What Is James Cotton Cause Of Death? Renowned Blues Harmonica Player Dies At 81

Blues harmonica legend James Cotton died at a medical center in Austin, Texas on Thursday, at the age of 81, a representative for the musician’s label Alligator Records confirmed.

The blues harmonica virtuoso’s cause of death was pneumonia, according to Marc Lipkin, the director of publicity at Alligator Records, the New York Times reported.

Born at a cotton farm in Tunica, Mississippi on July 1, 1935, Cotton started his six decades-long career as a musician by learning the instrument under Sonny Boy Williamson II, going on to release two hit singles for Sun Records — “Straighten Up Baby” and “Cotton Crop Blues.”

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Cottons spent a lot of time, after he turned 20, touring and recording with Muddy Waters, the blues musician often considered the “father of modern Chicago blues.”

“I was there for a couple of years before I got to be on the albums,” Cotton explained why he only started appearing in Waters’ recordings in 1956, even though he was hired in 1954, in a 2001 interview. “Muddy wanted me to be just like Little Walter. I told him, ‘Hey, I’ll never be Little Walter, but I can play your music, so you’ve got to give me a chance.’ I guess he heard that.”

The harmonica player started his solo career in 1966 and played with other legends like Matt “Guitar” Murphy and Hubert Sumlin, along with blues-rock performances with Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, B.B. King, Santana, Steve Miller and Freddie King, and others.

His most recent album, “Cotton Mouth Man,” came out in 2013 and received a nomination for the Grammys.

“You work so hard to get it that once you get it, you don’t want to let it go, because at that point, it’s yours,” Cotton told the Rolling Stone magazine in 2013, as he discussed his retirement. “You paid the price for it, and it’s yours. You didn’t give it up when you didn’t have a place to sleep tonight. It’s because you want to be there and you enjoy yourself.”

The music legend is survived by his wife, Jacklyn Hairston Cotton, daughters Teresa Hampton and Marshall Ann Cotton, and son James Patrick Cotton, as well as his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The family will announce the funeral arrangements.