Golden "Big" Wheeler
Chicago blues singer (1929-1998)

Golden "Big" Wheeler (December 15, 1929 – July 20, 1998) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter. He released two albums in his lifetime and is best known for his recordings of the songs "Damn Good Mojo" and "Bone Orchard". He worked with the Ice Cream Men and Jimmy Johnson. He was the brother of the blues musician James Wheeler.
Biography
He was born Golden Wheeler in Baconton, Georgia. He left Georgia in 1941 and settled in Chicago, Illinois, in July 1954, where he befriended Little Walter. His enthusiasm for playing the harmonica began when he was working as a taxicab driver. One of his regular customers was the harmonica player Buster Brown, who later had a hit record with "Fannie Mae", in 1960. Wheeler fronted his own band by 1956, although he was a part-time musician, working for years as an auto mechanic to supplement his income and provide for his family.
In 1993, Wheeler released his first album, Bone Orchard, on which he was backed by a local band, the Ice Cream Men.
“Golden "Big" Wheeler” enters the record as chicago blues singer (1929-1998). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Golden, Wheeler and Chicago can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5579092. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1929, 1998, 1941 and 1954.
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This entry incorporates text from “Golden "Big" Wheeler” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.