Long John Baldry

Today's honored artist was the man who brought Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon to Britain. He earned the respect of John Lee Hooker and B.B. King. And even John Mayall admits that, before The Bluesbreakers, this man was already the father of the British Blues. Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts all flourished under his tutelage, and he was a hero to Pete Townshend of The Who and Ray and Dave Davies (with whom he also had a brief affair) of The Kinks. Still, his only #1 in the UK was an Easy Listening hit. Things have a way of happening...

Born in East Haddon, England on Jan 12, 1941, John William "Long John" Baldry was performing by his middle teens and quickly became an admired musician among Britain's young Blues and Rock performers. John grew to 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), resulting in the nickname "Long John".

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. 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 US-only live album, Got Live If You Want It!, in 1966.

From R&B from the Marquee, here's a song written by Baldry, who's also on lead vocals: I Thought I Heard That Train Whistle Blow.

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.

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. Rod himself explains how they met:

"Long John Baldry launched me on my musical career, I was 18 and playing harmonica and singing a Muddy Waters song [Dimples] in a railway station, when Long John Baldry ran over to me from the other side of the tracks. I had just been to see him play at a club; he was one of the top Bluesmen in England. But John didn’t sing Muddy Waters songs – he knew Muddy Waters, had performed with him and with Ramblin' Jack Elliott too. And now he was asking, "Would you like to join the band?"

“For me, just shaking his hand – knowing all the great musicians whose hand he’d shaken before was mind-blowing. But so was John. Picture this elegant man with a proper English accent, never without a tie, a towering six-foot-seven. I was a huge fan and I was intimidated by his offer. Rod Stewart wasn’t in demand in those days; no one was interested. I immediately said yes.”

Rod continues, “John taught me so much – things that apply to my life and things that made me the human being I am today. He had tremendous stage presence. ‘You watch any great performer and they never stand at the microphone with their legs together,’ he said. ‘Have a manly stance. Be bold on stage – bold as you would be playing soccer’, which I was good at then. He taught me to project with my hands when I’m singing. See me onstage today and you’re seeing what John taught me. John was really looking out for me when we were on the road. My first time in a club outside of London, we played a club in Manchester. He said, ‘Don’t worry just get up there and sing.’ I was nervous. A band mate gave me a pill – an amphetamine called a black bomber. I got onstage and played one song for 20 minutes, the same verse over and over. John found out and reprimanded the guy, firing him for corrupting me. He was very fatherly, always looking out for my welfare.”

There’s speculation they had a love relationship but more likely it was the love of a father figure who put Rod in the front of the class. Here they are together, when Glam Rock was in fashion:

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. They were called "the first R&B supergroup in the UK." Because of contractual difficulties, however, they never formally recorded a studio or live album. Tracks from some demo tapes they recorded at a rehearsal in the Marquee Club would later be released. Cry Me A River was one of them:

After Steampacket broke up, 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 Dean and his surname from Baldry. When Elton tried to commit suicide in 1968 because he was supposed to marry a woman he did not love, Baldry told him it was okay to be gay, a moment immortalized in Elton’s 1975 hit Someone Saved My Life Tonight. The lyrics "Sugar Bear" refer to Baldry. Here's Bluesology's first single, Come Back Baby (1965), which was also written by Elton John.

Baldry was openly gay during the early 1960s, at least amongst his friends and industry peers. However, he did not make a formal public acknowledgement of this until the 1970s - possibly because until 1967-68 in Britain, homosexuality was still a criminal offence that could lead to forced medication and/or jail time.

In 1967 Baldry signed a solo deal with Pye Records. His first single, an Easy Listening number called Let the Heartaches Begin was a surprise #1 hit in the UK for 2 weeks. It also reached #88 in the US.

The follow-up was When The Sun Comes Shining Thru', which peaked at #29 in the UK.

The next single, called Mexico (#15, UK) was the theme of the UK Olympic team that year.

His last hit single in the UK (at #21) was It's Too Late Now (1969):

Here is another song from 1969 that I like. This is Henry Hannah's 42nd Street Parking Lot:

This brief commercial success which resulted from Baldry's move from Swinging, Jazzy Blues to Middle-Of-the-Road Pop didn't sit well with Bluesman Baldry. Thankfully, when success ran out, his friends Rod Stewart and Elton John were there to rescue him by co-producing his well-reviewed 1971 album, It Ain't Easy. From this album came his biggest US hit (#73) called Don't Try to Lay No Boogie-Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll. Here it is, with a rather lengthy (but fun) spoken-word introduction:

In the same record there's the classic Blues number composed by Lead Belly, Black Girl:

His next album, Everything Stops for Tea (1972), was also co-produced by Rod Stewart and Elton John. In Jubilee Cloud Elton John does backing vocals:

On Mother Ain't Dead Rod Stewart shares vocal duties:

Rod Stewart is also present in John's next album, Good to Be Alive (1973), this time as a co-composer (along with Ron Wood) of the album's opening track, Gasoline Alley:

Baldry had mental health problems and was institutionalised for a brief time in 1975. The 1979 album Baldry's Out was recorded after his release.

"The gays are straight/And the straights are queer/And the bis just call everybody dear...Oh, I will try anything/If it makes my head go round/Leather whips/and fingetips/I know a boy who is growing tits/You know a thrill's a thrill/Even in paradise."

When Long John Baldry recorded A Thrill's a Thrill and included it on an album Baldry's Out, he was sending a message after more than 20 years in the music business - I'm gay, I'm proud of who I am, and I'm not gonna hide it anymore.

Here's the album's title track:

From the same record, a duet with Seattle singer Kathi McDonald of a version of The Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin, made #89 in the US, but went Top 5 in Australia:

After time in New York City and Los Angeles in 1978, Baldry settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he became a Canadian citizen. Shortly after, he met his life partner, Felix "Oz" Rexach, from New York. They would stay together for 25 years, until John's death on July 21 2005, following a severe chest infection. He was 64. As a farewell to John, here's Midnight In Berlin, from his 1996 album Right To Sing The Blues: