Taj Mahal (musician) Taj Mahal (musician) Henry Saint Clair Fredericks (born May 17, 1942), who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician, a self-taught singer-songwriter and film composer who plays the guitar, piano, banjo, and harmonica, among many other instruments. He often incorporates elements of world music into his works and has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his almost 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, and the South Pacific. Born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, Jr. on May 17, 1942, in Harlem,
Taj Mahal (musician) people feeling very, very guilty about what went down." Taj Mahal has received three Grammy Awards (ten nominations) over his career. On February 8, 2006 Taj Mahal was designated the official Blues Artist of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In March 2006, Taj Mahal, along with his sister, the late Carole Fredericks, received the Foreign Language Advocacy Award from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of their commitment to shine a spotlight on the vast potential of music to foster genuine intercultural communication. On May 22, 2011, Taj Mahal received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree