The pop/rock world has lost another of its major, if little known, influences:
washingtonpost.com
Lonnie Donegan Dies; His 'Skiffle' Music Inspired a Generation
Associated Press
Tuesday, November 5, 2002; Page B09
Lonnie Donegan, 71, a musician whose "skiffle" sound inspired John Lennon and Pete Townshend to learn to play guitar, died Nov. 3 in Peterborough, England. He had a heart ailment.
His hits included "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (on the Bedpost Overnight)," "My Old Man's a Dustman" and "Rock Island Line."
Mr. Donegan, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, was a fan of American country, folk and blues music. Skiffle music, which he introduced to Britain in the 1950s, was a mixture of styles that traced its roots to 1920s America, blending jug band, acoustic, folk, blues and country-and-western styles.
The son of a symphony violinist, Mr. Donegan absorbed a wide range of popular music from across the Atlantic, including the Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Josh White, Bessie Smith and Leadbelly. A stint in the British army took him to Vienna, where he was influenced by music on the American Forces Radio Network.
He formed the Tony Donegan Jazz Band in 1952 and later joined Chris Barber in Ken Colyer's Jazzmen, which became a popular club band. Mr. Donegan, playing guitar or banjo, performed American blues, country and folk songs in the breaks between sets. Colyer quit in 1954, and the renamed Chris Barber Jazz Band made a recording for Decca Records of a few of Mr. Donegan's skiffle tunes, including "Rock Island Line."
The album was a hit, but the single release of "Rock Island Line" was a phenomenon, spending 22 weeks on the British chart and breaking into the top 20 in the United States. The single was credited to the Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group, and he was a star.
"Rock Island Line" inspired two young Liverpudlians, Lennon and George Harrison, to take up the guitar. A year later, Lennon's skiffle group, the Quarrymen, was playing at a church fete near Liverpool when 15-year-old Paul McCartney introduced himself.
Townshend, the Who's windmilling guitar player, started out as leader of the Detours, a skiffle group also featuring Who vocalist Roger Daltrey. Elton John, Ringo Starr and Queen's Brian May also paid tribute by playing on Mr. Donegan's 1978 album "Puttin' On the Style."
Mr. Donegan continued to appear with Van Morrison, who started his career in a Belfast skiffle band called the Sputniks, and they teamed up for the 1999 recording "Skiffle Sessions."
In 2000, Mr. Donegan was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire. |
