Chess Records co-founder Phil Chess, who with brother Leonard helped launch the careers of Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Etta James and others and amassed a catalog of rock and electric "Chicago" blues that profoundly influenced popular music in the 1950s and beyond, has died. He was 95.

Chess died overnight in Tucson, Arizona, according to his nephew, Craig Glicken, who spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday. Leonard, the older brother, died in 1969.

The Chess saga began in Motal, a small town that was then in Poland and is now in Belarus. To try to lift his family from poverty, the brothers' father, Yasef Czyz, emigrated to Chicago in the early 1920s. By 1928 he had saved enough to send for his wife, Cyrla; his daughter, Malka; and his sons, Lejzor and Fiszel, the youngest child, born on March 27, 1921. Czyz became Chess, and all the first names were Americanized, with Lejzor becoming Leonard and Fiszel becoming Philip.

Motal was unarguably a place to escape, with no running water or electricity and only one windup phonograph. In an interview with Vanity Fair in 2008, Phil Chess said life in the shtetl was "blues all the time."

He married Sheva Barbara Jonesi on February 12, 1944 at Petersburg, Prince George County, Virginia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~∼Phil Phil Chess, the co-founder of the legendary Chicago-based R&B label Chess Records, died Tuesday at his home in Tucson, Arizona. He was 95.

Chess's nephew Craig Glicken told the Chicago Sun-Times that Chess died overnight at his 30-acre ranch and said his uncle had been in good health.

Phil Chess and his brother, Leonard, founded Chess Records in Chicago in 1950. The label would go on to launch the careers of a who's who of blues and rock artists, including Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, and Chuck Berry.

Chess (whose birth name was Fiszel Czyż) was born in Poland but emigrated to the US with his family, changing their name to Chess in the process.

After a stint in the Army, Phil joined his brother Leonard in business, starting with a liquor store before running a nightclub and eventually taking over Aristocrat Records and re-launching it as Chess.

From its start, Chess Records focused on the African-American audience, with their second release the Muddy Waters hit 'I Can't Be Satisfied ' which sold out its first pressing in a single day.

"Phil was the rock of the company. He held down the office and took care of financial matters," Alligator Records head Bruce Iglauer told The Guardian. "Leonard was known to be emotional, mercurial, and sometimes difficult to deal with while Phil was always the solid one. He was the go-to guy when business had to be dealt with."

The two brothers sold Chess in 1969, shortly before Leonard died of a heart attack. Phil moved to Tucson, where he lived until his death with his wife of 70 years Sheva Jonesi.

The Chicago-based label recorded

Chuck Berry,

Muddy Waters,

Etta James,

Willie Dixon,

Howlin Wolf,

and many other famous 20th century blues, R&B, and rock artists.

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Chess, who was born Fiszel Czyz March 27, 1921, in Poland, moved to Chicago with his family, including his co-founder brother Lejzor, or Leonard.

The family name was changed to Chess.

In 1950, Phil Chess joined his brother in Aristocrat Records, which later changed its name to Chess Records.

Chess Records eventually was sold off, and Phil Chess retired to Arizona.

Chicago blues artist

Buddy Guy,

who also owns a blues club in Chicago, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the Chess brothers "were cuttin' the type of music nobody else was paying attention to — Muddy, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy, Jimmy Rogers, I could go on and on — and now you can take a walk down State Street today and see a portrait of Muddy that's 10 stories tall," Guy said. "The Chess brothers had a lot to do with that. They started Chess Records and made Chicago what it is today — the blues capital of the world. I'll always be grateful for that."

In 1995, Phil and Leonard Chess were inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in their role as record label executives.