John Mayall, towering figure of the blues who blooded Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor – obituary

BB King said that without Mayall ‘a lot of us Black musicians in America would still be catchin’ the hell that we caught long before’

John Mayall, who has died aged 90, played a major role in bringing the blues music of the black ghettos to white America, by way of Manchester and London; however, his fame was eclipsed by that of his protégés, Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones, and Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac.
One reason for Mayall’s low profile was that he never had a major hit, but another was that he seemed to have no appetite for celebrity. He never indulged in drug-fuelled excess or political activism, but stuck doggedly to the 12-bar blues format even when it went out of fashion, writing countless songs in the idiom, incorporating tried and tested riffs.
Although Mayall may have fallen short in originality, he redeemed himself with energy and remained one of the most hard-working and dependable names in the business. His band, the Bluesbreakers, went through countless incarnations over nearly half a century (with interruptions), acting as a “finishing school” for many of the greatest names in pop.
Mayall’s virtuoso work with Clapton on the classic album Blues Breakers in 1966, and with Clapton’s replacement Peter Green on A Hard Road in 1967, set the standard for all other blues bands. Mayall remained the one common factor throughout, never going solo, concentrating on albums and pursuing a relentless routine of touring and recording. The high turnover rate among band members probably owed something to his perfectionist demands.
He believed it was the responsibility of the musician to back up his records by going on the road. Even into his 70s he followed a gruelling schedule that could take him to 120 cities in 15 countries in four months.
The blues star BB King is said to have remarked that if it had not been for Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, “a lot of us black musicians in America would still be catchin’ the hell that we caught long before.”
The seeds of Mayall’s achievement were sown in the family home in Macclesfield where he was born John Brumwell Mayall, the eldest of three, on November 29 1933. His father, Murray, a clerk, was an amateur jazz guitarist with a large collection of American jazz and blues records. Influenced by such musicians as Leadbelly, Albert Ammons, Pinetop Smith and Eddie Lang, young John taught himself piano, harmonica, guitar and ukelele, although he never learnt to read or write music.
Mayall first came to (local) public attention not for his music but for his decision as a teenager to move out of the family home and take up residence in a treehouse in the garden. He even brought his first wife Pamela – briefly – to live with him there. He later wrote the track Home in a Tree on his 1971 Memories album, which told the story of his Macclesfield childhood.
After training at art college, Mayall did his National Service with the Army in Korea, where he managed to avoid frontline duties by learning to type. On his return he found work as a graphic designer and his music took a back seat while he established a home for his wife and three children. From 1956 until 1962 he played gigs in his spare time, fronting the Powerhouse Four and, later, the semi-professional Blues Syndicate.
It was at one Blues Syndicate gig that Alexis Korner suggested that Mayall should try his luck in London. Mayall moved south with his family and formed the Bluesbreakers in 1963 with Bernie Watson (guitar), John McVie (bass) and Martin Hart (drums). This line-up lasted for less than a year and ended in April 1964 when Watson and Hart were replaced by Roger Dean and Hughie Flint respectively.
After the band failed to hold down a residency at the Flamingo he managed to talk Manfred Mann into giving them the interval spot at the Marquee Club. “At the time, top groups could choose their own interval band,” he recalled, “but it soon got to the stage when we were blowing them off stage.” In 1964 Mayall released his first Decca single, Crawling Up a Hill, and the following year his first album, the live set John Mayall Plays John Mayall.
Mayall’s early music had a distinct R’n’B flavour; the move to a more pure blues sound came after he succeeded in persuading Eric Clapton to leave the Yardbirds in 1965. Mayall’s relationship with the mercurial Clapton was not an easy one. Clapton’s tendency to miss occasional gigs infuriated Mayall, who banned drink and drugs during concerts and recording sessions. Meanwhile, Clapton and colleagues complained about Mayall’s monopoly of the bunk at the back of the touring van.
After four months as a Bluesbreaker, Clapton took indefinite leave and was replaced by Peter Green, but a brief return in 1966 yielded the seminal album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, which established Clapton as the “God” of the guitar.
When Clapton, along with Jack Bruce, left the band to form Cream in mid-1966, Mayall brought back Peter Green. The next album, A Hard Road, reached the top 10 and the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, joined temporarily before leaving with Green to form Fleetwood Mac. Mick Taylor was recruited to replace Peter Green and the 1967 album Crusade reached No 8, before bassist John McVie also left to join Fleetwood Mac.
In 1968 Diary of a Band and Diary of a Band (Volume 2) reached 27 and 28 respectively in the British charts. The same year, bassist Andy Fraser left to form Free, while the drummer Jon Hiseman, later of Colosseum, joined to record the Bare Wires album, which reached No 3 in the British charts and also made it into the American charts.
When Mayall’s Blues from Laurel Canyon album (1968) only reached 33 in Britain, he changed the band yet again, losing Mick Taylor to the Rolling Stones. In 1969 the live (and drummerless) The Turning Point album, with its classic track Room to Move, reached No 11 in Britain and 32 in America, becoming Mayall’s biggest-selling album.
Encouraged by his growing success in the US, Mayall moved there for good in 1969, building a house in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, though he never took American citizenship.
Until then white Americans had taken little notice of black music, though Elvis Presley and Bill Haley had borrowed from black blues traditions. Mayall’s more faithful interpretations of the genre helped lead to a rediscovery of black music among white audiences.
Throughout the 1970s Mayall continued to form and reform bands with American musicians, including Blue Mitchell, Red Holloway, Larry Taylor and Harvey Mandel, though these were not his greatest years. A late starter with the booze, he lowered his guard and indulged in what he described as “15 years of party drinking”; by the end of the decade he was struggling to keep his career afloat.
In 1979 a brush fire destroyed his home in Laurel Canyon, taking with it his meticulously kept records and diaries and, more sadly, his father’s diaries, which included many fond memories of Macclesfield.
Mayall made no recordings for the next five years, too busy rebuilding his house and starting a second family with the singer Maggie Parker. In 1982, however, he reformed the old Bluesbreakers with Mick Taylor and John McVie for a couple of nostalgia tours and a video concert film entitled Blues Alive, which led to a resurgence of interest in blues among younger audiences.
In 1984 he formed yet another incarnation of the Bluesbreakers with the American guitarists Coco Montoya and Walter Trout and the drummer Joe Yuele.
The new band revived the classic Bluesbreakers sound with the albums Behind the Iron Curtain (1986), Chicago Line (1988) and A Sense of Place (1990). His 1993 album Wake Up Call received a Grammy nomination, while Spinning Coin (1995), Blues for the Lost Days (1997) and Padlock on the Blues (1999) – the last of which featured a notable collaboration with John Lee Hooker – also won critical acclaim. By this time the band consisted of Rick Cortes, Joe Yuele and Buddy Whittington.
Lean and sharp-eyed, with a flowing beard and long grey hair, Mayall came to be regarded as a father figure to the international blues community. On his 2001 release Along for the Ride he teamed up with many of his former band members, including Green, Taylor, Fleetwood and McVie, as well as American musicians, for a virtuoso bluesfest.
The same year he expanded the Bluesbreakers to five to include Tom Canning and Hank Van Sickle with Joe Yuele and Buddy Whittington. In August 2002, his album Stories reached No 1 in the Billboard blues charts.
To celebrate his 70th birthday in 2003 Mayall reunited with Clapton, Mick Taylor and Chris Barber for a Unicef fundraiser concert at the Liverpool Arena.
Towards the end of November 2008, Mayall announced that he was disbanding the Bluesbreakers, but he continued to work with other musicians and toured with a backing band until recently. In 2022 he received a second Grammy nomination, for his album The Sun Is Shining Down.
In 2019 Mayall published an autobiography, Blues from Laurel Canyon: My Life as a Bluesman, co-written with Joel McIver.
Mayall was appointed OBE in 2005 and inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2016. Earlier this year he was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical influence category.
Mayall’s second marriage, to Maggie Parker, was dissolved in 2011, though they remained close. He is survived by six children.
John Mayall, born November 29 1933, died July 22 2024