Gene "Bowlegs" Miller

Who was Gene "Bowlegs" Miller?

Gene "Bowlegs" Miller was a Beale Street musician who was a trumpeter and band leader.

Miller was on the scene when Beale Street was the real "live" Beale Street playing with such entertainers as Dwight "Gatemouth" Moore, Maurice Hulbert, Jr., and Ma Rainey. He played with bandleaders Tuff Green and Phineas Newborn Sr.

Miller formed his own band, Bowlegs & His Band, in the early 1960s playing regularly at such Memphis Clubs as the Flamingo Room, Club Handy, Currie's Club Tropicana, and later playing at the Rosewood, Club Paradise, and the Manhattan Club.

He directed, arranged, written produced and played with several leading entertainers such as Otis Redding, O. V. Wright, Little Jr. Parker, Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, Joe Simon, Isaac Hayes, Wilson Pickett, Jerry Butler, B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Al Green, Denise LaSalle, Nancy Wilson, Rufus Thomas, Sam & Dave, Onzie Horne, Etta James, Ollie Nightingale, Johnny Nash, James Carr, and Willie Mitchell.

Miller virtually launched the career of singer Peabo Bryson, who first reached record charts with the hit "Reaching for the Sky". One of Miller's discoveries was R&B singer Ann Peebles.