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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZGUY, Buddy(b George Guy, 30 July '36, Lettsworth LA) Blues singer, guitarist. Began on home-made guitar at age 13; worked in Baton Rouge area, to Chicago '57; worked outside music, then increasingly highly regarded as sideman, then in own right in modern generation of Chicago bluesmen, both as singer and guitarist; also a showman: won 'Battle of the Blues' at Blue Flame Club '58; recorded that year with Magic Sam on Cobra and under his own name on Artistic; house musician at Chess label from '60 (own single on Chess 'Stone Crazy' was no. 12 R&B hit '62); recorded for Argo, Arhoolie, Fontana, Atco, etc; with Junior Wells and Otis Rush gigs issued on Vanguard; as 'Friendly Chap' on Wells's Delmark LP Hoodoo Man '66, with him again on Atlantic '68, etc. Appeared in films The Blues Is Alive And Well In Chicago '70, BBC TV Supershow and Chicago Blues '70, French film Out Of The Blacks And Into The Blues '72, etc. LP with Wells Drinkin' TNT 'n' Smokin' Dynamite on Blind Pig label, Sonet in UK (has Bill Wyman on bass), also Original Blues Brothers -- Live On Blue Moon UK, made in Checkerboard club, Chicago. Own LPs incl. debut A Man And His Blues '68, This Is Buddy Guy, Hold That Plane!, Hot And Cool (in UK), all on Vanguard; Buddy And The Juniors on Blue Thumb (now on MCA, incl. Wells and Junior Mance); Stone Crazy! on Alligator. Jimi Hendrix admitted getting a lot of licks from Guy, who opened Chicago club Legends on South Wabash '89. Then came a renaissance: Damn Right I've Got The Blues '91 on Silvertone with guests Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler and others was a reminder that neither Guy nor the blues had gone away (even made the Billboard album chart); Feels Like Rain '92 with Bonnie Raitt, John Mayall and others, Slippin' In '94 with Johnnie Johnson followed, and after three Grammy wins, Live! The Real Deal '96 (still on Silvertone) was a smoking live set, still finding something new in his best-known tunes. Along with reissues and compilations on Chess and Vanguard, Guy was Live In Montreux with Wells on Evidence. |