Long John Baldry

John William Baldry was born at East Haddon Hall, East Haddon, Northamptonshire, which was serving as a makeshift wartime maternity ward,[1] on 12 January 1941, the son of William James Baldry (1915–1990), a Metropolitan Police constable and his wife, Margaret Louisa (née Parker; 1915–1989); their usual address was recorded as 18 Frinton Road, East Ham.[2] His early life was spent in Edgware, Middlesex where he attended Camrose Primary School until the age of 11, after which he attended Downer Grammar School (now Canons High School).

Baldry grew to 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), resulting in the nickname "Long John". Baldry appeared quite regularly in the early 1960s in the Gyre & Gimble coffee lounge, around the corner from Charing Cross railway station, and at the Bluesville R. & B. Club, Manor House, London, also Klooks Kleek (Railway Hotel, West Hampstead). He appeared weekly for some years at Eel Pie Island on the Thames at Twickenham and also appeared at the Station Hotel in Richmond, one of the Rolling Stones' earliest venues.

In the early 1960s, he sang with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, with whom he recorded the first British blues album in 1962 R&B from the Marquee. At stages, Mick Jagger, Jack Bruce and Charlie Watts were members of this band while Keith Richards and Brian Jones played on stage, although none played on the R&B at the Marquee album.[3] When The Rolling Stones made their debut at the Marquee Club in July 1962, Baldry put together a group to support them. Later, Baldry was the announcer introducing the Stones on their U.S.-only live album Got Live If You Want It!, in 1966.

Baldry became friendly with Paul McCartney after a show at the Cavern Club in Liverpool in the early 1960s, leading to an invitation to sing on one of the Beatles 1964 TV specials Around The Beatles. In the special, Baldry performs "Got My Mojo Workin'" and a medley of songs with members of the Vernons Girls trio; in the latter, the Beatles are shown singing along in the audience.[4]

In 1963, Baldry joined the Cyril Davies R&B All Stars with Nicky Hopkins playing piano. He took over in 1964 after the death of Cyril Davies, and the group became Long John Baldry and his Hoochie Coochie Men featuring Rod Stewart on vocals and Geoff Bradford on guitar. Stewart was recruited when Baldry heard him busking a Muddy Waters song at Twickenham Station after Stewart had been to a Baldry gig at Eel Pie Island.[5] Long John Baldry became a regular fixture on Sunday nights at Eel Pie Island from then onwards, fronting a series of bands.

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. Dwight, when he began to record as a solo artist, adopted the name Elton John, his first name from Elton Dean and his surname from John Baldry.[6]

Following the departure of Elton John and Bluesology, Baldry was left without a backup band. Attending a show in the Mecca at Shaftesbury Avenue, he saw a five-piece harmony group called Chimera from Plymouth, who had recently turned professional. He approached them after their set to tell them how impressed he was by their vocal harmonies and that they would be ideal to back him on the cabaret circuit he was currently embarked on, which they did.

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 theme of the UK Olympic team that year. "Let the Heartaches Begin" made the lower reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. Baldry was still touring, doing gigs with Bluesology, but the band refused to back his rendition of "Let the Heartaches Begin", and left the stage while he performed to a backing-tape played on a large Revox tape-recorder.

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 chart. The album featured "Don't Try to Lay No Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll" which became his most successful song in the US. Baldry's first tour of the US was at this time. The band included Micky Waller, Ian Armitt, Pete Sears, and Sammy Mitchell. Stewart and John would again co-produce his 1972 album Everything Stops For Tea which also made the lower reaches of the US album charts. The same year, Baldry worked with ex-Procol Harum guitarist Dave Ball.[7] The 1979 album Baldry's Out was recorded in Canada, which he released at Zolly's Forum; a nightclub in Oshawa, underneath the Oshawa Shopping Centre.

In a 1997 interview with a German television programme Baldry claimed to be the last person to see singer Marc Bolan before Bolan's death on 16 September 1977, having conducted an interview with the fellow singer for an American production company, he says, just before Bolan was killed in a car accident.[8]

After time in New York City and Los Angeles in 1978, Baldry lived in Dundas, Ontario from 1980 to 1984[9] before settling in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he became a Canadian citizen. He toured the west coast, as well as the US Northwest. Baldry also toured the Canadian east.

In 1976, he teamed with Seattle singer Kathi McDonald who became part of the Long John Baldry Band, touring Canada and the US. In 1979 the pair recorded a version of The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin", following which McDonald became part of his touring group for two decades. The song entered the US Billboard charts and was a No. 2 hit in Australia in 1980. (Walk Me Out In the) Morning Dew, a song from his 1980 Boys in the Band album, became a hit in the Netherlands in 1981.[10]

He last recorded with the Stony Plain label. His 1997 album Right To Sing The Blues won a Juno Award in the Blues Album of the Year category in the Juno Awards of 1997.

In 2003, Baldry headlined the British Legends of Rhythm and Blues UK tour, alongside Zoot Money, Ray Dorset and Paul Williams.[11] Baldry's final United States performance was held at Barristers Hall in Columbus, Ohio, on 19 July 2004.[12] Baldry's final UK Tour as 'The Long John Baldry Trio' concluded with a performance on Saturday 13 November 2004 at The King's Lynn Arts Centre, King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. The trio consisted of LJB, Butch Coulter on harmonica and Dave Kelly on slide guitar.[13]

According to Giorgio Gomelsky, Baldry's flamboyant mannerisms made his homosexuality an open secret within the music industry during the early 1960s; until 1967, homosexual acts were unlawful in Britain, and so Baldry did not publicly disclose his orientation.[14] Baldry had a brief relationship with lead guitarist of the Kinks, Dave Davies.[15][16][17]

In 1968, Elton John tried to take his own life after relationship problems with a woman, Linda Woodrow. His lyricist Bernie Taupin and Baldry[18] found him, and Baldry talked him out of marrying her. The song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" from Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy was about the experience.[15][19]

In 1978, Baldry's then-upcoming album Baldry's Out announced his formal coming out, and he addressed sexuality problems with a cover of Canadian songwriter Barbra Amesbury's "A Thrill's a Thrill".[20]

Wikinews has related news:

• Legendary bluesman Long John Baldry dead at 64

• Official website replaced with archived version
• Long John Baldry Website Archive
• Musical Tree ~ JohnBaldry.com (Baldry band memberships) Archived version of page
• Profile at GTA agency recovered archived version of site
• London (Ontario) Free Press report of death published 23 July 2005
• Long John Baldry ~ VH1 profile Archived 28 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine
• Long John Baldry: Biography ~ AllMusic.com
• Long John Baldry discography at Discogs
• Billboard report on Baldry's death 22 July 2005
• Long John Baldry at IMDb
• Long John Baldry and The Marquee Club
• It Ain't Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues (Paperback)
• Long John Baldry: In the Shadow of the Blues (documentary) Archived 24 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• Long John Baldry at Find a Grave