Grady Champion started his musical career in the early 1990s as a rapper named MC Gold, but he changed his style when he discovered the Blues. After a period of incorporating Blues samples into Hip Hop, Champion decided to sing instead of Rap, and learned to play harmonica too. One would never guess he’s not spent his whole life playing this music. Grady acknowledges Sonny Boy Williamson as his greatest influence, and people can hear exactly why on his Shanachie debut Payin' for My Sins released August 24, 1999. The album includes a version of "Don't Start Me to Talkin'" that really shows Grady's high-energy singing and harmonica playing and an update of the traditional blues lament "Goin' Down Slow" with an AIDS parable -- a hard-bitten vignette of modern life.
According to columnist and critic, Steve Pick, Grady Champion has already conquered one of the most important steps in building a Blues resume. He has his own voice, his own take on the world, lyrically and vocally. His revved-up, soulful vocalizing and the charm and insight he brings to his songwriting in numbers like the campy "My Rooster Is King" and the classic-sounding tale of infidelity "You Got Some Explaining to Do" (co-written by his producer Dennis Walker, who helped Robert Cray reach national fame) mark Grady as an important new talent.
