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Little Victor

{{short description|American singer}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Little Victor

| image = Little Victor in 2015 at Sun Records 63rd Birthday Bash at the 02 in London, UK.jpg

| caption = Little Victor in 2015 at Sun Records 63rd Birthday Bash at The O2 Arena in London, England

| image_size =

| birth_name = Victor F. Macoggi

| alias = Victor Mac, The Beale Street Blues Bopper, DJ Mojo Man

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1967|01|31|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Rome, Italy

| death_date =

| death_place =

| instrument = Guitar, harmonica, drums, human voice

| genre = Blues, roots, rock and roll, americana, rhythm and blues, alternative

| occupation = Guitarist, harmonicist, singer, record producer, performer, disc jockey, entertainer

| years_active = 1981–present

| label = Ruf Records (former) Witchcraft Records (former) Wild Records USA (former) El Toro Records ( former) Bluestown Records (former) Rhythm Bomb Records and Rockstar Records UK Music Group (current)

| associated_acts = Tav Falco's Panther Burns, Alex Chilton, Louisiana Red, Hubert Sumlin, Kim Wilson, R.L. Burnside, Bob Corritore, Billy T, Harpdog Brown, Robert Belfour, David Maxwell, Joey Buddy, Daniel Jeanrenaud, Big Joe Louis, Little Geoge Sueref

| origin = West Memphis, Arkansas

| website = {{URL|Littlevictormusic.com}}

}}

Victor Mac (born Victor Macoggi on January 31, 1967) who is better known as Little Victor, The Beale Street Blues Bopper, and also DJ Mojo Man, is an Italian-American blues and roots singer, guitarist and harmonica player, as well as a record collector, musicologist, entertainer, disc jockey and record producer. He is best known for his association with Louisiana Red,{{cite web|url=http://www.bluesinthenorthwest.com/index.php/2011/12/04/review-louisiana-red-and-little-victors-juke-joint/ |title=Review: Louisiana Red and Little Victor's Juke Joint |website=Bluesinthenorthwest.com |date=2011-12-04 |access-date=2016-12-05}}{{cite web|url=http://thebluesblast.com/Archive/BluesBlasts/2009/BluesBlast6_18_09.htm |title=Illinois Blues - Blues news across the USA |website=Thebluesblast.com |date= |access-date=2016-12-05}} on the albums Back To The Black Bayou and Memphis Mojo.{{cite web|last1=Anderson|first1=Rick|title=Louisiana Red|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/back-to-the-black-bayou-mw0000810246|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=17 August 2014}}{{cite web|last=Hathaway |first=Josh |url=http://blindedbysound.com/review-louisiana-red-little-victor---back-to-the-blue-bayou/ |title=Review: Louisiana Red & Little Victor - Back To The Blue Bayou |publisher=Blinded by Sound |date=2010-12-31 |access-date=2016-12-05}}

Biography

Son of an Italian mother and an American serviceman{{cite web|url=http://www.backtotheroots.be/preview8105.htm|title=Back To The Roots - the blues magazine from Belgium|website=Backtotheroots.be|access-date=3 October 2017}} who was constantly on the move, Victor also leads a wanderer's life on both sides of the Atlantic. He was born in Rome, Italy. and he grew up in many different places. He lived in West Memphis, Arkansas, Austin, Texas, Memphis, Tennessee, and Louisiana. He also spent several years in Italy, France, Germany, and Spain, before moving to the UK in 2014. He speaks fluent English, French, Italian and Spanish, He started to sing at the age of 14 - in 1981 - hence the nickname of "Little" Victor. His first band mostly featured songs from the Sun Records vaults. At 16 he started to play harmonica inspired by Jimmy Reed and the following year first picked up the guitar. He played for tips on Beale Street in Memphis six days a week with Uncle Ben Perry, the "King of Handy Park." This association is why Little Victor is also known as The Beale Street Blues Bopper. He sang, played and recorded with many different roots, rock and blues bands in the 1980s and early 1990s. He also did some recordings with Alex Chilton and Hubert Sumlin, before releasing Cuttin' Out (1994). In 1999, Little Victor was involved in the production of a film documentary on R.L. Burnside entitled, A Day with...R.L. Burnside,{{cite web|url=https://www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/project.aspx?id=a37763f8-2028-4132-bbf8-91c570880885 |title=Un Jour Avec R.L. Burnside |website=Idfa.nl |date= |access-date=2017-01-13}} a collaboration with Sophie Kay which also spawned two albums together.

His association with his blues hero Louisiana Red, produced the albums Back To The Black Bayou (2009) and Memphis Mojo (2011). Victor's own effort, Boogie All Night, was issued by El Toro Records, in between those collaborations, whilst in 2013 he produced and played on Pig Fat's Shadow of the Night.{{cite web|author=Matthew Garbutt|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/little-victor-mn0000223974/biography |title=Little Victor | Biography & History |publisher=AllMusic |date= |access-date=2016-12-06}} In 2015, Little Victor toured Canada with the harmonica player Harpdog Brown and, in 2016, he produced and played on Brown's Travelin' with the Blues recorded in California with Charlie Musselwhite, Big Jon Atkinson, Rusty Zinn, Carl Sonny Leyland and Jimmy Morello.

The music journalist Johnny Whiteside, writing in the Los Angeles Times, described Little Victor's style of music: {{quotation|'Little Victor (is) an untamed maverick whose raw, primitive sounds are the utter antithesis of the contemporary blues model. The offbeat singer-guitarist... eschews the genre’s prevalent trend for streamlined six-string virtuosity in favor of wild shouting, stabbing guitar and heavy, almost hypnotic, rhythmic repetition... He can effortlessly switch from shadowy, primitive low blues to the polished, uptown Beale Street-style R&B... to wild, wicked boogies, and all of it is put across with expressive, soul-deep conviction.'{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/tn-blr-et-little-victor-to-present-two-energetic-shows-20140120-story.html|author=Johnny Whiteside|title=Little Victor to present two energetic shows|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=January 20, 2014|access-date=October 3, 2019}}}}

In 2017, he started to work as a freelance consultant and producer for the Rockstar Records UK Group. He produced various albums that were released by Rhythm Bomb Records such as The Blues of Little Walter by Mo Al Jaz & Friends and Jelly Roll Shuffle by the Jelly Roll Men. He also worked on a series of anthologies of obscure 1950s blues and rhythm and blues, for the Koko-Mojo label.

In 2018, Victor released Deluxe Lo-Fi, recorded over an eight-year period with various musicians, including the Downhome Kings, Kim Wilson, Big Jon Atkinson, Rusty Zinn, Carl Sonny Leyland, Steve Lucky and Harpdog Brown. The songs, mostly Little Victor's original compositions, display a wide range of styles. In an interview with the Good New Music blog, Victor said, 'The whole point here and the ‘concept’ of this album is about songs captured on old magnetic tape with vintage tube equipment at great vintage studios... the last two songs were recorded at a ‘modern’ state-of-the-art studio in Hollywood by the great Jeff ‘Mox’ Moxley but both songs were bounced through a vintage tube desk on magnetic tape, so the outcome sounds just like the other songs and has the same ‘vibe’ and feel.'[http://goodnewmusic.com/?p=5379 Peter Hund, Little Victor: Deluxe Lo-Fi], Good New Music

Deluxe Lo-Fi was voted 2018 "Album Of The Year" in the UK by The Blues Lounge{{Cite web|url=https://www.theblueslounge.com/2018-blues-lounge-awardsnew-page|title=2018 BLUES LOUNGE AWARDS|website=Theblueslounge.com|access-date=April 13, 2021}} and in Scandinavia by BluesNews magazine.

In January 2020, Little Victor formed the Mighty Lo-Fi Kings, a new band with Rob Glazebrook, in which both play guitar and share vocals. Orlando Shearer pays bass and Nick Simonon the drums. The band regularly performed at Peggy Sue's Music Bar in Leigh-on-Sea and the Black Lion in Brighton, until the COVID lockdown, in March 2020, ended live music.

In 2023, Little Victor, with fellow American blues singer and guitarist Son Jack Jnr, formed The Two Bad Jims, a band playing the North Mississippi Hill country blues and boogie of R. L. Burnside. The band, which also features Nick Simonon on drums, took their name from Burnside's 1994 album, Two Bad Jim.{{cite web|url=https://thundertownmusic.com/the-too-bad-jims |title=The Two Bad Jims biography |website=Thundertownmusic.com|access-date=December 29, 2024}}

File:The Mojo Man.jpg

Selected discography

=As artist=

class="wikitable sortable"
Year || Title || Credit(s) || Record label
1994Cuttin' Outstyle="text-align:center;"|Little Victorstyle="text-align:center;"|Blue Jay Records
1996Space Shufflestyle="text-align:center;"|Little Victorstyle="text-align:center;"|Blue Jay Records
2000Cookin' with Gasstyle="text-align:center;"|Little Victor & Sophie Kaystyle="text-align:center;"|Blue Rabbit Records
2001Just Rockin' The Bluesstyle="text-align:center;"|Little Victor & Sophie Kaystyle="text-align:center;"|Blue Rabbit Records
2007Blues Shakedown (EP)style="text-align:center;"|Little Victorstyle="text-align:center;"|Witchcraft Records
2008Back to the Black Bayoustyle="text-align:center;"|Louisiana Red & Little Victor's Juke Jointstyle="text-align:center;"|Bluestown Records
2009Let's Get Highstyle="text-align:center;"|Little Victorstyle="text-align:center;"|Wild Records
2009Back to the Black Bayoustyle="text-align:center;"|Louisiana Red & Little Victor's Juke Jointstyle="text-align:center;"|Ruf Records{{cite web|url=http://www.bostonblues.com/features.php?key=cdRed-Bayou |title=CD review - Louisiana Red, - Back To The Black Bayou |website=BostonBlues.com |date= |access-date=2016-12-06}}{{cite web|url=http://www.elsewhere.co.nz/blues/4747/louisiana-red-and-little-victors-juke-joint-memphis-mojo-ruf-yellow-eye/ |title=Louisiana Red and Little Victor's Juke Joint: Memphis Mojo (Ruf/Yellow Eye) | Elsewhere by Graham Reid |website=Elsewhere.co.nz |date=2012-02-08 |access-date=2016-12-06}}
2011Boogie All Nightstyle="text-align:center;"|Little Victorstyle="text-align:center;"|El Toro Records{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/boogie-all-night-mw0002189832 |title=Boogie All Night - Little Victor | Songs, Reviews, Credits |publisher=AllMusic |date= |access-date=2016-12-06}}
2011Memphis Mojostyle="text-align:center;"|Louisiana Red & Little Victor's Juke Jointstyle="text-align:center;"|Ruf Records{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.americanbluesscene.com/2011/11/memphis-mojo-by-louisiana-red-is-a-juke-joint-on-an-album/ |title=Memphis Mojo by Louisiana Red is a Juke Joint on an Album | American Blues Scene Magazine |website=Americanbluesscene.com |date= 15 November 2011|access-date=2016-12-06}}
2018Deluxe Lo-Fistyle="text-align:center;"|Little Victorstyle="text-align:center;"|Rhythm Bomb Records

=As band member/producer=

  • Ras Smaila - Black Man's Blues (2000) (Dixiefrog)
  • Sophie Kay - Rengaines (2003) (Jano Records)
  • Simon Boyer - Let There Be Blues (2006) (Shuffle Records)
  • David Evans - Needy Times (2007) (Inside Memphis)
  • Tav Falco's Panther Burns - Conjurations: Seance for Deranged Lovers (2011) (Stag-O-Lee){{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/conjurations-seance-for-deranged-lovers-mw0002214968/credits |title=Conjurations: Seance for Deranged Lovers - Tav Falco's Panther Burns, Tav Falco | Credits |publisher=AllMusic |date=2011-10-25 |access-date=2017-01-13}}
  • Louisiana Red & Little Victor's Juke Joint - Back to the Black Bayou (2008 Bluestown / 2009 Ruf)
  • Jo' Buddy & Downhome King III - Everything's Gonna Be Alright (2010) (Ram Bam Records){{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Jo-Buddy-Down-Home-King-III-Everythings-Gonna-Be-Alright/release/4804459 |title=Jo' Buddy & Down Home King III - Everything's Gonna Be Alright (CD, Album) |website=Discogs.com |date= |access-date=2017-01-13}}
  • Little Victor - Boogie All Night (2011) (El Toro Records)
  • Louisiana Red & Little Victor's Juke Joint - Memphis Mojo (2011) (Ruf Records)
  • Pig Fat - Shadow of the Night (2013) (Pig Fat Records){{cite web|url=http://tidido.com/a35184374412756/al55f191c9a5f3907573983dad |title=Shadow of the Night : Pig Fat (2013)|website=Tidido.com |date= |access-date=2017-01-13}}
  • Harpdog Brown - Travelin' With The Blues (2016) (Doghouse Records){{cite web|author=|url=http://www.harpdogbrown.com/store/travelin-with-the-blues |title=Travelin' With The Blues — Harpdog Brown |website=Harpdogbrown.com |date=2015-11-30 |access-date=2017-01-13}}
  • Mo Al Jaz & Friends - The Blues of Little Walter (2017) (Chest/Rhythm Bomb Records)
  • Dexter Shaw & The Wolftones - Dexin' (2017) (Rhythm Bomb Records)
  • Egidio "Juke" Ingala & The Jacknives - Switcharoo (2017) (Rhythm Bomb Records)
  • The Jelly Roll Men - Jelly Roll Shuffle (2017) (Rhythm Bomb Records)

=The Mojo Man presents (CDs)=

  • Various - Cheap Old Wine & Wiskey (2017) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Bad Hangover (2017) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - You're Too Bad (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Burning Frets (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Love Shock (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Fool Mule (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Burning Frets (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Don't Mess With Me Baby (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Cat Scratchin' (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Do You Mean It? (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - I Ain't Gonna Hush (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Take A Trip (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Sputnik Dance (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Motorvatin' Vol.1 (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Motorvatin' Vol.2 (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Sugar Jump (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Dapper Dan (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Wild Life (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Voodoo Lou (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Holy Smoke (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - It's A Man Down There (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Crockroach Run (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Work With It (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Black Halloween (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Blink Before Christmas (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Popcorn Blues Party Vol.1 (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Popcorn Blues Party Vol.2 (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Popcorn Blues Party Vol.3 (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)

=The Mojo Man presents (Vinyl EPs)=

  • Andre Williams - Don't Touch (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Gangsters & Lovers (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Joe Tex - Cuttin' (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Gene & Eunice (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Larry Williams (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)

=The Mojo Man presents (Vinyl LPs)=

  • Various - Too Much Booze (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Bad Hangover (2018) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Walking Girl (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)
  • Various - Back Fire (2019) (Koko-Mojo Records)

Awards

  • 2009: Grand Prix du Disque (France) Louisiana Red & Little Victor's Juke Joint - Back to the Black Bayou{{cite web|url=https://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1412431895 |title=WRBS Weekly Bluesletter :: White Rock Blues Society |website=MyNewsletterBuilder.com |date= |access-date=2017-01-13}}
  • 2009: German Record Critics' Award (Germany) Louisiana Red & Little Victor's Juke Joint - Back to the Black Bayou
  • 2010: Blues Music Awards (USA) : Nominations{{cite web|last1=Gordon|first1=Keith|title=Blues Music Awards|url=http://blues.about.com/od/bluesawards/a/BluesMusic2010.htm|website=About.com|access-date=2017-01-12|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117071336/http://blues.about.com/od/bluesawards/a/BluesMusic2010.htm|archive-date=2015-11-17}} for "Blues Album of the Year" and "Traditional Blues Album of the Year"{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at6nqvVOvk8 |title=Little Victor's Juke Joint W/Louisiana Red-Blues Music Awards |publisher=YouTube |date=2011-03-24 |access-date=2017-01-13}}
  • 2011: Jimi Awards (USA) Louisiana Red & Little Victor's Juke Joint - Memphis Mojo for Best Live Album of the Year{{cite web|url=http://blues411.com/blues411-the-jimi-awards-for-2011/ |title=Blues411 : The Jimi Awards for 2011 |website=Blues411.com |access-date=2017-01-13}}
  • 2016: Maple Blues Awards (Canada) : Nomination for "Recording/Producer of the Year"
  • 2018: Blues Lounge Radio Show Awards: Best Album award for Deluxe Lo-Fi{{Cite web|url=https://www.theblueslounge.com/2018-blues-lounge-awardsnew-page|title=2018 BLUES LOUNGE AWARDS|website=Theblueslounge.com}}
  • 2019: Blues Lounge Radio Show Awards: Hall of Fame Inductee{{Cite web|url=https://www.theblueslounge.com/2018-blues-lounge-awards|title=BLUES LOUNGE AWARDS|website=Theblueslounge.com}}

References

{{Reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victor, Little}}

Category:1967 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from West Memphis, Arkansas

Category:American blues singers

Category:American male singers

Category:American blues guitarists

Category:American blues harmonica players

Category:Songwriters from Arkansas

Category:Record producers from Arkansas

Category:Electric blues musicians

Category:Guitarists from Arkansas

Category:20th-century American guitarists

Category:American male guitarists

Category:20th-century American male musicians

Category:American male songwriters

Category:Tav Falco's Panther Burns members