Blues Legends in Sheffield in the old days?

[diane00058 10]

My father-in-law to this days still has a claim to fame that he once bought Blues Legend Freddie King a beer at Sheffield University in the 70s. He also met Champion Jack Dupree there at same time. Does anyone have any memories of blues legends like these playing in the city in the 60s or 70s?

[Jim Hardie 533]

My father-in-law to this days still has a claim to fame that he once bought Blues Legend Freddie King a beer at Sheffield University in the 70s. He also met Champion Jack Dupree there at same time. Does anyone have any memories of blues legends like these playing in the city in the 60s or 70s?

 

Champion Jack once played at the White Lion at Heeley. He married a Yorkshire lass and lived in West Yorkshire in the seventies and eighties.

I saw John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson at the Mojo in the sixties.

[Bushbaby 11]

My favourite Blues event was in 1979 or 80.

I was staying at my brother’s house in Ecclesfield, on leave from the Army in Germany, and had spent the afternoon listening to his “Electric Prunes” vinyls (“Mass in F Major” was probably the best of the bunch). About 6 o’clock the phone rang, and it was my brother telling me he’d just bought two tickets to see Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee at the Crucible, that very evening. Within seconds I was on a bus heading for the city centre, and met him half an hour later in the Brown Bear for a swift one before we went in.

 

Sadly there was only a couple of hundred people in, but what a night they had. Sonny was led on to the stage, wearing a kind of heavy denim waistcoat with about twenty pockets in the front, each of which held a harmonica. As he picked one out and did a few practice blows and sucks, Brownie sat to his left and tuned up a battered old six-string. When they were ready, Sonny did three measured stomps with his foot and they went into the slowest version of “Baby Please Don’t Go” you will ever hear. It was glorious!!

 

For the next two hours they just rolled out one Blues Standard after another, finishing with a handful of sing-alongs.

 

A few years later, Sonny died, and I don’t think they'd ever returned to Europe. To this day, being a veteran of some 100 or so gigs, I still count that as the best night’s live music I ever witnessed. A truly magic night. Anyone else remember it?

[sirglyn 11]

Champion Jack once played at the White Lion at Heeley. He married a Yorkshire lass and lived in West Yorkshire in the seventies and eighties.

I saw John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson at the Mojo in the sixties.

 

My mate Iain and I promoted Champion Jack's show at the White Lion.It was a good show but it was raining heavily and we lost money.A lot of blues stars played in Sheffield over the years.I think the only one who didn't play was Muddy Waters but I could be wrong.

[Tollon 10]

Lots of the famous American Blues singers & players used to come over on the American Folk Blues Tour each year in the late 60s/early 70s. The venue was at the City Hall.

[carfieldkid 10]

Those tours at the City Hall were terrific. It was cheaper to sit on the platform - behind the amplifiers but nearer the perfomers.

People like Buddy Guy and Willie Dixon were a revelation and I am sure I remember Muddy Waters. There was one tour when he was not there but even then many of the musicians he played with appeared. Sonny Boy Williamson was in Britain for longer. I remember going to one blues concert which billed Mississippi John Hurt but alas he was ill and had stayed in the US.

 

Jimmy Witherspoon played the Esquire Club and was sensational. I have always kicked myself that in the tiny backstage area in between sets when he talked to us for ten minutes or so over a dram or two I was asking him what he thought of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. He sang with the Jay MacShann Band which had featured Charlie Parker and I asked him about free jazz!!

[philuk 10]

i remember seeing john lee hooker at the mojo in the 60s might have been my first time there he was backed by john mayalls blues breakers (still a fan) and guesting for him was alexis korner, jlh was late coming on probably out drinking somewhere,but mayall put a good set in thats why im still a fan, to quieten everbody down he even made a song up called the sheffield blues to keep us in good spirits (along with jlh maybe lol)

then i remember seeing sonny boy williamson also at the mojo ,he stopped the backing group mid song and asked them to leave the stage (he wasnt happy with them,i think they were called the authentics) and finished the set just him and his harmonica!!

[diane00058 10]

Sonny Boy Williamson's famous quote upon returning to the USA was "Those British boys want to play the blues SO badly, that's why they play it so badly..." Classic.

 

He once also stopped a rehearsal with a backing band mid-song, and said to them.

"Boy's, how many bars do you think there is in a 12-bar blues"

"Er, 12? Isn't it?"

"WRONG. There's as many bars as I say there is..."

 

And he also once set fire to his hotel room after trying to cook a rabbit in his coffee machine. I don't think he liked Britain that much!

[dafodil 10]

I once visited a football match in Sheffield ,the song that every one was singing was. I never felt more like singing the blues any one know the singer.

[darra 10]

One of the first bands I saw at the City Hall was John Mayall,still a fan

[normanmarina 10]

One of the first bands I saw at the City Hall was John Mayall,still a fan

 

Saw John Mayall's blues breakers at preston guild hall when he was doing a tour to celebrate his 70th birthday.He was chatting away to his fans in the foyer prior to the gig.He was outstanding as was his guest guitarist Mick Taylor.

[louan 10]

I once visited a football match in Sheffield ,the song that every one was singing was. I never felt more like singing the blues any one know the singer.

 

I remember Tommy Steel singing it.