"Weepin" Willie Robinson

BOSTON (AP) - "Weepin" Willie Robinson, a blues singer who performed with Steven Tyler and Bonnie Raitt but also spent time homeless, has died. He was 81.

Robinson died Sunday in a fire started by a cigarette he was smoking in bed, the Boston Fire Department said.

He worked at a benefit concert with Tyler and two Boston Music Awards shows, in 2005 and again this month.

Robinson was born in Atlanta and picked cotton and fruit with his family up and down the East Coast. After spending time in the Army in the 1940s, he became a master of ceremonies and doorman at blues clubs in Trenton, N.J., where he met and became friends with B.B. King and other musicians. He eventually sang with King's 21-piece orchestra.

Robinson settled in Boston in 1959 and played in clubs, but by 2005 he was living on the street and out of touch with his family. Blues performers learned of his situation, held a benefit concert, and made sure he was fed and clothed.

Robinson later performed everywhere from local clubs to the hallways of the rest home where he lived.
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