Singer Joseph “Mojo” Morganfield, son of blues legend Muddy Waters, has died at 56
JOSEPH “MOJO” MORGANFIELD: APRIL 14, 1964 – DECEMBER 10, 2020
Singer Joseph “Mojo” Morganfield, a son of blues legend Muddy Waters, died Thursday morning, according to his publicist Lynn Orman Weiss. He collapsed at the home in Waukegan where he lived with his wife, Deborah, whom he’d married three months ago. He was 56. Weiss said the cause was unknown. An autopsy is pending.
Mr. Morganfield, who leaves behind seven children, grew up in Westmont with his famous father and his stepmother, Marva.
“My father would’ve found so much joy in what Joseph has accomplished. Joseph was living his best life when he passed away. Few people leave this Earth doing what they were meant to be doing. The family is deeply, deeply brokenhearted,” said Mercy Morganfield, Mr. Morganfield’s sister, and executor of the Muddy Waters estate.
Young Joseph played basketball at Westmont High School and the University of Northern Iowa. Because of his athletic prowess, Orman Weiss said he and his father used to “joke about who’s going to get the most ink in their lifetimes.”
He was looking forward to publicizing his new Delmark single “It’s Good to Be King” and to a new full-length CD that was being produced by Grammy winner Michael Freeman, Orman Weiss said.
“He was so joyful,” she said. In a Sun-Times story published earlier this week, Morganfield said he planned to complete the album next year with his band, the Mannish Boyz.
