Leroy Carr (March 27, 1905 ? April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced artists like Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928 for which he wrote the music. Career Carr was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1905 and grew up in the black section of Indianapolis, Indiana. Here he partnered with jazz guitarist Scrapper Blackwell and their work showed a distinctive urban influence that was unlike the intensely emotional vocals and heavyily rhythmatic guitar back up, often bottleneck guitar style, of the Mississippi bluesmen. He was one of the first Northern bluesmen. Vocalion Records recorded him in 1928 and his first release "How Long, How Long Blues" was an immediate success. The innovation was in the sophisticated piano-guitar accompaniment and

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