Long John Baldry

Born John William Baldry in England, he grew to a towering 2.01 m (6 ft.7 in.) that resulted in the nickname "Long" John. Gifted with a deep, rich voice, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing blues music in clubs and is now seen as a early pioneer of British rock n’roll

In the early 1960s, he sang with Alexis Korner's band Blues Incorporated, with whom he recorded the first British blues album in 1962, R&B at the Marquee. At various stages, Mick Jagger, Jack Bruce and Charlie Watts were members of this band while Keith Richards and Brian Jones played on stage with them. The Rolling Stones supported Baldry in their first concert at the Marquee Club.

Baldry became friends with Paul McCartney after playing a show at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in the early 1960s, leading to an invitation to play on one of The Beatles 1964 TV specials.

In 1963, Baldry joined the Cyril Davies R&B All Stars with Jimmy Page on guitar and Nicky Hopkins playing piano. He took over the group in 1964 after the death of Cyril Davies, which became Long John Baldry and his Hoochie Coochie Men featuring Rod Stewart on vocals and Geoff Bradford on guitar. Rod Stewart was recruited after Baldry heard him sing a Muddy Waters song at Twickenham railway station after Stewart had been to a gig at Eel Pie Island.

In 1965, the Hoochie Coochie Men became Steampacket with Baldry and Stewart as male vocalists, Julie Driscoll as the female vocalist and Brian Auger on Hammond organ. After Steampacket broke up in 1966, Baldry formed Bluesology featuring Reg Dwight on keyboards and Elton Dean, later of Soft Machine, as well as Caleb Quaye on guitar. Reg Dwight decided to adopt the name Elton John, taking his first name from Dean and his surname from Baldry's first name.

In 1967, he recorded a pop song Let the Heartaches Begin that went to number one in Britain, followed by a 1968 top 20 hit titled Mexico, which was the official theme of the UK Olympic team in that year. Let the Heartaches Begin made the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

Bluesology broke up in 1968, with Baldry continuing his solo career.   In 1971, John and Stewart each produced one side of It Ain't Easy which became Baldry's most popular album and made the top 100 of the US album charts. The album featured the song Don't Try to Lay No Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll which became his most successful song in the US.

After emigrating to Canada in the early 1980s, he recorded for EMI Music Canada, and since 1991 recorded five albums for Stony Plain Records in Edmonton, Alberta.   Since the early 1990s,he was also known in Canada for his extensive voice work in commercials.  He also narrated on Winnie The Pooh recordings for Disney and was the voice for Robotnik on the popular Sonic The Hedgehog computer game. Long John Baldry died on 21 July 2005, in a Vancouver hospital of a severe chest infection.

See Long John Baldry sing Let the Heartache Begin

For more information on Long John Baldry visit the official website at http://www.johnbaldry.com/index1.asp