Singer | All About Blues Music

ERNIE K-DOE

It is easy to write off Ernie K-Doe as a one-hit-wonder, despite his good total of R&B Chart entries, but they were all overshadowed by his monster 1961 hit ‘Mother-in-Law’ which went to Number One in the Billboard Hot 100 as well as the R&B chart. While he never came close to repeating that feat,…

DAVE VAN RONK

Guitarist Dave Van Ronk was a leading light of the Folk/Blues revival movement centred on Greenwich Village in the early 60s. With a deft fingerpicking style, a rough voice and a devilish way with a lyric, Dave was a popular act around New York, but showed little interest in becoming a star, preferring to explore…

HELEN HUMES

Helen Humes was a fantastic Blues singer who made some very early recordings as a solo artist, became famous as the voice of the Count Basie Orchestra, toured Europe with the American Blues Festivals and made a formidable comeback after a ten year retirement. With a recording career lasting well over 50 years, Helen never…

LAZY LESTER

Lazy Lester plays that easy rolling Swamp Blues that always makes you want to move your feet. Blowing a mellifluous harp and occasionally strumming a guitar or even a washboard, his laid back vocal style meant that Leslie Johnson of Torres Louisiana was given the name Lazy Lester. Legend has it that, in around 1955,…

JACKIE BRENSTON

Jackie Brenston’s ‘Rocket 88’ is often cited as the first Rock’n’Roll record. Its phenomenal success in 1951 prompted Sam Phillips to set up Sun Records the following year, and then keep his ears open for a handsome white kid who could sing this rocking R&B like Jackie did. Although he never had another big solo…

GARY ‘US’ BONDS

In the late 50s R&B was in a strange place. The excitement generated by early Rock’n’Roll had drained away; traditional Blues was seen as old-fashioned in the post-war boom years; electric Chicago Blues was largely confined to the African-American community, and Soul, Motown and the British Invasion were still years away, so kids would dance…

SALLIE MARTIN

‘The Mother of Gospel Music’ may have preferred Sacred songs to ‘the Devil’s Music’, but her uninhibited and passionate vocal style had a lot in common with the best Blues singers of the day. As a famous exponent of the Rev. Thomas A Dorsey’s compositions in the 30s and a co-founder with him of The…

SARA MARTIN

Sara Martin was already 38 years old, with a long career behind her as a vaudeville singer, when she cut her first record for the Okeh label. Her big, rich voice; her stylish stage presence; her choice of some outstanding material and some shrewd publicity made her one of the most successful Blues Divas of…

MAMIE SMITH

Mamie Smith has gained legendary status as the first person to record a Blues record, and her vaudeville style rendition of Perry Bradford’s ‘Crazy Blues’ in July 1920 achieved phenomenal sales, bringing about the birth of what was called ‘race music‘. This event was the first realisation that there was a big demand among the…

ARTHUR GUNTER

Born in Nashville TN in 1926, the young Arthur Gunter would hang around Ernie Young’s Record Mart store in his spare time. Ernie was to go on to start another business, forming the Excello label in 1952, as a subsidiary to the Gospel label, Nashboro. Arthur had started out singing Gospel with his brothers and…