Exile.
Eddie Boyd (born 1914) was an African-American blues artist (singer, songwriter and pianist) who moved to Europe to get away from the racial discrimination in the U.S. in the late 1960s, ending up in Helsinki, Finland in 1970. He married his Finnish girlfriend in 1977 and died in Helsinki 1994 at the age of 79.
Boyd had some hits in the U.S. in the early 1950s, the biggest one being Five Long Years. In Europe he recorded and toured with Fleetwood Mac ja John Mayall Bluesbreakers and various Dutch and Finnish musicians. He performed blues until 1984, concentrating on gospel music in the last decade of his life. Click for full size!
© Ice Swimmer, all rights reserved.
He was around when there were still “race records.” Not that the U.S. music industry has improved all that much.
Beautiful light in the photograph, Ice Swimmer. The glow of buildings matches the sign, very nice.
Thank you, Caine! I had a more wintery (taken in February) version of this picture originally, but it had worse perspective and angle problems (the plaque is fairly high) and the amount of light was a bit low. It was worth the trouble to reshoot it.