Awesome Fat Guy of the Week.

While looking through the DailyMail website, which if you read my Damn!! posts you'd know I spend a lot of time at, I saw an article about the death of Charles "Skip" Pitts. It wasn't until I looked at the article that I realized Charles "Skip" Pitts was an Awesome Fat Guy. I also learned that he has sadly passed. Which means it is only right that he be the Awesome Fat Guy of the Week.

Charles Pitts was born on April 7, 1947 in Washington, D.C. He learned to play the guitar at the age of 11. He would often receive tips from his neighbor Bo Diddley. Which is like getting driving tips from Mario Andretti. Charles was also lucky enough to meet James Brown and Otis Redding during those years.

Pitts got his first break at the age of 17. He performed on Gene Chandler's "Rainbow '65". It was the beginning of an amazing career. In 1969 Pitts joined the Isley Brothers band. He is solely responsible for the signature riff from their hit "It's Your Thing".

In 1970 Pitts joined Isaac Hayes' band. He stayed with the band for over 30 years. He appeared on many of Hayes' hit albums and soundtracks. He created the guitar intro for the "Theme From Shaft", which earned Hayes an Academy Award. Pitts also appeared along Hayes in the documentary Wattstax and in Truck Turner. Pitts eventually worked on South Park and the Shaft remake alongside Hayes. He remained the band's guitarist and bandleader until August, 2008 when Isaac Hayes died.

When not working alongside Hayes, Pitts worked as a session musician at Stax Records. This allowed him to work alongside Rufus Thomas, The Temprees, and Albert King. Pitts has never stopped being in demand. Thanks the trend of sampling his music has been used by many rappers such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and the Beastie Boys. While he may not have worked directly with those acts his music has none the less been given new life through them.

More recently Pitts helped to found The Bo-Keys. The band, which performs soul and jazz, is an homage to Memphis' deep musical history. Pitts has performed live with the band at festivals and international venues. They band has released 2 albums to date and been featured on many others.

When not being a session musician, playing with The Bo-Keys, or the Isaac Hayes band, Pitts worked with Elmo and the Shades. Which is an electric Memphis blues and soul band. He performed on the bands 2009 album "Blue Memphis". Pitts has also worked as a duet under the name The Skip and Elmo Show with Elmo Lee Thomas.

Pitts musical career has spanned over 40 years and seen him work along side acts ranging from Al Green to Cyndi Lauper. In fact he performed with Cyndi Lauper on The Apprentice and Late Night With David Letterman.

Pitts music has been used in a number of films. Other than the aforementioned Truck Turner, Wattstax and Shaft movies, he can be heard on Soul Men and Hustle and Flow. He has also appeared in Forty Shades of Blue, Black Snake Moan, the documentary Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks the World. In that movie he was interviewed alongside Slash, Buddy Guy, Eddie Van Halen, and Kirk Hammett.

Pitts has spent a lot of time working with at-risk youth. He taught at Memphis' Stax Music Academy and was the voice of the Memphis PD's "Blue Crush" campaign. In 2011 Pitts was awarded a brass note on the Beale Street Walk of Fame due to his work both musically and in the community.

Pitts died on May 1, 2012 of Cancer. He was only 65 years old. It's amazing that a man that worked with so many big names and produced so much great music can not be a common household name. Maybe it was by choice. Maybe Charles "Skip" Pitts didn't want that level of fame. I'll never know. What I do know is that he is the Awesome Fat Guy of the Week.

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