Memphis blues musician Wilroy Sanders, perhaps best known for owning the South Memphis nightclub Green’s Lounge and leading the band the Fieldstones, died Tuesday afternoon at his home after a long battle with lung cancer, according to Sanders’ great-niece, Candice Ivory. Sanders was 76 years old.
“Uncle Wilroy had been kind of going down this summer. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer but had been able to work through it [for a while]. He went into hospice care a few weeks ago,” Ivory said.
“We’re still trying to determine how many grandchildren, how great grandchildren,” said Ivory, who is assisting Sanders’ widow, Dorothy Mae Tucker Sanders, with funeral arrangements.
A Korean War veteran, Sanders presided over the vital Green’s Lounge scene and, along with such artists as Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, and Othar Turner, was a key figure in the Mid-South’s fruitful traditional blues scene in the 1990s. He was featured in the 1999 documentary and soundtrack album Will Roy Sanders: The Last Living Bluesman on Shangri-La Projects.
“There were a lot of people who really adored him and really appreciated his music, but I didn’t feel like — and I don’t think he felt like — he ever really got his due,” Ivory said.
