John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

The godfather of British blues, John Mayall - born November 29, 1933, in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England - oversaw a who's who of the young guitar gods who cut their teeth in his legendary band the Bluesbreakers including Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor. Persuaded by Alexis Korner to move to London and become a full time musician in 1963, the first incarnation of the Bluesbreakers quickly made a name for themselves playing gigs at London's Marquee Club and backing John Lee Hooker on his 1964 UK tour. A notoriously hard task master, John Mayall stayed loyal to an authentic Chicago blues rock sound, while developing and passing on his knowledge to an ever-changing line-up of gifted musicians. Clapton joined in 1965 and their 1966 album together, Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, is usually seen as John Mayall's seminal recording in a career that has spanned five decades and produced over 50 albums. John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers released three more successful albums – A Hard Road (1967), Crusade (1967), and Bare Wires (1968) – before John Mayall went solo with albums like Blues from Laurel Canyon (1968), Empty Rooms (1970), and USA Union (1970). By the 1970s, John Mayall had moved to the US and put together a new band, although he reformed a version of the Bluesbreakers in 1982. New versions of the Bluesbreakers recorded a series of albums including Return of the Bluesbreakers (1985), Chicago Line (1988), A Sense of Place (1990), Cross Country Blues (1992), Wake Up Call (1993), Spinning Coin (1995), Road Dogs (2005), and In the Palace of the King (2007).  He finally split the Bluesbreakers for good in 2008 but continued touring with other musicians and recording solo albums.  John Mayall died on July 22, 2024, at the age of 90.