Blues Music Artists

STEVE MILLER

Steve Miller started out as a West-coast Blues-rocker, who rode the wave of guitar based rock and achieved phenomenal record sales in the 70s and 80s with his excellent songwriting talents and eloquent guitar style. With record sales pushing 30m. over his long career, Steve is currently re-visiting his roots as a Blues guitarist and…

GUITAR SHORTY II

Some Blues players earn their nick-names over long hard years of playing; some tag on their place of origin or a physical feature; others are given a flashy nom-de-Blues by their record company. When the young David Kennedy walked into the Miami club where he was due to play and asked “Who’s that ‘Guitar Shorty’…

HANK BALLARD

Hank Ballard caused a storm of controversy in the 50s, when established society was getting worked into a froth about ‘juvenile delinquents’ and ‘jungle music’, with his mildly suggestive songs about a girl called Annie, which were all banned from the radio but went high in the charts. When that controversy died down, Hank wrote…

DOCTOR ROSS

Doctor Ross ‘The Harmonica Boss’ got his stage name from his habit of carrying his harps in a black bag like a medical man. An extremely unorthodox musician, Dr. Ross spent most of his career as a one-man-band in the spirit of Daddy Stovepipe and Joe Hill Louis. He started out playing near his Delta…

WC HANDY

WC Handy was the ‘Father of the Blues’, at least that’s what it said in his autobiography. It is probably more true to say he was a talented composer who became a great collector and populariser of the Blues, who was also largely responsible for bringing this local folk music from the Mississippi Delta to…

LITTLE WILLIE JOHN

The story of Little Willie John is one of hope dashed by tragedy. His muscular, agile vocal style set the stage for a generation of Soul singers, but all his biggest records were covered with greater success by other artists. His undoubted talent led to a string of R&B and Hot100 hits, but he died…

WC CLARK

Austin, Texas has a vibrant live Blues scene, enriched by the presence of WC Clark, whose solid Blues band and soulful voice have been a mainstay of the club circuit there for decades. As a bass player he has backed many legendary players and as a guitarist his elegant lines recall the laid-back, tasteful style…

BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO

The biggest star in modern Zydeco carries the torch lit by his mentor Clifton Chenier as he plays his accordion into the new century and brings this good-rocking dance music to the mainstream. Buckwheat Zydeco performed at both of President Clinton’s Inaugurations and, after playing to a TV audience of three billion at the 1996…

BOOKER T JONES

Memphis was ‘Soulsville USA’ in the 60s, and the band behind that world-changing music was Booker T and the MGs. The MGs had big solo hits of their own in the Stax days, including their most famous track, ‘Green Onions’, and their ‘Soul Limbo’ is the unlikely theme tune for TV coverage of cricket all…

LaVERN BAKER

LaVern Baker was a Chicago singer with a lot of R&B hits during the early 50s, who was so incensed when a squeaky-clean white singer took an exact copy of her first big R&B hit to the top of the Hot 100, she took her to Court and when that failed she took the matter…