Chicago blues guitarist Magic Slim dies aged 75

Magic Slim, the Chicago blues guitarist, has died aged 75.

A heavy smoker who suffered from emphysema and heart problems, Slim was forced by illness to cut short a tour with his band, the Teardrops, in late January, reports Reuters.

Born Morris Holt to Mississippi sharecroppers in August 1937, Slim started out playing the piano. But after losing a little finger in a cotton gin accident at 14, he switched to guitar.

On his first trip to Chicago to play for friend and mentor Magic Sam, Sam nicknamed his friend Slim on account of his physique.

Slim cut his first single, "Scufflin'", in 1966, and went on to release 30 albums throughout his career - the last of which, Bad Boy, was released last August on Blind Pig records.

"There's probably not another bluesman who had quite the repertoire that Slim had," said his manager, Martin Salzman.

"Magic Slim embodied the heart and soul of this label,” Blind Pig Records owner Jerry Del Giudice told Billboard. “It was Magic Slim, and the guys like him, and their music, that inspired us to start the label in the first place."