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Henry Townsend

(KMOV) - St. Louis said good-bye to a musical legend today. Henry Townsend died last week at the age of 96.

Townsend died in Grafton, Wisconsin, where he was being honored as the last surviving artist with Paramount Records.

The Grafton Blues Association brought a plaque honoring him to his hospital room before he died. Henry Townsend was the first blues artist to record music in nine consecutive decades. He recorded his first album in 1929, composing hundreds of songs throughout his career.

But Townsend only had a third grade education, and couldn't read music. He grew up on an Illinois cotton plantation, ran away at nine and caught a freight train to St. Louis, where he worked in the red light district. Later on, he lived in the same brick bungalow he shared for 40 years with his late wife, Vernell, who performed with him.

Townsend was buried alongside his wife today at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

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