[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 166 (Monday, October 16, 2017)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E1380] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] RECOGNIZING MR. PERVIS SPANN ______ HON. BOBBY L. RUSH of illinois in the house of representatives Monday, October 16, 2017 Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Mr. Pervis Spann who was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame on Sunday, October 15, 2017. Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, Mr. Spann spent his teenage years caring for his ailing mother after she suffered a stroke. Eventually, he and his family moved to Battle Creek, Michigan in 1949. His time there was short-lived as he soon left to work in Gary, Indiana, and served his country with by serving in the Korean War, before returning to live in Chicago where he worked in a steel mill, drove a taxi, and repaired television sets. Like many young men of the era, Mr. Spann used his G.I. Bill benefits to advance his education when he attended the Midwestern Broadcasting School, which led to his work on WOPA radio in 1959. Only a year later, he organized his first concert featuring B.B. King and Junior Parker and three years later, when Leonard and Phil Chess launched WVON, Mr. Spann hosted a regular late night blues slot and became known as the ``all-night blues man.'' His most famous act of the era was when he hosted an 87-hour ``sleepless sit-in'' to raise money for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. During the 1960s, Mr. Spann managed the careers of leading artists including B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, Albert King, Little Milton, and, as he recalls, had a role in discovering the Jackson 5 and Chaka Khan. In 1975, after WVON was sold and changed frequency, Mr. Spann, in partnership with Vernon Jarrett and Wesley South, bought the license to the original frequency and launched a new station, WXOL, which featured an all-blues format and many of the same voices from the old WVON. Later, in 1983, WXOL was able to reclaim the old call letters and resumed operation as WVON. Today, Mr. Spann, with his daughter, Melody Spann Cooper at the helm of WVON (which I must note is located in my district), continues his career promoting the blues as the cohost of the popular cable TV program ``Blues and More.'' Needless to say, Mr. Pervis Spann has accomplished much in his lifetime and has helped craft the blues so many of us know and love today. Before I close, Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to note a few of Mr. Spann's well-known words of wisdom. As he said it, ``If you don't love the blues, you got a hole in your soul.'' As a lover of blues, myself, I can confirm the veracity of his words. So, Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all of my constituents in the 1st Congressional District of Illinois, I would like to once again extend my sincerest congratulations. ____________________