Esquerita was born Stephen Quincy Jr, or perhaps Eschew Reeder Jr., in the Greasy Corner neighborhood of Greenville’s West End. As a nine-year-old he played organ at Tabernacle Baptist Church. He dropped out of Sterling High School to go on the road, performing with gospel groups like the Three Stars and Sister Rosa Shaw. In the ’50’s Reeder left gospel music for rock and roll. His first recordings were issued in 1958 as a solo artist on Capitol records and co-writing performing on The Rock-A-Round with fellow Greenville-native Paul Peek on the NRC label out of Atlanta.

Esquerita cut seven singles for Capitol. He was dropped from the label in 1959, but Capitol released the recordings between 1958 and 1973, totaling fourteen songs. He bounced around, living and recording in Greenville, Nashville, New Orleans, and New York City. He recorded for Minit, Triumph, and other labels. While performing in residence at a Manhattan club in the ’70’s, he was befriended by the great historians of popular culture, Miriam Linna and Billy Miller of Norton Records. Norton went on to issue Esquerita’s final recordings, accompanied by drummer Idris Muhammed, as Sinner Man: The Lost Session in 2012.