Musician; born in Hazelhurst, Miss. A singer-guitarist, he was the most celebrated and legendary of the Mississippi Delta bluesmen. An itinerant performer, he played on street corners and in juke joints throughout the Deep South before he was poisoned to death at the age of 27. In 1936--37, he recorded 29 songs in Dallas and San Antonio, most of which are staples of the blues and rock repertoires. Johnson's musical brilliance and tormented sensibility were ascribed to his Faustian bargain with the devil, a myth that remains at the heart of the blues. In 1990, a retrospective collection of Johnson's recordings became a million-selling album. The movie Crossroads is one of numerous attempts at elucidating his obscure life.