UK Blues Legend John Mayall Dies at 90

John Mayall, the British blues pioneer known for his 1960s music collective the Bluesbreakers, has passed away at the age of 90, his family announced on Tuesday.

Mayall, often called “the godfather of British blues,” was a singer and multi-instrumentalist whose band became a breeding ground for future rock legends, including Eric Clapton. A statement posted on his Facebook page confirmed that he “passed away peacefully in his California home” on Monday.

The statement did not specify a cause of death but noted that “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.”

Mayall’s impact on 1960s rock and its subsequent evolution is monumental. Various members of his Bluesbreakers went on to form or join iconic groups such as Cream, Fleetwood Mac, and the Rolling Stones.

At 30, Mayall relocated from northern England to London in 1963. Sensing a cultural revolution, he left his job as a graphic designer to fully immerse himself in the blues, a genre rooted in Black American music.

During this transformative period, he collaborated with young guitarists like Clapton, Peter Green (later of Fleetwood Mac), and Mick Taylor, who later became part of the Rolling Stones.

The 1966 debut album, “Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton,” captivated audiences with its fusion of soulful rock and gritty American blues. The album featured covers from legends like Robert Johnson, Otis Rush, and Ray Charles.

“The blues music we were playing in British venues was a novelty for white England,” Mayall shared with AFP in 1997.

This groundbreaking album not only catapulted Clapton to stardom but also popularized a raw and emotive style of blues music.

In 1968, Mayall moved to California and continued to tour America extensively by 1972.

Throughout the 1960s, he recorded several landmark albums, including “Crusade,” “A Hard Road,” and “Blues From Laurel Canyon.” His prolific career saw dozens more albums in the following decades, culminating in “The Sun Is Shining Down” in 2022.

For his contributions to music, Mayall was honored as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2005.

Source: AFP, Getty Images