George Higgs

Biography Higgs was born in Edgecombe County, near Speed, North Carolina, United States. Higgs joked throughout his life about Speed; "a slow town with a fast name". Higgs trained as a carpenter, and he grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry, taking a liking to Uncle Dave Macon and DeFord Bailey. He then teamed up with another local bluesman, Elester Anderson, although Anderson's premature death in the mid-1970s left Higgs to begin performing solo.

In 1993, Higgs was granted the North Carolina Heritage Award from the North Carolina Arts Council. However in 1999, his family lost most of their possessions in the flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd, although they rebuilt their Tarboro home.

In 2001, Higgs' debut album, Tarboro Blues, was made in collaboration with the Music Maker Relief Foundation. Most of the songs Higgs performed on Tarboro Blues were cover versions, and traditional tunes, although Higgs was credited with writing four of the collection. The album contained versions of Blind Boy Fuller's "My Hook's in the Water" and "Black and Tan"; "Greasy Greens" originally by Peg Leg Sam; and Howlin' Wolf's "I'm Worried About That". Lightnin' Wells was an associate producer and wrote the liner notes, while Taj Mahal was credited as creative consultant. Tarboro Blues was named Best Blues Album of the Year by Living Blues. By this time his fame had spread and the musician David Holt counted Higgs among his mentors. Rainy Day followed in 2007, and Higgs was a major performer at Tarboro's 250th birthday celebration in 2010.

Raleigh Charter High School presented Higgs with a High School diploma in 2011, and around that time he was photographed on stage at the Pamlico Community College. His touring took in many venues in the United States. These included performing at the Carolina Blues Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; plus the Gathering of the Vibes; the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival; the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York; plus overseas he played at the Blues to Bop Festival in Lugano, Switzerland, and in Australia.