L.V. Banks (October 28, 1932 – May 2, 2011)^[1] was an American Chicago blues and soul blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a respected club performer in Chicago for many years. He recorded two albums for Wolf Records.

Banks was born in Stringtown, Mississippi.^[2][3] He taught himself to play the guitar and fronted a blues band in Greenville, Mississippi. His musical influences included B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Milton.^[4] Banks moved to St. Louis, Missouri,^[1] before he was drafted into the U.S. Army. After his duty was over, in the early 1960s, he relocated to Chicago, Illinois.^[2] He played on Maxwell Street and later was a regular fixture for over three decades in local clubs, particularly on the South Side.^[1][2] In the early 1990s, Banks acted as mentor to the then-teenaged blues musician Marty Sammon.^[5]

Banks's debut album, Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear, was released in June 1998 on the Austrian label Wolf. John Primer played guitar on the album.^[6] A second album, Ruby, was released by Wolf in 2000. It was his final album.^[7]

He died of heart failure in the South Shore Hospital, in Chicago, in May 2011, aged 78. His son, Tre' is following his father's tradition as a Chicago-based blues musician.^[1]

^[2][3]

• List of Chicago blues musicians
• List of soul-blues musicians

• Banks photographs in Maxwell Street, Chicago at Bobcorritore.com