Taj Mahal

A blues guitarist who infused his style with musical influences from Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, Taj Mahal helped pioneer world music while rejuvenating the roots and traditions of American folk music. Born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, he soaked up a love of music from his jazz pianist father and gospel singing mother before taking up the guitar as a 13-year-old and forming a doo-wop group. Naming himself Taj Mahal after dreams he had of Gandhi and India, he formed R&B act The Rising Sons with Ry Cooder and went on to work with Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins and The Rolling Stones before releasing his self-titled debut in 1968. He dabbled with reggae and New Orleans jazz in the 1970s, and discovered calypso and zydeco when he moved to Hawaii in the 1980s, but hit his high point with the Grammy Award-winning Senor Blues (1997), a record which cobbled together all of Mahal's musical expeditions into a jambalaya of rich sounds. In a career which spans over 50 years and includes over 30 albums, he has mastered more than 20 different instruments and continues to perform with exuberance and an infectious love of life at festivals across the world.