Chicago blues legend Willie Dixon was born this day in 1915 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Although Dixon's impact on the blues world may not have been as immediate as that of friends and contemporaries like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, his role in shaping the future of the blues is no less vital. Arguably the first professional blues songwriter, artists like Waters, Wolf, Little Walter, and Koko Taylor had hits with Dixon's songs.