Hall of Fame

2008 Inductees

(1937 – 1996)

A multi-talented musician, Johnny Heartsman was proficient in playing a variety of instruments and sang with a rich, mellow voice. He is instantly recognizable by the way he used the volume control on his guitar to make his trademark moan. Born in San Fernando, California in 1937, Johnny started making records when he was 16 years old for Bob Geddins in Oakland in the 1950’s.

Johnny played many instruments: the cello (his first instrument in high school), guitar, bass, piano and keyboards, organ, and blues flute. He was well respected while he toured in Europe and Japan.

He wrote, published, and recorded mostly his own music. His first hit was “Johnny’s House Party parts 1 and 2” in 1957. He has worked with Lowell Fulson, Tiny Powell, Al King, Joe Simon, Etta James, Jimmy McCracklin and many others. He received the Big Bill Broonzy award from the Academy of Jazz in France in 1990 for his album “Sacramento” which he recorded in Germany for CrossCut Records. Other albums (cds) include “Music of My Heart“, “The Touch” recorded at Alligator Records, and “Shine On” and “Still Shinin” recorded for Big Mike Balma in Sacramento. He also recorded albums with a group in Germany called Blues Company. He has influenced other musicians like Robert Cray and Joe Louis Walker. Johnny continued to be a versatile performer up to his death in Sacramento, CA in 1996.

(1936 – 2008)

Gene Chambers was a longtime Sacramento blues musician, teacher and mentor had always cared deeply about the blues scene and blues musicians around our area.

He was born in September 1936 in a small town called Coffeyville, Kansas. He started playing blues with his first guitar in the Air Force while being stationed in Japan. From that time on, his love for playing the blues never ceased. He was in the off-duty legendry band called The House Rockers and the Sensations throughout his duty in Japan, traveling to many Airforce bases and entertaining servicemen and their families. After almost a decade stay in Japan, he returned to the US to Austin, Texas. Here he played with locally well known Joe Valentines Band until his retirement from the USAF. After settling in Sacramento, he formed The Bits and Pieces Band where he continued playing the blues. He truly enjoyed playing the blues while sharing his talents and expertise with young blues musicians in Sacramento area and helping to promote the Sacramento Blues Society.

Gene passed away in January, 2008 but his deep love of blues echoes today as seen in the Gene Chambers Musicians Crisis Fund which was established to help continue his deep concern and love for fellow blues musicians in a time of need.

Arbess has been singing since she was 15 years old and is still singing the blues today to inspire people from every way of life. Arbess started singing in her church in San Diego in her childhood, and then went on to singing the blues which she calls “deep down thing”. She sang at Tahoe while she had a barber job and also sang with Johnny Heartsman for quite a while “learning a lot” from him. Together they recorded, “I Just Want to Party All Night” for Mercy Me! Records. Her backup band for many years was a group from Sacramento known as The Luminators (Lew Fratis, Dave Garrity & Pat Balcom).

Today “blues diva” Arbess is continuing to sing and “make a connection with people of all ages and backgrounds. Arbess states, “Blues was created here. It’s real American music —it’s spiritual and I like to sing to a mixture of people. Blues music is a universal language, and I like to have a little bit for everybody. (By Kimiko Chambers From Living Blues Magazine, No. 114, April 1994)