[4] Muddy Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, and by age 17 was playing the guitar and the harmonica, copying local blues artists Son House and Robert Johnson.

In the early 1950s, Muddy Waters and his band—Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elga Edmonds (also known as Elgin Evans) on drums and Otis Spann on piano—recorded several songs that became blues classics, some with the bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon.

[8] In the 1930s and 1940s, before his rise to fame, the year of his birth was reported as 1913 on his marriage license, recording notes, and musicians' union card.

"[15] In 1946, he recorded some songs for Mayo Williams at Columbia Records, with an old-fashioned combo consisting of clarinet, saxophone and piano; they were released a year later with Ivan Ballen's Philadelphia-based 20th Century label, billed as James "Sweet Lucy" Carter and his Orchestra – Muddy Waters' name was not mentioned on the label.

Gradually, Chess relented, and by September 1953 he was recording with one of the most acclaimed blues groups in history: Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elga Edmonds (also known as Elgin Evans) on drums, Otis Spann on piano and sometimes, bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon.

[24] The band recorded a number of blues songs which have become classics including "Hoochie Coochie Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You", and "I'm Ready".

His band became a proving ground for some of the city's best blues talent,[25][better source needed] with members of the ensemble going on to successful careers of their own.

[30] Muddy toured England with Spann in 1958 where they were backed by local Dixieland-style or "trad jazz" musicians, including Chris Barber and members of his band.

[31] At the time, English audiences had only been exposed to acoustic folk blues, as performed by artists such as Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Big Bill Broonzy.

[31]Although his performances alienated the old guard, some younger musicians, including Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies from Barber's band, were inspired to go in the more modern, electric blues direction.

[35] Folk Singer was not a commercial success, but it was lauded by critic Joe Kane, and in 2003 Rolling Stone magazine placed it at number 280 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

[36] In October 1963, Waters participated in the first of several annual European tours, organized as the American Folk Blues Festival, during which he also performed more acoustic-oriented numbers.

[26] It was, as Ken Chang wrote in his AllMusic review, flooded with "contentious studio banter [...] more entertaining than the otherwise unmemorable music from this stylistic train wreck".

Fathers and Sons had an all-star backing band that included Michael Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield, longtime fans whose desire to play with him was the impetus for the album.

The British and Irish musicians who played on the album included Rory Gallagher, Steve Winwood, Rick Grech, and Mitch Mitchell.

An album, CD, and streaming release featuring many of his best known songs from these performances was compiled in 2021 as Muddy Waters: The Montreux Years.

[46] In 1974, his backing musicians in Montreux included Buddy Guy, Pinetop Perkins, Junior Wells, and Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman.

He was joined onstage by Johnny Winter and Buddy Miles, and played classics like "Mannish Boy", "Trouble No More", and "Mojo Working" to a new generation of fans.

On November 22, he performed live with three members of the Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood) at the Checkerboard Lounge, a blues club in Bronzeville, on the South Side of Chicago, which Buddy Guy and L.C.

Gaining custody of three of his children, Joseph, Renee, and Rosalind, he moved them into his home, eventually buying a new house in Westmont, Illinois.

In 1977, he met Marva Jean Brooks, whom he nicknamed "Sunshine", at a Florida hotel;[57] Eric Clapton served as best man at their wedding in 1979.

In 2017, his youngest son, Joseph "Mojo" Morganfield, began publicly performing the blues, and played occasionally with his brothers;[60] he died in 2020 at the age of 56.

[61] Muddy Waters died in his sleep at his home in Westmont, Illinois, on April 30, 1983 from heart failure and cancer-related complications.

[62] He was taken from his Westmont home, where he lived for the last decade of his life, to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Illinois,[63] where he was pronounced dead.

In 2010, his heirs were petitioning the courts to appoint Mercy Morganfield, his daughter, as administrator who would then control the assets of his estate which were mainly copyrights to his music.

[65] Two years after his death, the city of Chicago paid tribute to him by designating the one-block section between 900 and 1000 East 43rd Street near his former home on the south side "Honorary Muddy Waters Drive".

[67] The Chicago suburb of Westmont, where he lived the last decade of his life, named a section of Cass Avenue near his home "Honorary Muddy Waters Way".

Canned Heat also covered the song at the Monterey Pop Festival and later Bob Dylan played it on his album Modern Times.

[73] In 1993, Paul Rodgers released the album Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters, on which he covered a number of his songs, including "Louisiana Blues", "Rollin' Stone", "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I'm Ready" in collaboration with guitarists Gary Moore, Brian May and Jeff Beck.

[76]Muddy Waters' songs have been featured in long-time fan Martin Scorsese's movies, including The Color of Money, Goodfellas, and Casino.