Omar Sharriff

American Texas blues singer and pianist, born March 10, 1938, in Shreveport, Louisiana as Dave Alexander, died January 8, 2012. He moved to the West Coast in 1958, converting to Islam in 1960 (changing name to Omar Hakim Khayam in 1976, and later to Omar Sharriff). He recorded for World Pacific in 1969 and for Arhoolie in 1971-1972. Personal tragedies then kept him away from recording for almost two decades, but new recordings appeared in the 1990s on Arhoolie and Have Mercy.