He formed his own group, the Tony Donegan Jazz Band, in 1952. The popular skiffle style encouraged amateurs to get started, and one of the many skiffle groups that followed was The Quarrymen formed in March 1957 by John Lennon. The Chris Barber Jazz Band, as they became known, were popular enough to justify the recording of an album for Britain's Decca Records label. Sally Don't You Grieve (Nov - 1957) His taste in jazz went toward Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa. http://www.p.griggsy.btinternet.co.uk/Untitled/Lonnie.html (Memories of Lonnie Donegan by Paul Griggs). The album, New Orleans Joy, featured songs representative of the group's live set, including a selection from Donegan's skiffle repertory -- the skiffle group, consisting of Donegan, Barber on bass, and their friend Beryl Bryden playing rhythm on washboard, recorded its vocal numbers only after arguing vociferously with the Decca producer, who wanted an instrumental number. It was during these shows, between sets by the full band, that Donegan would come on-stage with two other players and perform his own version of American blues, country, and folk standards, punched up with his own rhythms and accents, on acoustic guitar or banjo, backed by upright bass and drums. Acts who have peaked at every position in the Top 10, LONNIE DONEGAN PRESENTS KENNY BALL AND HIS JAZZMEN, Eurovision 2023: Who is the UK's 2023 entry? By mid-1958, however, skiffle was waning rapidly as a commercial sound, but Donegan continued to appear on the charts right into 1962. The only way Donegan had of mastering his instrument was by listening to old records and painstakingly working out the music and a technique, Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O, Lonnie Donegan Showcase (Aug. 22/23, 1956) Sorted by Bestseller, Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Jasmine Records on 10/12/2012, Folk - Released by M. i. G. - music on 30/09/2016, Pop - Released by Castle Communications on 1/01/1985, Pop - Released by Sanctuary Records on 11/04/2000, Rock - Released by Castle Communications on 1/09/2016, Folk - Released by Before 1962 Recordings on 17/09/2020, Rock - Released by Vantage Music on 4/10/2016, Folk - Released by Bridge Pa Digital on 28/05/2019, Pop - Released by Sanctuary Records on 12/12/2000, Pop - Released by Castle Communications on 1/01/1957, Pop - Released by Retro Music Box on 25/06/2020, Pop - Released by Weishaupt Music & Entertainment on 3/05/2017, Country - Released by Master Tape Records on 10/10/2019, Pop - Released by All I Have To Do Is Dream on 15/11/2019, Pop - Released by Sanctuary Records on 8/09/2014, Country - Released by Black Marlin Records on 29/11/2014, Country - Released by Black Sheep Music on 4/01/2012. b/w Jimmie Brown The Newsboy, Lively b/w Black Cat (Cross My Path Today), (Bury Me) Beneath The Willow b/w Leave My Woman Alone, I'll Never Fall In Love Again b/w Keep On The Sunny Side, Beans In My Ears b/w It's A Long Road To Travel, World Cup Willie b/w Where In This World Are We Going, My Lovely Juanita b/w Who Knows Where The Time Goes. Betty, Betty, Betty (Apr - 1958), Battle Of New Orleans (2) He got something more valuable from it than money, however, for "Rock Island Line" was credited to "The Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group." Jack O' Diamonds, Lonnie Donegan Hit Parade -- Vol 5 By 1980, he was making regular concert appearances again, and a new album with Barber followed. In 1949, he was drafted into the British Army. Anthony James Donegan MBE (29 April 1931 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the "King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. His next single for Decca, "Diggin' My Potatoes," cut at an October 30, 1954 concert at London's Royal Festival Hall, was banned by the BBC for its suggestive lyrics -- this hurt sales but also gave Donegan a slight veneer of daring and rebelliousness that didn't hurt his credibility with the kids. The disc closes with Donegan's arrangement of "Love Is Strange," cut under the direction of Joe Meek (who suggested the clinking bottle percussion) and given a beat that makes it sound more like a calypso number. This group recorded two excellent blues numbers with Lonnie Donegan as vocal called "In the evening when de sun go down" and "The Midnight Special" After a year, Ken colyer stormed out of the group and Chris Barber took over. WebListen to Lonnie Donegan in unlimited on Qobuz and buy the albums in Hi-Res 24-Bit for an unequalled sound quality. In concert, the group's sound was fuller still, with Donegan and Wright sharing guitar chores with bearded, bespectacled Dick Bishop, who had played on Donegan's earliest records. With three Number 1s (Cumberland Gap, Gamblin Man/ Putting On The Style, My Old Mans A Dustman) as well as having hits that peaked at every position in the Top 10. In the late '90s, his musical credibility came around again to perhaps the highest level of respect of his life, with several multi-disc hits and career-wide compilations available. By 1980, he was making regular concert appearances again, and a new album with Barber followed. Darling Corey, Tops With Lonnie ~ 1959 Michael Row The Boat Ashore It was exceptionally popular among England's teenagers, who accounted for most of its sales. Chances are that UA in America was lured into distributing this album by 28, 1957) WebLONNIE DONEGAN DISCOGRAPHY compiled by Dave Moore c.1951 Tony Donegan Jazz Band. He was coaxed into his first band one night when someone approached him on the train, saying that they'd heard he was a good banjo player, and invited him to audition for a new group. Donegan heard it all, even -- by his own admission -- stole a couple, and absorbed every note. The first 13 tracks on this 26-song CD are from various EPs and singles cut by Donegan in late 1955 and early 1956, doing a wide range of country blues and folk material, with repertory by Leroy Carr, Leadbelly, and Woody Guthrie interspersed among country and cowboy numbers, work songs, and field hollers that go back too far for authorship to be identified. The Federation had brought the two over to England in defiance of a Musicians' Union ban on all foreign performers and needed a non-union band like Donegan's to play support for the two guests. Frankie and Johnny, Lonnie Donegan Hit Parade -- Vol. Albums include Lonnie Donegan Showcase, Rock Island Line / John Henry, and The Skiffle Sessions: Live in Belfast. The next month he was at Abbey Road Studios in London cutting a song for EMI's Columbia label. The family, which moved to East London in 1933, had no desire to see him go into a dead-end profession. Donegan passed away November 3, 2002, following heart problems. But in 1954, before anyone (especially anybody in England) knew what rock & roll was, Donegan was cool, and his music was hot. Leinemann's Potatoes 8. © Bruce Eder /TiVo, 198 album(s) Still later, Jimmy Currie, a veteran of Tony Crombie's Rockets (the first home-grown rock & roll band in England, patterned loosely after Bill Haley's Comets) became Donegan's lead guitarist in what is regarded as his strongest band. Another compelling glimpse of the group can be found in the British jukebox movie The Six-Five Special (1957), based on the popular television series of the period, in which Donegan rips through a killer live rendition of "Jack 'O Diamonds," as well as a fine cover of Woody Guthrie's "The Grand Coulee Dam." The story goes that the host at the concert got the musicians' names confused, calling them "Tony Johnson" and "Lonnie Donegan", and Donegan was happy to keep the name. The name stuck. Donegan's group had a flexible line-up, but was generally formed by Denny Wright or Les Bennetts (of Les Hobeaux and Chas McDevitt's skiffle groups) playing lead guitar and singing harmony vocals, Micky Ashman or Pete Huggett - later Steve Jones - on upright bass, Nick Nichols - later Pete Appleby and Mark Goodwin - on drums or percussion and Donegan playing acoustic guitar or banjo and singing the lead. How Long How Long Blues Diggin My Potatoes / Bury My Body (1956) . www.hillmanweb.com/book/gigs, Rock Island Line b/w John Henry (with The Chris Barber Jazz Band), Midnight Special b/w New Burying Ground (with The Chris Barber Jazz Band), Diggin' My Potatoes b/w I Don't Care Where They Bury My Body, Bring A Little Water, Sylvie b/w Dead Or Alive, Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O b/w I'm Alabammy Bound, On A Christmas Day b/w Take My Hand Precious Lord, My Dixie Darling b/w I'm Just A Rolling Stone, The Grand Coolie Dam b/w Nobody Loves Like An Irishman, Sally Don't You Grieve b/w Betty Betty Betty, Lonesome Traveller b/w Times Are Getting Hard Boys, Lonnie's Skiffle Pt. Donegan passed away November 3, 2002, following heart problems. Single: "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?" The UK King of Skiffle, Lonnie Donegan was born Anthony James Donegan MBE (April 29 1931 November 3 2002) in Bridgeton, Glasgow, before joing Chris Barbers Big Jazz Band. In 1983 Donegan toured England with Billy Joe Spears, and in 1984, he made his theatrical debut in a revival of the 1920 musical Mr. Cinders. Lonnie Donegan MBE (29 April 1931 3 November 2002) was a British "skiffle" musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. WebListen to Lonnie Donegan in unlimited on Qobuz and buy the albums in Hi-Res 24-Bit for an unequalled sound quality. Showcase . He also gained access to more American records than ever before, courtesy of the U.S. soldiers serving in the city. Having replaced Bishop in 1956, Wright is playing most of the lead guitar on those tracks, on the accompanying single sides, and on a pair of previously unissued tracks: the Pye re-recording of "Rock Island Line" and the slow blues "I've Got Rocks in My Bed," where he gets to play some Scrapper Blackwell-style licks. Among those he worked with during this period was future Moody Blues guitarist-singer Justin Hayward. WebLonnie Donegan Pop - Released by Castle Communications on 1/01/1985 16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo Starting at $117.99 My Old Man's A Dustman - The Singles As & Bs 1954 - 1961 Lonnie Donegan Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Jasmine Records on 10/12/2012 16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo Starting at $18.99 WebLonnie Donegan. The next month he was at Abbey Road Studios in London cutting a song for EMI's Columbia label. Light From The Lighthouse. A WebInformation on Lonnie Donegan. Donegan proved to be a popular performer in America, playing on bills with Chuck Berry, among others. Donegan and his band essentially played live in the studio (there was virtually no overdubbing in those days), but the best record of their sound comes from a concert recorded at London's Conway Hall on January 25, 1957, which was later released by Pye. The album sold 60,000 copies in its first month of release, a huge number in England at that time for a debut album by a homegrown jazz group. (number three and number five in the U.S.) all in less than three years -- thousands of skiffle groups were springing up all over England. Before the smoke cleared, "Rock Island Line" also managed to reach the Top 20 in America, a major feat for a British artist at that time. Currie was not only more folk oriented than Wright, but also wrote songs, although Wright would turn up on Donegan sessions as late as 1965. The three laid down four or five songs while the producer was away, and one of the songs chosen from among those five for the album was "Rock Island Line." New artists, most notably Tommy Steele and, later, Cliff Richard, started out playing skiffle music and put their own stamp on the material before moving on to other sounds. Wabash Cannonball Decca gave up on Donegan soon after, believing that skiffle was a flash-in-the-pan fad. The only way Donegan had of mastering his instrument was by listening to old records and painstakingly working out the music and a technique, He returned to the chart Donegan received an Ivor Novello lifetime achievement award in 1995 and, in 2000, he was made an MBE. What's more, his music, like that of Presley and Haley, was vital to the early musical careers and future histories of the Beatles, the Stones, and hundreds of other groups. His next single for Decca, "Diggin' My Potatoes," cut at an October 30, 1954 concert at London's Royal Festival Hall, was banned by the BBC for its suggestive lyrics -- this hurt sales but also gave Donegan a slight veneer of daring and rebelliousness that didn't hurt his credibility with the kids. Carter's "Wabash Cannonball." Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. Lonnie Donegan remains a beloved pioneer of English rock & roll, and the king of skiffle. Singles. [1][2][3] Born in Scotland and brought up in England, Donegan began his career in the British trad jazz revival but transitioned to skiffle in the mid-1950s, rising to prominence with a hit recording of the American folk song "Rock Island Line" which helped spur the broader UK skiffle movement. Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Subscription from 12,50/month They found the record's rhythm to be infectious and its sound alluring in a way that no record by anyone from England ever had before. If anyone has additions or corrections Id be pleased to know of them. The man extending the invitation was Chris Barber, himself an aspiring young jazzman. The Sunshine Of His Love. In 1949, he was drafted into the British Army. The Ken Colyer Jazzmen, as they were called, specialized in Dixieland jazz, and built a formidable reputation, their shows popular in every club they played. 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