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COVER STORY First Night 2000: A sampler True-blue blues     Weepin' Willie got his start thanks to B.B. King. Above, the bluesman in a concert with Rick Russell and the Cadillac Horns. (Globe Photo/Callie Lipkin) MORE INFORMATION Fri. 6-6:45 p.m., 7:15-8 p.m. Berklee Performance Center Weepin' Willie By the time he found his way in front of a band in 1959, Weepin' Willie Robinson had been a migrant farm worker, dishwasher, boxer, soldier, and MC. If anyone was qualified to sing the blues, or even weep, it was Willie. "I always loved singing," says the 73-year-old. "I couldn't sing that well, but I got to the point when I could sing a song or two." It was 1959 and Robinson was emceeing a B.B. King show at a club in Pennsylvania when he finally got his opportunity. He told King that he wanted to sing. "So he asked me what I sing, and I told him I sing his songs." King sent Robinson out onstage with his band, and Weepin' Willie became a singer. "At that time he had a 21-piece band," Robinson recalls. "They just cranked up and blew me away. I never experienced anything like that. It took me about five minutes to recover and to eventually start singing." Robinson moved to Boston shortly after his first brush with singing the blues, and continued emceeing shows for the likes of Jackie Wilson and Count Basie, gradually singing more and more. By the early '80s, Robinson decided he was ready to make a go of it as a full-time singer. Last year, he released his first album, "At Last, On Time," a collection of standards and new songs that combine the grit of the South with the sophistication of urban blues. Robinson is unruffled by the prospect of playing to a crowd 10 times his norm. "I wanted the challenge of playing to 2,000 people," he says. "I've played at some of the festivals to the bigger crowds. Now I'm ready for the big leagues." - Christopher Muther Previous page | Next page

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