Floyd Edward “Butter” McDaniel (born July 21, 1915 in Athens (Alabama) , † July 22, 1995 in Chicago ) was an American guitarist and singer in the field of blues , jazz , rhythm & blues and doo-wop .

McDaniel came to Chicago at the age of 15 and began his career in 1933 in the youth band The Rhythm Rascals , which debuted at the Chicago World’s Fair . A talent scout for the Cotton Club discovered him during an appearance at New York’s Apollo Theater , resulting in a longer commitment as head of the Cotton Club Tramp band led; Recordings were made in 1937 with The Tramp Band (with Lester “Pinky” Johnson and Al Cowans). From 1941 to 1954 he played in the Chicago jump blues group The Four Blazes(in changing lineups with Paul Lindsley “Jelly” Holt, Tommy Braden, Ernie Harper, William “Shorty” Hill, later as Five Blazers ), who also acted as Sam Cooke’sbacking band in the late 1950s . The Four Blazes successfully released several 78s on Aristocrat ( Chicago Boogie , 1947) and United Artists Records such as Night Train / Rug Cutter , Perfect Woman, Please Send Her Back to Me, Mary Jo (# 1 of the R&B charts 1952), All Night Long and Please Send Her Back to Me / Stop Boogie Woogie (1952) or as Five Blazesthe single Chicago Boogie / Dedicated to You. After the dissolution of the Five Blazes bought McDaniels a bar in Chicago.

In the following decade, McDaniel belonged to a rock band; In the 1970s, he appeared as a guitarist with one of the revival groups known as Ink Spots . In the 1980s, he played with Willie Dixon in the Big Three Trio . Recordings were made in 1991 for Delmark Records with the band The Blues Swingers , led by tenor saxophonist Dave Clark, stylistically based on the blues and rhythm & blues of the 40s ( Let Your Hair Down ! , Delmark). Shortly before his death occurred Floyd McDaniel 1994 at the Bremen Blue Festival Breminale on. He died of a heart attack on the Dan Ryan Expressway one day after his eightieth birthday .