North Florida Music Hall of Fame

Native of DeLand, grad of Florida A&M University, Noble Watts was in the FAMU marching band with both Cannonball and Nat Adderly.  In the 1940s through the 1950s, he played tenor sax with Charles Brantley & the Honeydippers; pianist Ray Charles was also a member. Watts went on to work with such notables as Dinah Washington, Amos Milburn, Ruth Brown, Lionel Hampton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and many others. Also recorded as a solo artist on various labels, including DeLuxe, Cub, Enjoy and Vee-Jay; later signed with Bob Greenlee’s Sanford-based Kingsnake Records. Watts died in 2004 in his hometown of Deland at age 78.