SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – What better way to celebrate turning 90-years-old than with hundreds of your closest friends and fans. In Monday’s Zevely Zone, Jeff went to Kearny Mesa to Proud Mary’s Southern Bar and Grill to wish Blues legend, Tomcat Courtney, a happy birthday.
Since 1971, Tomcat Courtney has been a San Diego treasure, but his story starts in Downsnville, Texas where he had plenty of reasons to sing the blues. Tomcat was born in 1929, one week after Martin Luther King Jr. “He’s been my hero since I was 19.”
Will La Fond, a close friend, said Tomcat was essentially left an orphan – fending for himself. A circus showman was born until music called his name.
Tomcat spent his life signing the blues but wakes up happy every day. His secret to success? All his fans and good food, he said.
Guitarist, Scottie Blinn, said his friend just gets better with age.
Tomcat pours his heart and soul out on stage, but don’t ask the ladies’ man how he got that Tomcat nickname. “Well, I don’t know what you are going to call it, but he women were involved,” he said.
Tomcat Courtney was inducted into the California Music Hall of Fame in 2010. He still plays every week at Proud Mary’s Southern Bar and Grill and other San Diego venues.