Leon "Pee Wee" Whittaker was born circa 1906 and was raised mostly by his mother, Kizzie, who could play "most anything," and who took him on tour with her band until he was old enough to go to school. During the academic year he lived with his maternal grandfather, who played the violin, and he studied with Professor Smith, who visited from Alcorn College in Mississippi. His instruction included reading music and playing instruments such as the clarinet, trombone, guitar, string bass, and mandolin. After finishing school, he joined his family's band playing the mandolin, and he and his friend and schoolmate Louis Jordan sometimes played in F.S. Wolcott's Rabbit's Foot Minstrels touring up and down the Mississippi River. He played in the band for nearly fifteen years. In the early 1950's he settled in El Dorado, Arkansas, and in 1954 he moved to Ferriday, Louisiana. After years of travel including Michigan, Canada, and England, he grew tired of the road and returned to Ferriday. He retired around 1963, was inducted into the Hall of Master Folk Artists in 1982, and was inducted into the Delta Music Museum and Hall of Fame in Ferriday, Louisiana, in March 2002. Pee Wee Whittaker died at the age of 87.