Willie Hale (born August 15, 1945), often known by the name Little Beaver, is an American R&B guitarist, singer and songwriter featured on many hit records since the 1960s.
Hale was born in Forrest City, Arkansas, and acquired the nickname "Little Beaver" as a child because of his prominent teeth. He became a virtuoso guitarist at an early age. In the early 1960s he moved to Florida, and in 1969 was signed by songwriter and producer Willie Clarke to the Cat label, an offshoot of Henry Stone’s TK Records.
As a session musician, his characteristic guitar sound was soon heard on many hit TK recordings, including Betty Wright’s “Clean Up Woman”. (However, contrary to some sources, he was not featured on George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby", which featured Jerome Smith of KC & the Sunshine Band).
In 1972 he launched a solo career with the single “Joey”. His biggest solo hit came in 1974 with “Party Down”, which made # 2 on the US R&B chart. He also released five albums as Little Beaver in the 1970s, a mixture of blues, soul and funk. However, he lost out commercially at the height of the disco boom. Many of his records featured other key Florida R&B musicians including Wright, pianist Benny Latimore, and organist Timmy Thomas. His 1974 album Party Down also featured, on one track, bassist Jaco Pastorius, credited as Nelson "Jocko" Padron.
After ending his recording career in the late 1970s, he was recruited by Betty Wright in 2003 to play on Joss Stone’s albums The Soul Sessions and Mind, Body & Soul.
Some of his tracks have been sampled by hip-hop artists in recent years. The Los Angeles hip-hop duo People Under the Stairs sampled "Get into the Party Life" and "I Can Dig It Baby," for two tracks on their 2002 album O.S.T., and titled the songs "Suite For Beaver, Part 1" and "Suite For Beaver, Part 2," respectively, as a tribute. "Get into the Party Life" was also later sampled on Jay-Z's track "Party Life" from his American Gangster album.
American fingerstyle guitarist Leo Kottke's instrumental tune "Little Beaver" (A Shout Toward Noon, 1986 Private Music) is named for Willie Hale, and Kottke's rhythmic style in the tune is an homage to Hale.
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