TARBORO — Funeral services are scheduled for North Carolina-born and award-winning blues musician George Higgs.

The funeral for Higgs is scheduled for Sunday at Martin Middle School Auditorium. He died last Tuesday in Greensboro, He was 82.

Born in the Edgecombe County town of Speed, Higgs won the Best Blues Album of the Year from Living Blues Magazine in 2001 for his album, "Tarboro Blues."

Higgs farmed, worked as a carpenter, and raised six children with wife Bettye, all while living in Speed.

Higgs had been in declining health for some time. A performance scheduled for last October was postponed indefinitely because of his health. Following the death of Big Boy Henry in 2005, Higgs was the last of his generation of bluesmen in eastern North Carolina.