Artist Bios: A - E
Artist Bios: A - E
Chuck Berry
(born Charles Berry)
October 18, 1926 - Present
Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri
"Johnny B. Goode" (117 k 10 sec.)
Chuck Berry began his career as a rhythm & blues performer, like Little Richard, Fats Domino, and other pioneering black rock & rollers. Though he was influenced by jazz guitarist Charlie Christian and by Carl Hogan (the guitar player in rhythm & blues artist Louis Jordan's Tympany Five), two of Berry's biggest influences were Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Chuck also recorded for Chess, the major blues label in the 1950s, and used blues musicians on his records. Bass player Willie Dixon, drummers Fred Below and Odie Payne, Jr., and pianists Johnnie Johnson and Lafayette Leake played on many of Berry's recordings, all of which were made in Chicago. Though Berry drifted from the blues when he became a rock & roll icon in the 1960s, blues remained woven into his music.
Berry was as important to the early development of rock & roll as Elvis, but for different reasons. Chuck was one of rock & roll's first great lyricists; Berry also gave rock & roll some of its earliest trademark guitar licks. One of them, the shuffling, boogie-woogie influenced riff that appears in the classic song "Johnny B. Goode" (117 k 10 sec.) is a primary tool in any rock guitarist's repertoire. Berry also blended rhythm & blues, country, swing, and blues strains into his music, which made him one of rock & roll's first great stylists.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Berry developed an early interest for the guitar. With local jazz guitarist Ira Harris as an early teacher, Berry learned the rudiments of the instrument on a four-string tenor guitar. By 1950, however, he had changed over to a six-string electric. Two years later Berry began playing professional engagements in St. Louis clubs. In 1952, on New Year's Eve, he played with the Sir John's Trio. The combo was led by pianist Johnnie Johnson and included drummer Eddie Hardy. Berry incorporated elements of country into the Sir John's Trio sound, but he also brought in some Muddy Waters songs. In effect, Berry's blend of blues and country eventually turned the Sir John's Trio into a prototype rock & roll band, though history has not accorded it that honor.
Chuck's connection with Muddy Waters didn't end there. In 1955, Chuck traveled to Chicago where he ran into Muddy, and asked him where he should inquire about doing some recording. Waters told him to see Leonard Chess at Chess Records. Berry took Waters' advice, and a few weeks later, Berry, Johnson, Willie Dixon, and drummer Jasper Thomas recorded a country-flavored blues tune called "Ida Red" (later changed to "Maybellene"), along with another tune titled "Wee Wee Hours." The record went to number 1 on the R&B charts and number 5 on the pop charts in 1955.
The Chess label had enjoyed considerable commercial success with artists such as Waters and Little Walter, but their appeal to that point lay principally in the blues and rhythm & blues markets. With the addition of Berry on the Chess roster, the label was able to attract a wider record-buying audience. By the end of 1956, Berry was selling more records than anyone else on Chess because white teens had picked up on his sound and his records were crossing over onto the pop charts. Berry's chart success would continue throughout the 1950s.
Berry had a batch of hits from 1956 through 1958, many of which became rock & roll standards. "Roll Over Beethoven," "School Day," "Rock & Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Reelin' and Rockin'," "Little Queenie," and the quintessential rock & roll song, "Johnny B. Goode," are just some of his early masterpieces. These, along with appearances in early rock & roll films such as Rock, Rock, Rock and Mister Rock & Roll and numerous cross-country tours with rock & roll package shows, made Chuck a major star.
Berry continued to recycle the classic blues-flavored rock & roll sound he created in the 1950s, despite changes in rock trends and styles. Occasional run-ins with the law didn't help his career, though he always rebounded from these and has retained his status as one of rock & roll's most influential original artists. His trademark double-string guitar riff and recognizable duckwalk, are all part of his legacy. Inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, Chuck Berry released his autobiography Chuck Berry: The Autobiography in 1987. That same year the Chuck Berry rockumentary, Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, was also released. Shot at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, the film included guest appearances by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and Bruce Springsteen. Berry continues to perform on occasion.
"Johnny B. Goode" is from Chuck Berry - The Great Twenty-Eight Copyright © MCA Records Inc., 1984. Chuck originally cut this in December of 1957. Lafayette Leake, piano - Willie Dixon, bass - Fred Below, drums.
Eric Clapton
March 30, 1945 - Present
Birthplace: Ripley Surrey, England
Eric Clapton was one of England's most respected blues artists in the 1960s. The phrase "Clapton Is God" was a familiar one in British blues circles. As a member of the Yardbirds, then John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and finally Cream (one of rock's first supergroup), Clapton forged a bond between blues and rock that remains strong today. In helping to create blues-rock, Eric took the blues-induced rock guitar solo to new heights.
In 1963 Clapton joined his first band, the R&B-based Roosters. But within a few months he moved to the pop group Casey Jones and the Engineers, and then to the Yardbirds, with whom he stayed until 1965. By this time, Clapton had become a devoted student of the three KINGS-B.B., Freddie, and Albert as well other major bluesmen like Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and Robert Johnson.
Eric played on the Yardbirds' big 1965 hit "For Your Love". Invited to join one of Britain's best blues bands, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Clapton settled into a position where his deep interest in the blues could flourish. The classic Bluesbreakers album released in 1966, Bluesbreakers-John Mayall with Eric Clapton , contained Clapton's now-classic renditions of Freddie King's "Hideaway," Otis Rush's "All of Your Love," and Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' on My Mind." But Clapton soon outgrew the Bluesbreakers and in 1966 he formed Cream with drummer Ginger Baker and bass player Jack Bruce. The trio's repertoire contained a good portion of blues standards: Hambone Willie Newbern's "Rollin' and Tumblin'," Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign," Willie Dixon's "Spoonful," and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads."
Despite Cream's success, the band broke up in late 1968. Clapton formed the band Blind Faith with Baker, keyboards player Steve Winwood from Traffic, and bass player Rick Grech the following year. One album and one tour later the short-lived Blind Faith went the way of Cream.
Clapton played with John Lennon in his post- Beatles group the Plastic Ono Band and with Delaney and Bonnie, the American R&B group that opened Blind Faith's U.S. shows. Then, in 1970, he recorded his first solo album, Eric Clapton. On this album, Eric, for the first time, not only played lead guitar but sang all the lead vocals. The album produced the top- 20 single "After Midnight."
Some of Clapton's best blues guitar work was featured on the 1970 album Layla and Other Love Songs, recorded by his new group, Derek and the Dominoes, which included slide guitarist Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band. Songs such as "Tell the Truth," "Have You Ever Loved a Woman," "Key to the Highway," and "Layla" opened up a new dimension in blues-rock and proved that Clapton was indeed a guitar genius.
Like Clapton's earlier bands, Derek and the Dominoes, was short-lived: Layla was its only studio album. After a couple of live performances, Clapton returned to England, where for two years he battled his heroin addiction. He resumed his solo career in 1973, free of drugs and moving in the direction of pop and rock. Although nearly all of his '70s and '80s solo albums contain a blues number or two, Clapton had all but abandoned the blues as a recording artist. Live, however, he continued to spice his shows with blues favorites like "Crossroads" and "Motherless Children," the hit off his 1974 solo effort 461 Ocean Boulevard.
In the late 1980s, Clapton's commitment to the blues was rekindled with the rise in popularity of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray. Clapton performed with Stevie Ray the night he was killed in a helicopter crash in 1990.
The year 1993 was a particularly special one for Clapton. He and his old group Cream were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and his live album, Unplugged, won six Grammy Awards.
Eric followed his multi-platinum triumph Unplugged with a new album in 1994, entitled "From The Cradle". A return to his musical roots, Clapton performed 16 blues classics-including works by Robert Johnson, Elmore James and Willie Dixon. "This [album] is me in terms of my musical identity today-where I came from and what I mean," says Clapton. "And wherever I go in the future, it will be as a result of this."
Willie Dixon
July 1, 1915 - January 29, 1992
Birthplace: Vicksburg, Mississippi
"Weak Brain, Narrow Mind" (115 k, 10 sec.)
Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters may have done more to shape postwar Chicago blues than any artists. Waters' successful classics such as "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I Just Want to Make Love to You" were penned by Dixon. He wrote classics like "Weak Brain, Narrow Mind" (115 k, 10 sec.), Howlin' Wolf classics "Evil," "Spoonful," "I Ain't Superstitious," "Little Red Rooster," and "Back Door Man," as well as the Little Walter gem "My Babe" and Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) hit, "Bring It on Home."
Willie also helped forge a bond between blues and rock & roll. He played on numerous Chuck Berry sides in the 1950s, and in the l960s a number of his best songs were reinterpreted by English and American blues-rock bands. Cream ("Spoonful"), Led Zeppelin ("I Can't Quit You Baby" and "You Shook Me"), and the Doors ("Back Door Man") are just some of the rock groups who recorded Willie Dixon compositions.
Dixon has been one of the blues' most effective and respected ambassadors. In an attempt to give something back to the music, he created the Blues Heaven Foundation in 1982 with royalty money from his song catalog. The aim of the nonprofit organization, which is still active, is to keep the blues alive through such programs as blues-in-the-schools and scholarship funds.
Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. His mother wrote and recited religious poetry which, at an early age, made Dixon aware of rhyming schemes and meter. His first musical influences were also religious. Early on he sang with the Union Jubilee Singers, a gospel quartet that had its own radio program on the Vicksburg station WQBC. Dixon sought a career as a professional boxer before turning to music full-time. Dixon left Mississippi for Chicago in 1936; a year later he was the Illinois State Golden Gloves heavyweight champion in the novice category. Once Dixon even sparred with Joe Louis. Despite such early success, however, his pro career lasted only four fights. A brawl with his manager over money in the boxing commissioner's office ended whatever professional fight dreams Dixon might have harbored.
Shortly afterwards, Dixon began his career as a musician. In 1939 he began playing the bass and, along with guitarist Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston, formed the Five Breezes. The group played Chicago clubs and did a little recording until 1941 when Dixon, who had declared himself a conscientious objector, was arrested for refusing to serve in the U.S. armed forces. While Dixon was in prison, Caston formed the Rhythm Rascals, a trio that played USO clubs in the Pacific, North Africa, and Europe.
After serving his sentence Dixon formed a new group, the Four Jumps of Jive, which regularly performed in Chicago clubs and recorded for Mercury in 1945. That same year Caston returned to Chicago and resumed his musical partnership with Dixon. The two formed the Big Three Trio with guitarist Bernardo Dennis, who was later replaced by Ollie Crawford. With a repertoire of soft blues, boogie- woogie, pop, and novelty numbers, the Big Three landed a recording contract, first with Bullet Records and then in 1947 with Columbia Records. The Big Three remained active until 1952.
While playing with the Big Three Trio, Dixon was also jamming with Muddy Waters and other bluesmen in the clubs of Chicago's South Side. During one late-night jam at the Macomba Lounge, Dixon met Phil and Leonard Chess, the club's owners. The Chess brothers had recently started Chess Records, and they offered Dixon a part-time job with the label in 1948. He accepted, and after the breakup of the Big Three Trio, Dixon went to work for Chess full-time.
Dixon wrote some songs for Eddie Boyd and even released a few tracks under his own name for Chess in 1953. But it wasn't until 1954, when Waters recorded Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man," Howlin' Wolf recorded "Evil," and Little Walter & His Jukes cut "Mellow Down Easy," that Dixon's reputation in the Chicago blues community blossomed. Dixon also began to work as a session musician; he played bass in the Chess house band, recording with Waters, Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Walter, and Jimmy Witherspoon, among others. Dixon also began arranging and producing sessions for Chess, but it was his composing talent that was most in demand. In addition to the above-mentioned originals, Dixon also wrote such blues standards as "The Seventh Son," "Wang Dang Doodle," and "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover," all of which were covered by a number of blues artists. Dixon kept a solo recording career going, but it never matched the success he enjoyed as a songwriter and recording session ace.
Dixon's tenure with Chess was interrupted in 1957 when he went to work for Cobra Records. During the two years that the label was in existence, Dixon worked with Magic Sam, Otis Rush, and Buddy Guy, the three guitarists who would create the West Side Sound of the Chicago blues in the late '50s and '60s. When Cobra folded, Dixon returned to Chess and stayed with the company throughout most of the 1960s. During this time he performed with the American Folk Blues Festival package in Europe and formed the Chicago Blues All-Stars, his flexible touring and recording band.
During the 1970s Dixon released albums on the Ovation, Columbia and Yambo labels and toured regularly. In the 1980s he released albums on the Pausa label. Dixon also got involved with movie soundtrack work, scoring music for The Color of Money and producing Bo Diddley's version of "Who Do You Love" in La Bamba.
In 1980 Dixon was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame. He continued playing club dates and festivals, both in the U.S. and abroad. In 1988 he signed a recording contract with Bug/Capitol and released the critically acclaimed album Hidden Charms. A year later he published his autobiography, I Am the Blues (written with Don Snowden). By 1990, Dixon's ill health forced him to perform only part-time with the Chicago Blues All-Stars, though he remained active with his Blues Heaven Foundation. He died of a heart ailment in 1992.
"Weak Brain, Narrow Mind" is from The Chess Box - Willie Dixon Copyright © MCA Records Inc., 1988.
A - E Coming soon:
The Allman Brothers
The Animals
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Albert Collins
Sheryl Crow
Bo Diddley
The Doors
Bob Dylan
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