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Danielle Moore, the ebullient lead singer of British dance band Crazy P has died at 52. The band announced her passing in an Instagram post on Sunday (Sept. 2). “We are devastated to announce the unbelievable and shocking news that our beautiful Danielle Moore has died in sudden and tragic circumstances,” they wrote, writing that Moore passed on Friday afternoon (August 30) without revealing the specific cause of death.
“We cannot believe the news ourselves and we know it will be the same for all of you. She gave us so much and we love her so much,” they continued. “Our hearts are broken. We need time to process that this has happened. Danielle lived a life driven by love compassion community and music. She lived the biggest of lives. We will miss her with all our hearts X.”
A week before Moore’s death, Crazy P posted footage of the singer rocking the stage during a festival set at the Lost Village Festival in Bristol, England while wearing one of her signature fedoras (read a loving tribute written by the festival over the weekend here). Crazy P were slated to perform at the Forwards Festival in Bristol on Sunday (Sept 1), with the slot called off following Moore’s death.
“We want to thank you all for coming this weekend, there is so much to celebrate, however, it is with heavy hearts that we share the incredibly sad news that our dear friend Danielle Moore, beloved singer of @crazypmusic has passed away,” read a statement from Forwards. “We can’t really find the words today but the world has lost a very special human and we are absolutely devastated. The band were due to join us this weekend as they have so many, many times over our history across all our events, they are family we hold dear, so we would like to spend today reflecting on our love and memories of Danielle.”
Disco house group Crazy P (whose full name was Crazy P–is) was formed in the mid-1990s by musicians Chris Todd and Jim Baron while they were attending the University of Nottingham, with the duo releasing their debut album, A Nice Hot Bath With… in 1999 on Paper Recordings. In 2002, Moore and keyboardist Mav Kendricks joined the band — which also included bassist Tim Davies — and they released their sophomore effort, The Wicked Is Music.
They released five more albums over the years, including their most recent, 2019’s Age of the Ego, with Moore also taking solo gigs as a DJ. Their first new single in more than three years, the bouncy “Any Signs of Love,” dropped in June.
Irish singer Róisín Murphy posted a loving tribute to Moore on X, writing, “One of the most beautiful souls has left us. The brillant Danielle Moore of Crazy P has died suddenly and she has taken so much light with her. One of the best in music, an amazing person and an amazing singer, performer and songwriter. I know there will be a great sense of loss and mourning across our community. She touched everybody she met with light and love. Sending sincerest condolences to those friends and family closest to her. I, like so many, loved and admired her.”
In a bio on her agency’s site, Moore said, “performing is everything… When I’m performing, I feel like I’ve stepped into my alter ego and am able to take on any mood. It’s very empowering to become detached from my own slightly vulnerable self.” The singer fell in love with the power of dance music on packed floors of clubs in her native Manchester, and translated that energy into her always upbeat, joyful performances.
Though undated, the bio notes that following the release of Age of the Ego — an album she said she’s “most proud of… lyrically speaking” — Crazy P was planning to put “more projects in the world, as well as some planned solo works that will see Danielle showcase her own musical chops.”
See Crazy P’s tribute to Moore and listen to some of her most beloved vocals below.
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Fatman Scoop has died after collapsing during a concert in Connecticut on Friday night (Aug. 30). He was 53.
The New York rapper, whose real name is Isaac Freeman III, was performing at Town Center Park in Hamden, Conn., where he appeared to have suffered a medical emergency, according to TMZ. Fan-captured video on X (formerly Twitter) showed the legendary hip-hop hype man and radio personality collapsing mid-performance. After medical personnel performed chest compressions on Freeman behind the DJ booth, the artist was then transferred to a local hospital.
Freeman’s passing was confirmed Saturday morning (Aug. 31) in a post from his family on Instagram. A specific cause of death was not provided.
“It is with profound sadness and very heavy hearts that we share news of the passing of the legendary and iconic Fatman Scoop,” the heartfelt message begins. “Last night, the world lost a radiant soul, a beacon of light on the stage and in life.”
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The post continued, “Fatman Scoop was known to the world as the undisputed voice of the club. His music made us dance and embrace life with positivity. His joy was infectious and the generosity he extended to all will be deeply missed but never forgotten.”
Freeman’s tour manager Bryan “DJ Pure Cold” Michael also shared the sad news on social media.
“I am honestly lost for words,” Michael wrote on Instagram. “You took me all over the world and had me performing alongside you on some of the biggest and greatest stages on this planet, the things you taught me have truely made me the man I am today.”
Freeman gained prominence with his 1999 club favorite “Be Faithful,” featuring the Crooklyn Clan. He also appeared on Missy Elliott’s 2005 hit “Lose Control,” alongside Ciara. The song peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and its video earned a Grammy Award in 2006 for best short form music video. The track also earned a Grammy nomination for best rap song.
Freeman’s other accomplishments include a feature on Mariah Carey’s 2005 song “It’s Like That,” which reached No. 16 on the Hot 100. Over the years, he would appear on tracks by Skrillex (“Recess”), David Guetta (“Love Is Back”) and Ciara (“Level Up” remix), among many others.
Maurice Williams, a rhythm and blues singer and composer who with his backing group the Zodiacs became one of music’s great one-shot acts with the classic ballad “Stay,” has died. He was 86.
Williams died Aug. 6, according to an announcement from the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, which did not immediately provide further details.
A writer and performer since childhood, Williams had been in various harmony groups when he and the Zodiacs began a studio session in 1960.
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They unexpectedly made history near the end with their recording of “Stay,” which Williams had dashed off as a teenager a few years earlier.
Over hard chants of “Stay!” by his fellow vocalists, Williams carried much of the song and its plea to an unnamed girl. Midway, he stepped back and gave the lead to Shane Gaston and one of rock’s most unforgettable falsetto shouts — “Oh, won’t you stay, just a little bit longer!”
Barely over 1 minute, 30 seconds, among the shortest chart-toppers of the rock era, the song hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart in 1960 and was the group’s only major success.
But it was covered by the Hollies and the Four Seasons among others early on and endured as a favorite oldie, known best from when Jackson Browne sang it live for his 1977 Running On Empty album.
“Stay” also was performed by Browne, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty and others at the 1979 No Nukes concert at Madison Square Garden and appeared in its original version on the blockbuster Dirty Dancing soundtrack from 1987.
The song was inspired by a teenage crush, Mary Shropshire.
“(Mary) was the one I was trying to get to stay a little longer,” Williams told the North Carolina publication Our State in 2012. “Of course, she couldn’t.”
Williams’ career was otherwise more a story of disappointments. He wrote another falsetto showcase, “Little Darlin,” and recorded it in 1957 with the Gladiolas. But the song instead became a hit for a white group, the Diamonds. In 1965, Williams and the Zodiacs cut a promising ballad, “May I.” But their label, Vee-Jay, went bankrupt just as the song was coming out and “May I” was later a hit for another white group, Bill Deal & the Rhondels.
Like many stars from the early rock era, Williams became a fixture on oldies tours and tributes, while also making the albums Let This Night Last and Back to Basics. In the mid-1960s, he settled in Charlotte, North Carolina, and in 2010 was voted into the state’s Hall of Fame. Survivors include his wife, Emily.
Williams was born in Lancaster, South Carolina, and sang with family members in church while growing up. He was in his teens when he formed a gospel group, the Junior Harmonizers, who became the Royal Charms as they evolved into secular music and then the Zodiacs in honor of a Ford car they used on the road. Meanwhile, he was a prolific writer and needed little time to finish what became his signature hit.
“It took me about 30 minutes to write ‘Stay,’ then I threw it away,” he later told www.classicsbands.com. “We were looking for songs to record as Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs. I was over at my girlfriend’s house playing the tape of songs I had written, when her little sister said, ‘Please do the song with the high voice in it.’ I knew she meant ‘Stay.’ She was about 12 years old and I said to myself, ‘She’s the age of record buying,’ and the rest is history. I thank God for her.”
Maxie Solters, a third-generation entertainment publicist, died unexpectedly Thursday (Aug. 15) in Los Angeles. She was 37. She was also a writer, actor and producer. No cause of death was shared.
Solters followed her father, Larry Solters, and her grandfather, Lee Solters, in the family business. Her grandfather was a legendary press agent, who handled such acts as Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Carol Channing and Frank Sinatra. Larry Solters’ Scoop Marketing represents the Eagles, Irving Azoff and Iconic Artists Group, among other clients.
Solters, who was known for her helpful and friendly demeanor, joined Scoop in 2012, working with such clients as the Kia Forum, the Hollywood Bowl and Music Forward.
Maxie Solters
Solters family
Solters grew up in Sherman Oaks, California, and graduated from Oakwood School and the University of Southern California with a theater degree. Before joining Scoop, she worked in film and television casting and also served as a coordinator for One Billion Rising, the global movement for justice and equality. In addition to acting in a number of theatrical productions, Maxie, who was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, also created, produced and starred in her own comedy web series, including 2016’s Chooch and Adventures in Online Dating and 2017’s Climax! The Series.
Her social justice work also included involvement in V-Day International and work on women’s rights.
Survivors include her father, Larry, and his partner, Carol Greenhut; her mother, Debra Graff; her longtime partner, Dim Dobrin; her aunt, Susan Reynolds; her cousin, Jonah Reynolds; and her dog, Pookie. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Maxie’s name to One Billion Rising, a cause she deeply believed in.
Jack Russell, the former frontman of 1980s and ’90s glam rockers Great White, has died at age 63.
The news comes from the Instagram page for Jack Russell’s Great White, which is the band name the frontman toured under after the group disbanded in 2001.
“With tremendous sadness, we announce the loss of our beloved Jack Patrick Russell — father, husband, cousin, uncle, and friend,” the statement begins, adding that the singer “passed peacefully” surrounded by his wife Heather Ann, son Matthew Hucko and other family and friends. “Jack is loved and remembered for his sense of humor, exceptional zest for life, and unshakeable contribution to rock and roll where his legacy will forever live and thrive.”
The family is asking for privacy and shared that details of a public memorial would be announced at a later date.
On the Instagram page for Great White, Russell’s original bandmates shared their “deepest condolences to the family of Jack Russell. We hope they take comfort in knowing Jack’s incredible voice will live on forever.” The ended the statement: “Rest In Peace, to one of rock’s biggest champions.”
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Great White landed six songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the late ’80s and early ’90s, including the top five smash “Once Bitten Twice Shy,” which peaked at No. 5 in 1989 and whose music video was in heavy rotation on MTV. The song’s album, 1989’s …Twice Shy, was a top 10 hit on the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at No. 9.
Following the group’s end in 2001, the lead singer hit the road as Jack Russell’s Great White — most infamously headlining Rhode Island’s The Station nightclub in 2003, when pyrotechnics started a fire that killed 100 people, including bandmate Ty Longley, and injuring 230. Russell’s tour manager, Daniel Biechele, pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter in 2006 and served two years in prison of a 15-year sentence. The owners of The Station, Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, pleaded no contest, with Michael serving almost three years in prison and Jeffrey being sentenced to community service. The band also reached settlements with victims in several lawsuits.
Last month, Russell’s Instagram page had announced his retirement from touring after diagnoses of Lewy Body Dementia and Multiple System Atrophy. “Words cannot express my gratitude for the many years of memories, love, and support,” the retirement announcement read. “Thank you for letting me live my dreams.”
Find the family and band statements below.
Greg Kihn, the beloved pop and rock musician known for his hit “Jeopardy,” died on Tuesday (Aug. 13) after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 75 years old.
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The star, born on July 10, 1949, in Baltimore, Md., moved to San Francisco in the mid 1970s, where he became one of the first artists signed to Matthew King Kaufman’s Beserkley Records. He formed the Greg Kihn Band, featuring guitarist Robbie Dunbar, bassist Steve Wright, and drummer Larry Lynch, and the group released a self-titled album in 1976. Through the 1970s, Kihn released an album each year.
However, it wasn’t until 1981 when Kihn got his first major Billboard hit with “The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em),” from the Rockihnroll album. The track hit No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
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Just two years later, he unveiled the dance-ready hit, “Jeopardy,” which climbed to No. 2 on the Hot 100. In 1984, Kihn gave “Weird Al” Yankovic permission to parody his song into “I Lost on Jeopardy,” and even made a cameo at the end of the music video as the driver of a convertible. In 1985, Kihn signed with EMI.
Beyond his success as a musician, Kihn was also an accomplished author. He wrote four horror fiction novels, including 1996’s Horror Show and 1998’s Shade of Pale. 1998’s Big Rock Beat and 1999’s Mojo Hand were written as sequels to Horror Show. He also wrote Carved in Rock: Short Stories by Musicians, which compiled stories from him and other rock musicians including Pete Townshend, Joan Jett and more. His 2013 novel, Rubber Soul, was a Beatles-themed murder mystery story.
Kihn is survived by Jay Arafiles-Kihn, his wife; his son, Ryan Kihn, and daughter, Alexis Harrington-Kihn; as well as his grandchildren.
Susan Wojcicki, a pioneering tech executive who helped shape Google and YouTube, has died, her husband said. She was 56.
Wojcicki played a key role in Google’s creation and served nine years as YouTube’s CEO, stepping down last year to focus on her “family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about,” she said at the time.
She was one of the most respected female executives in the male-dominated tech industry.
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Her collaboration with Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin began shortly after they incorporated their search engine into a business in 1998. Wojcicki rented the garage of her Menlo Park, California, home to them for $1,700 a month, cementing a formative partnership. Page and Brin — both 25 at the time — continued to refine their search engine in Wojcicki’s garage for five months before moving Google into a more formal office and later persuaded their former landlord to come work for their company.
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Wojcicki joined Google, now known as Alphabet, as its marketing manager in 1999 and served in various positions as Google grew its online advertising presence by acquiring YouTube in 2006 and DoubleClick in 2008. She served as Google’s senior vice president of advertising and commerce from 2011 to early 2014 and CEO of YouTube from 2014 to 2023.
“Her loss is devastating for all of us who know and love her, for the thousands of Googlers she led over the years, and for millions of people all over the world who looked up to her, benefited from her advocacy and leadership, and felt the impact of the incredible things she created at Google, YouTube, and beyond,” Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in a note to employees.
Former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who was vice president of Google’s sales and operations from 2001 to 2008 before decamping to Facebook, said in a Facebook post that Wojcicki was formative in her tech career.
“She taught me the business and helped me navigate a growing, fairly chaotic organization at the beginning of my career in tech,” Sandberg wrote. “She was the person I turned to for advice over and over again. And she was this person for so many others too.”
Her husband, Dennis Troper, announced her death in a social media post late Friday.
“My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after 2 years of living with non small cell lung cancer,” he wrote.
“Susan was not just my best friend and partner in life, but a brilliant mind, a loving mother, and a dear friend to many,” Troper said.
No other details of her death were immediately provided.
Wojcicki and Troper’s 19-year-old son, Marco Troper, died in February at the UC Berkeley campus where he resided as a freshman student.
Eric Gardner, chairman and CEO of Panacea Entertainment, died from complications of pneumonia on July 19 at his home in Camarillo, Calif. Gardner, whose career as a talent manager and producer of television shows and Las Vegas residencies spanned more than 50 years, was 74 years-old.
Gardner, who managed dozens of acts over the years, was inducted into the Personal Managers Hall of Fame at their 2017 ceremony in Las Vegas. He was still managing Todd Rundgren and Paul Shaffer at the time of his death.
Gardner’s career began in 1970 when, as a graduate student earning his Master of Fine Arts in playwriting at Columbia University, he started coordinating tours for such rock bands as Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead and, later, KISS. His company, Panacea Entertainment Corp., was the industry’s first rock and roll tour coordination company. By 1973, it was coordinating tours in 23 countries.
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In 1974, Panacea’s emphasis shifted to talent management. Over the years, Gardner represented such diverse musical artists as Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones, Kenney Jones of The Who/ Faces/Small Faces, Rundgren, Donny Osmond, Rick Wright of Pink Floyd, The Stray Cats, Jefferson Starship, Sex Pistols, John Lydon, Steven Van Zandt and Max Weinberg (both of the E Street Band), Hot Tuna, Blue Öyster Cult, Grace Jones and Bettye LaVette.
He also represented Late Night with David Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer; writer/producer Jim Steinman; actors David Hasselhoff, Richard Belzer and Richard Chamberlain; and psychologist, author and activist Timothy Leary, among others.
In 1981, Gardner relocated Panacea from New York to Los Angeles to expand into film and television. His first foray in 1982 was signing Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson, whom he helped develop from a local Los Angeles television personality into an international film and television phenomenon. Over the next 26 years, he produced her many film and television projects.
Gardner’s IMDB page includes 40 credits as a producer or executive producer, including multiple projects with Elvira, Hasselhoff, Belzer, Rundgren (both solo and with his band Utopia), Shaffer and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones.
Gardner both produced and directed a 1976 TV special, Blue Öyster Cult: Live 1976. That was the year the band landed its biggest hit, “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper,” which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
He executive produced Digital Dreams, a 1983 TV movie which documented Wyman’s life. Two years later, he executive produced Willie and the Poor Boys, a film about the “supergroup” of the same name. The band consisted of Wyman and Charlie Watts, also of the Rolling Stones, plus Andy Fairweather Low, Mickey Gee and Geraint Watkins. Their eponymous album reached No. 96 on the Billboard 200 in 1985.
Gardner executive produced Heavy Metal Heaven, a 1990 miniseries in which Elvira introduced six programs celebrating the genre.
He executive produced The Filth and the Fury, a 2000 documentary about the career of the notorious punk rock band, Sex Pistols. The film was directed by Julien Temple, who had also directed The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, the classic 1980 documentary about the band. The Filth and the Fury provided an opportunity for the surviving members of the group to tell their side of the story. Also in 2000, Gardner executive produced Rotten TV, a short-lived VH-1 series hosted by Lydon of Sex Pistols fame.
He executive produced Bitter Jester, a 2003 show which was billed as the first documentary to offer a glimpse into the process behind the comedy we watch in clubs, on television and at the movies. The film included interviews with Richard Pryor and Belzer, among others.
In 2006, he executive produced Running With Arnold, a documentary on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successful gubernatorial campaign in California that year. The doc was narrated by Alec Baldwin.
In 2019, he executive produced Paul Shaffer Plus One, an eight-episode TV series in which Shaffer and his guests discussed inspirations and influences and notable songs.
Despite having a hand in numerous music projects, Gardner’s longest-running TV project was Shahs of Sunset, a Bravo reality series which followed a group of affluent young Persian-American friends who juggle their flamboyant L.A. lifestyles with family demands. More than 125 episodes were produced from 2012-2021.
Gardner was also behind several successful Las Vegas residencies. In 2009, he launched and produced Donny & Marie featuring Donny and Marie Osmond at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas in association with Caesar’s Entertainment. He co-produced with Planet Hollywood, also in Las Vegas, the “Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band” residency shows. Once again with Caesar’s Entertainment, he produced “Paul Shaffer and the Shaff-Shifters” residency shows.
Gardner was active right up until his death. Projects in the works at the time of his death included a Blues Brothers primetime animated TV series in partnership with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi’s widow Judy Belushi (who died two weeks before Gardner, on July 5 at age 73); adapting the hit 1980 Blues Brothers movie as a Broadway musical; “Sharknado the Musical” in Las Vegas in partnership with Caesar’s Entertainment/Greg Young/The Asylum; a Hellraiser primetime TV series with former New World Entertainment chairman Larry Kuppin; and a feature film about Timothy Leary life’s story with HBO.
Gardner is survived by his wife, Janis, who is the co-owner of Panacea Entertainment, and three grown daughters, Cameron, Madeleine and Nathalie.
Tributes from across the live music industry have been paid to Chris York, one of the United Kingdom’s leading promoters and a director of SJM Concerts, following his death at age 55 following a long illness.
In a statement on Thursday (July 25), SJM Concerts said the company was “deeply saddened” to announce the passing of a man who “helped define the U.K.’s live music scene” over the past three decades.
York’s career in the live music industry began in the late 1980s when he started booking gigs at Warwick University, where he was a student.
After finishing his studies, York worked as a booker at London’s The Venue — putting on early shows by Pulp, Suede and PJ Harvey — before deepening his knowledge of the live business with roles at U.K. live promoters Straight Music and MCP Concerts.
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In 1993, York joined SJM Concerts, where he “formed a solid and unshakeable partnership and friendship” with the company’s founder, Simon Moran, that “would last the rest of his career,” the Manchester-based firm said in a statement.
Artists that York promoted during his three decades at SJM included Oasis, Foo Fighters, Green Day, The Chemical Brothers, Lily Allen, Massive Attack, Smashing Pumpkins, Underworld, Robert Plant, Underworld, Lorde, Morrissey, Lorde, Placebo, Kraftwerk, Swedish House Mafia, Suede and Stereophonics, among many others.
Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, The Doves, The Pogues, Stereophonics and Suede are among the many acts who posted tributes on social media.
“Chris York was a true unsung hero of the music world,” wrote The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess on X, adding that the British group “are proud” to have called York a friend.
“You might not recognise the name but if you’re a London gig-goer then you’ll have been at one of the thousands of gigs [York] put on through SJM,” stated Suede’s bassist Mat Osman, who called York “a huge friend and supporter” of the group. “He put on Suede shows from the lowliest to the biggest and was a constant presence in our career,” he added.
Posting on X, U.K. indie rock group Shed Seven said it was “heartbroken” to hear of York’s death. The promoter “played a pivotal role in shaping our career from the very beginning, standing by us every step of the way,” said the band, who topped the U.K. albums charts earlier this year. Shed Seven went on to call York “a kind and inspirational man, a true gent, one of the good guys.”
Those sentiments were echoed by U.K. venue operator Academy Music Group, which called York “a force of nature, exceptional promoter, industry pioneer and above all, a genuine music fan and all-round lovely man.”
During his career, York also worked closely with The Who’s Roger Daltrey, live producer Des Murphy and fellow SJM director Rob Ballantine on establishing the annual Teenage Cancer Trust spring concert series at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Since its launch in 2006, the event has raised more than £30 million ($38 million) for charity with everyone from Ed Sheeran to New Order to Paul McCartney taking part.
In 2021, York was awarded the Jo Walker Meador International Award by the Country Music Association for his work on the Country to Country (C2C) Music festival, which SJM launched in 2013 in partnership with AEG Europe. The event has since become Europe’s biggest country music festival, taking place annually at London’s The O2 arena, Glasgow’s OVO Hydro and Belfast’s The SSE Arena.
“When he got involved at the start of C2C Chris really knew f— all about country. But to his credit he knew what he had to do and immersed himself in every aspect of it and soon became a go-to oracle on country, which he always maintained,” Steve Homer, CEO of AEG Presents U.K., tells Billboard. “He has left a big hole in the live music industry and I’m not sure it will ever be filled.”
“Chris was so loved by the business as you can see from the tributes that are flooding in for him from far and wide,” Emma Banks, co-head of global touring at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and a close friend of York, tells Billboard.
“I am going to miss working with him. I am going to miss his wisdom. I am going to miss chatting with him about pretty much everything and having a laugh with him,” Banks adds. “My thoughts are with Alice, his family, friends and the team at SJM.”
Also paying tribute was Live Nation U.K. and Ireland chairman Denis Desmond, who said York was “a fighter to the end. His legacy will live on.”
John Mayall, the British blues musician whose influential band the Bluesbreakers was a training ground for Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood and many other superstars, has died. He was 90.
A statement on Mayall’s Instagram page announced his death Tuesday (July 23), saying the musician died Monday at his home in California. “Health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career have finally led to peace for one of this world’s greatest road warriors,” the post said.
He is credited with helping develop the English take on urban, Chicago-style rhythm and blues that played an important role in the blues revival of the late 1960s. At various times, the Bluesbreakers included Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce, later of Cream; Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac; Mick Taylor, who played five years with the Rolling Stones; Harvey Mandel and Larry Taylor of Canned Heat; and Jon Mark and John Almond, who went on to form the Mark-Almond Band.
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Mayall protested in interviews that he was not a talent scout, but played for the love of the music he had first heard on his father’s 78-rpm records.
“I’m a band leader and I know what I want to play in my band — who can be good friends of mine,” Mayall said in an interview with the Southern Vermont Review. “It’s definitely a family. It’s a small kind of thing really.”
A small but enduring thing. Though Mayall never approached the fame of some of his illustrious alumni, he was still performing in his late 80s, pounding out his version of Chicago blues. The lack of recognition rankled a bit, and he wasn’t shy about saying so.
“I’ve never had a hit record, I never won a Grammy Award, and Rolling Stone has never done a piece about me,” he said in an interview with the Santa Barbara Independent in 2013. “I’m still an underground performer.”
Known for his blues harmonica and keyboard playing, Mayall had a Grammy nomination, for “Wake Up Call” which featured guest artists Buddy Guy, Mavis Staples, Mick Taylor and Albert Collins. He received a second nomination in 2022 for his album The Sun Is Shining Down. He also won official recognition in Britain with the award of an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 2005.
He was selected for the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class and his 1966 album Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton is considered one of the best British blues albums.
Mayall once was asked if he kept playing to meet a demand, or simply to show he could still do it.
“Well, the demand is there, fortunately. But it’s really for neither of those two things, it’s just for the love of the music,” he said in an interview with Hawaii Public Radio. “I just get together with these guys and we have a workout.”
Mayall was born on Nov. 29, 1933 in Macclesfield, near Manchester in central England.
Sounding a note of the hard-luck bluesman, Mayall once said, “The only reason I was born in Macclesfield was because my father was a drinker, and that’s where his favorite pub was.”
His father also played guitar and banjo, and his records of boogie-woogie piano captivated his teenage son.
Mayall said he learned to play the piano one hand at a time — a year on the left hand, a year on the right, “so I wouldn’t get all tangled up.”
The piano was his main instrument, though he also performed on guitar and harmonica, as well as singing in a distinctive, strained-sounding voice. Aided only by drummer Keef Hartley, Mayall played all the other instruments for his 1967 album Blues Alone.
Mayall was often called the “father of British blues,” but when he moved to London in 1962 his aim was to soak up the nascent blues scene led by Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Eric Burdon were among others drawn to the sound.
The Bluesbreakers drew on a fluid community of musicians who drifted in and out of various bands. Mayall’s biggest catch was Clapton, who had quit the Yardbirds and joined he Bluesbreakers in 1965 because he was unhappy with the Yardbirds’ commercial direction.
Mayall and Clapton shared a passion for Chicago blues, and the guitarist later remembered that Mayall had “the most incredible collection of records I had ever seen.”
Mayall tolerated Clapton’s waywardness: He disappeared a few months after joining the band, then reappeared later the same year, sidelining the newly arrived Peter Green, then left for good in 1966 with Bruce to form Cream, which rocketed to commercial success, leaving Mayall far behind.
Clapton, interviewed for a BBC documentary on Mayall in 2003, confessed that “to a certain extent I have used his hospitality, used his band and his reputation to launch my own career,”
“I think he is a great musician. I just admire and respect his steadfastness,” Clapton added.
Mayall encouraged Clapton to sing and urged Green to develop his song-writing abilities.
Mick Taylor, who succeeded Green as a Bluesbreaker in the late 1960s, valued the wide latitude which Mayall allowed his soloists.
“You’d have complete freedom to do whatever you wanted,” Taylor said in a 1979 interview with writer Jas Obrecht. “You could make as many mistakes as you wanted, too.”
Mayall’s 1968 album Blues From Laurel Canyon signaled a permanent move to the United States and a change in direction. He disbanded the Bluesbreakers and worked with two guitars and drums.
The following year he released The Turning Point, arguably his most successful release, with an atypical four-man acoustic lineup including Mark and Almond. “Room to Move,” a song from that album, was a frequent audience favorite in Mayall’s later career.
The 1970s found Mayall at low ebb personally, but still touring and doing more than 100 shows a year.
“Throughout the ’70s, I performed most of my shows drunk,” Mayall said in an interview with Dan Ouellette for Down Beat magazine in 1990. One consequence was an attempt to jump from a balcony into a swimming pool that missed — shattering one of Mayall’s heels and leaving him with a limp.
“That was one incident that got me to stop drinking,” Mayall said.
In 1982, he reformed the Bluesbreakers, recruiting Taylor and McVie, but after two years the personnel changed again. In 2008, Mayall announced that he was permanently retiring the Bluesbreaker name, and in 2013 he was leading the John Mayall Band.
Mayall and his second wife, Maggie, divorced in 2011 after 30 years of marriage. They had two sons.