[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 15971-15972]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNIZING MR. PERVIS SPANN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOBBY L. RUSH

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 16, 2017

  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Mr. Pervis Spann 
who was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame on Sunday, October 
15, 2017.
  Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, Mr. Spann spent his teenage years 
caring for his ailing mother after she suffered a stroke. Eventually, 
he and his family moved to Battle Creek, Michigan in 1949. His time 
there was short-lived as he soon left to work in Gary, Indiana, and 
served his country with by serving in the Korean War, before returning 
to live in Chicago where he worked in a steel mill, drove a taxi, and 
repaired television sets.
  Like many young men of the era, Mr. Spann used his G.I. Bill benefits 
to advance his education when he attended the Midwestern Broadcasting 
School, which led to his work on WOPA radio in 1959. Only a year later, 
he organized his first concert featuring B.B. King and Junior Parker 
and three years later, when Leonard and Phil Chess launched WVON, Mr. 
Spann hosted a regular late night blues slot and became known as the 
``all-night blues man.'' His most famous act of the era was when he 
hosted an 87-hour ``sleepless sit-in'' to raise money for Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr.
  During the 1960s, Mr. Spann managed the careers of leading artists 
including B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, Albert King, Little 
Milton, and, as he recalls, had a role in discovering the Jackson 5 and 
Chaka Khan.
  In 1975, after WVON was sold and changed frequency, Mr. Spann, in 
partnership with Vernon Jarrett and Wesley South, bought the license to 
the original frequency and launched a new station, WXOL, which featured 
an all-blues format and many of the same voices from the old WVON. 
Later, in 1983, WXOL was able to reclaim the old call letters and 
resumed operation as WVON.
  Today, Mr. Spann, with his daughter, Melody Spann Cooper at the helm 
of WVON (which I must note is located in my district), continues his 
career promoting the blues as the cohost of the popular cable TV 
program ``Blues and More.''
  Needless to say, Mr. Pervis Spann has accomplished much in his 
lifetime and has helped craft the blues so many of us know and love 
today.
  Before I close, Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I didn't take a 
moment to note a few of Mr. Spann's well-known words of wisdom. As he 
said it, ``If you don't love the blues, you got a hole in your soul.'' 
As a lover of blues, myself, I can confirm the veracity of his words.
  So, Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all of my constituents in the 1st 
Congressional District of Illinois, I would like to once again extend 
my sincerest congratulations.

[[Page 15972]]



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