have made his life difficult in other ways,” Bremer added, “Eaglin used it to his advantage to invent an original playing style that no one yet has deciphered.”
Eaglin recorded with Imperial Records in the 1960’s. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he played at local clubs and Jazz Fest. He signed with Black Top Records in the 1980s.
Eaglin’s shows were unpredictable. He didn’t use a setlist. Instead, he played whatever song came to mind and took audience requests.
Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008, Eaglin died of a heart attack on Feb. 18, 2009.
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