James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is most famous for his number-one R&B song "We're Gonna Make It." Other popular songs he recorded include "Baby, I Love You," "Who's Cheating Who?," and "Grits Ain't Groceries (All Around The World)."

Born in the Mississippi Delta, Milton started recording music in 1953 at Sun Records. Later, he moved to St. Louis and helped start Bobbin Records in 1958. His success on the music charts began when he signed with Checker Records. He also recorded songs for other labels, such as Meteor, Stax, Glades, Golden Ear, MCA, and Malaco. In 1988, Milton was honored by being inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Biography

Milton was born James Milton Campbell Jr. on September 7, 1934, in Inverness, Mississippi. He grew up in Greenville, Mississippi, where his parents were a farmer and a local blues musician. By age twelve, he was already playing music on the streets, inspired by T-Bone Walker and other blues and rock and roll musicians of his time. In the early 1950s, he joined the Rhythm Aces, a three-member band that performed across the Mississippi Delta. One of the band members, Eddie Cusic, taught Milton how to play the guitar. In 1951, Milton recorded music to support pianist Willie Love for Trumpet Records.

In 1953, while still a teenager playing in local bars, he was discovered by Ike Turner, a talent scout for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Milton signed a contract with the label and recorded several songs. None of these songs became popular on the radio or sold well, so he left Sun Records in 1955. For the next two years, he released songs on Meteor Records, a smaller company under Modern Records.

In 1958, Milton moved to East St. Louis and started Bobbin Records, a record label based in St. Louis. Bobbin later made an agreement with Leonard Chess’s Chess Records to distribute its music. As a record producer, Milton helped artists like Albert King and Fontella Bass gain fame, while also achieving his own success. After several small hits, his 1962 song "So Mean to Me" reached the Billboard R&B chart, peaking at number 14.

After a short break to tour, manage other artists, and create new music, Milton returned to recording in 1965 with a more polished style, similar to B.B. King. After the poorly received song "Blind Man" (R&B: number 86), he released two successful singles: "We're Gonna Make It," which topped the R&B chart and reached Top 40 radio, and "Who's Cheating Who?" (number 4 on R&B). These songs were included on his 1965 album We're Gonna Make It.

Milton’s song "Let Me Down Easy" was recorded by the Spencer Davis Group on The Second Album (1965), but his name was not listed as the writer. He released the song himself in 1968 on Checker Records. The song was also included on Etta James’s final album, The Dreamer (2011).

Throughout the late 1960s, Milton released several moderately successful songs but did not release another album until 1969, when Grits Ain't Groceries was released. The album included his hit song of the same name, as well as "Just a Little Bit" and "Baby, I Love You." That same year, Leonard Chess, the owner of his distributor Checker Records, died, causing the company to struggle. In 1971, Milton joined Stax Records. He added complex musical arrangements to his work and achieved success with songs like "That's What Love Will Make You Do" and "What It Is" from his live album What It Is: Live at Montreux. He also appeared in the documentary Wattstax, released in 1973. Stax Records, however, faced financial problems and went bankrupt in 1975.

After leaving Stax, Milton had difficulty maintaining his career. He worked with Evidence Records, then MCA’s Mobile Fidelity Records, before finding a home at Malaco Records, where he received his second Grammy nomination for Welcome To Little Milton in 1999. He stayed with Malaco for most of his later career. His final hit single, "Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number," was released in 1983 from the album of the same name. In 1988, Milton was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and won a W.C. Handy Award. His last album, Think of Me, was released in May 2005 on Telarc Records. It included writing and guitar work by Peter Shoulder of the UK-based blues-rock group Winterville.

Milton died on August 4, 2005, at age 70, due to complications from a stroke. After his death, a marker was placed on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Inverness to honor his contributions.

Discography

• Greatest Hits (1972, Chess)
• Chess Blues Masters Series (1976, Chess) 2-LP
• His Greatest Sides, Vol. 1 (1983, MCA/Chess)
• The Sun Masters (1990, Rounder)
• Welcome to the Club: The Essential Chess Recordings (1994, MCA/Chess) 2-CD
• The Complete Stax Singles (1994, Fantasy)
• Stand By Me: The Blues Collection [No. 48] (1995, Orbis)
• Little Milton's Greatest Hits (1995, Malaco)
• St. Louis Blues Revue: The Classic Bobbin Sessions [various artists] (1996, Ace)
• Rockin' the Blues (1996, MCA Special Products)
• Greatest Hits (The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection) (1997, MCA/Chess)
• Chess Blues Guitar (Two Decades of Killer Fretwork 1949 to 1969) [various artists] (1998 MCA/Chess) 2-CD
• Count the Days (1997, 601 Records)
• The Complete Checker Hit Singles (2001, Connoisseur Collection)
• Anthology 1953–1961 (2002, Varèse Sarabande)
• Running Wild Blues (2006, Charly)
• Stax Profiles: Little Milton (2006, Stax)
• The Very Best of Little Milton (2007, Stax)
• Chicago Blues and Soul via Memphis and St. Louis (His Early Years 1953–1962) (2014, Jasmine)

note: this is just a partial list

• Jackie Ross: Take the Weight Off Me (Grapevine) – Little Milton sings five songs with Ross
• Albert King, Chico Hamilton, Little Milton: Montreux Festival (Stax, 1974) – a shared album with King and Hamilton
• Various artists: Vanthology: Tribute to Van Morrison (Evidence, 2004) – Little Milton performed a version of Van Morrison’s “Tupelo Honey”
• Jean Jacques Milteau: Memphis (Sunnyside) – Little Milton performed a version of Sting’s “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free”
• E.C. Scott: The Other Side of Me (Black Bud) – Little Milton sings two songs with Scott
• Gov’t Mule: The Deep End, Volume 1 (ATO, 2001) – Little Milton sings “Soulshine” with Warren Haynes
• Millennium – live album [3-CD, 4-LP] (Evil Teen, 2010) recorded December 31, 1999, at the Roxy Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia
• Wintertime Blues: Benefit Concert – a various artists performance from the “Warren Haynes Christmas Jam” – December 22, 1999
• Willie Dixon: The Chess Box [2-CD, 3-LP] (MCA/Chess, 1988) – Little Milton performed “I Can’t Quit You Baby”
• Ike Turner: That Kat Sure Could Play! The Singles 1951–1957 (Secret Records, 2010) – Little Milton performed on six songs