Alvin Lee
British blues-rock legend Alvin Lee passed away on March 6, 2013 from complications following a recent surgery; Lee was 68 years old. The singer and guitarist formed the popular British blues-rock outfit Ten Years After in 1967, the band releasing its self-titled debut album later that year. A handful of albums followed before Ten Years After delivered an explosive performance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. Lee left the band in 1972 to pursue a solo career and he would release a number of albums throughout the 1970s and '80s, retaining a loyal following that appreciated his unique style of blues guitar. Lee took a look backwards with his last album, 2012's Still On The Road To Freedom, the guitarist exploring his roots with a fine collection of rock, blues, rockabilly, and Southern funk.More »
Aaron Moore
Chicago blues pianist Aaron Moore passed away on Wednesday, November 27, 2013 from cancer. Moore was 95 years old. After graduating from high school in Mississippi, Moore followed many Mississippi blues musicians in moving to Chicago, where he found a mentor in the great Roosevelt Sykes. Moore's talent propelled him into the upper ranks of Chicago blues royalty, and through the years the skilled pianist played alongside such greats as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and B.B. King, among others. Moore retired from public performances a couple of years ago after a show at Buddy Guy's Legends club, but continued to tickle the ivories occasionally.More »
'Chicago Bob' Nelson
Blues singer and harp player Robert "Chicago Bob" Nelson passed away on Thursday, January 17, 2013 from heart and kidney failure. Nelson was 69 years old. Nelson learned to play the harmonica at the age of eight, often accompanying his father to fish fries, house parties, and other events. After moving to Chicago during the early 1960s, Nelson would play anywhere and with anybody, gigging with well-known bluesmen like Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Earl Hooker, and Muddy Waters. It was Waters that gave him his "Chicago Bob" nickname after saying that he saw the young harp player "all over Chicago." Sometime during the early 1980s, Nelson relocated to Atlanta, where he would become part of the regional blues scene, performing at local clubs when he wasn't touring. Poor health eventually sidelined the talented harp player, but he'd still play around Atlanta occasionally until his death.More »
Bobby Parker
Talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist Bobby Parker passed away on Thursday, October 310st, 2013 from an apparent heart attack. Parker was 76 years old. Born in Lafayette, Louisiana but raised in Los Angeles, Parker became enamored of the blues after seeing performers like T-Bone Walker, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and Lowell Fulson. He began playing professionally in the late 1950s, touring with Otis Williams & the Charms. Parker remained a popular figure on the D.C. blues scene for better than five decades, and was a perennial draw on the festival circuit, the singer cutting a larger-than-life figure on stage with his slick suits, high-rise James Brown-styled hair, and stinging fretwork.More »
Ann Rabson
Blues pianist Ann Rabson, a founding member of the popular blues band Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women, passed away on Wednesday, January 30, 2013 in Fredericksburg, Virginia after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 67 years old. A talented pianist, singer, and songwriter Rabson actually began her career in the blues as a guitarist. In 1984, Rabson formed Saffire with Gaye Adegbalola, and they began gigging around Virginia. They added bassist Earlene Lewis (replaced by Andra Faye McIntosh in 1992) to make Saffire an acoustic trio. Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women released their self-titled debut album in 1990 for Alligator Records and would go on to record a total of eight albums for the label before breaking up in 2009 after 25 years. Rabson released her solo debut, Music Makin' Mama, on Alligator in 1997, the album showcasing her many talents as a blueswoman, ranging musically from piano-driven boogie-woogie and R&B to Piedmont blues. Rabson would release three more solo albums for different labels, her most recent being 2012's Not Alone, recorded with legendary guitarist Bob Margolin.More »
'Dangerous' Dan Toler
Blues-rock guitarist "Dangerous" Dan Toler passed away on Monday morning, February 25, 2013 after a lengthy battle with ALS, "Lou Gehrig's Disease." Toler was 65 years old. Toler came to prominence as a member of Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts' band Great Southern. When the Allman Brothers re-formed in the late 1970s, Toler was invited to join as the band's second guitarist, and he toured and recorded with the ABB for three years, appearing on three albums before the band broke up again. Dan became a member of the Gregg Allman Band, where he would spend most of the 1980s. Toler's contributions as both a guitarist and songwriter can be heard on Allman's 1986 hit album I'm No Angel (Toler co-wrote four songs). Toler continued to tour both with his own bands, and with both Allman and Betts, until his death.More »
Paul Williams
Before there was Rolling Stone, before Creem magazine, there was Crawdaddy! First published in January 1966 by 17-year-old Swarthmore college student Paul Williams from his dorm room, the rock 'n' roll fanzine was arguably the first to look at music with a critical eye, considering it art rather than mere commerce. Williams passed away on Wednesday, March 27th, 2013 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's disease caused by a brain injury suffered during a 1995 bicycle accident. While not nearly as well-known as many of the writers he published in the pages of Crawdaddy!, Williams' accomplishments were many. Over his lifetime, Williams would write 25 books, including an acclaimed three-volume Bob Dylan biography, as well as works on Neil Young and the Beach Boys, and the best-sellers Outlaw Blues and Das Energi.More »
Chick Willis
Bluesman Robert "Chick" Willis passed away on Saturday, December 7, 2013 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Willis was 79 years old. Influenced by bluesmen like Lightnin' Hopkins, Guitar Slim, and T-Bone Walker, Willis began working professionally as a teenager, backing up stars like Sam Cooke, Jimmy Reed, Big Joe Turner, and Ray Charles. In 1972 Willis would record the song that would become his trademark tune, the bawdy "Stoop Down Baby" earning him the nickname "The Stoop Down Man." Willis toured consistently through the years, and was a favored performer for blues festivals and at clubs on the Chitlin' Circuit, his soulful vocals matched by his underrated, fiery guitar playing.More »