Huddie William Ledbetter (/ˈhjuːdi/; January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949), better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folkand blues singer, musician and songwriter notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of “Goodnight, Irene“, “Midnight Special“, “Cotton Fields“, and “Boll Weevil“.

Lead Belly usually played a twelve-string guitar, but he also played the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, and windjammer. In some of his recordings, he sang while clapping his hands or stomping his foot.

Lead Belly’s songs covered a wide range of genres and topics including gospel music; blues about women, liquor, prison life, and racism; and folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing. He also wrote songs about people in the news, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, Jack Johnson, the Scottsboro Boys and Howard Hughes. Lead Belly was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

Though many releases credit him as “Leadbelly”, he himself wrote it as “Lead Belly”, which is also the spelling on his tombstone and the spelling used by the Lead Belly Foundation.

Lead Belly pronounced his first name /ˈhjuːdi/ (HYOO-dee, as if spelled “Hudie”). He can be heard pronouncing his name this way on one of his recordings of “Boll Weevil”.The younger of two children, Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter to Sallie Brown and Wesley Ledbetter on a plantation near Mooringsport, Louisiana, on January 20, 1888. His parents had cohabited for several years, but they legally married on February 26, 1888. When Huddie was five years old, the family settled in Bowie County, Texas. The 1900 United States Census lists “Hudy Ledbetter” as 12 years old, born January 1888, and the 1910 and 1930 censuses also give his age as corresponding to a birth in 1888. The 1940 census lists his age as 51, with information supplied by wife Martha. However, in April 1942, when Ledbetter filled out his World War II draft registration card, he gave his birth date as January 23, 1889, and his birthplace as Freeport, Louisiana(“Shreveport”). His grave marker bears the date given on his draft registration.