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Bronte Blues Awards 2011 -The Winners!

Best Vocalist -Earl Thomas  *    Best Keyboardist -Paddy Milner    *    Best Solo Artist -Marcus Bonfanti   *    Best Electric Guitarist -Ramon Goose   * Best Acoustic Guitarist -Danny Blomeley   *   Best Bassist -Fergie Fulton    * Best Harpist -Mike Paice   *   Best 'Other Instrument' - Tony Marshall    *  Best Drummer -Alex Cromerty    *   Best Dressed Act -Hokie Joint    *   Best Band -Earl Thomas & Paddy Milner's Big Sound   *   Best All-Round Entertainer -Eugene 'Hideaway' Bridges.

 

 

 

 

Blues Birthday of the month - February

 Antoine 'Fats' Domino -26th February 1928

Domino first attracted national attention with "The Fat Man" in 1949 on Imperial Records. This song is an early rock and roll record, featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a strong back beat. It sold over a million copies and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so.

Fats Domino released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That A Shame" (1955), which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with a milder cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino eventually had 37 Top 40 singles.

Domino's first album, Carry on Rockin', was released under the Imperial imprint, #9009, in November 1955 and subsequently reissued as Rock and Rollin' with Fats Domino in 1956. Combining a number of his hits along with some tracks that had not yet been released as singles,  the album went on under its alternate title to reach #17 on the "Pop Albums" chart.^[3]

His 1956 up-tempo version of the 1940 Vincent Rose, Al Lewis & Larry Stock song, "Blueberry Hill" reached #2 in the Top 40, was #1 on the R&B charts for 11 weeks, and was his biggest hit.  "Blueberry Hill" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956–57. The song had earlier been recorded by Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong among many others. He had further hit singles between 1956 and 1959, including "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" (Pop #14), "I'm Walkin'" (Pop #4), "Valley of Tears" (Pop #8), "It's You I Love" (Pop #6), "Whole Lotta Loving" (Pop #6), "I Want to Walk You Home" (Pop #8), and "Be My Guest" (Pop #8).

Domino appeared in two films released in 1956: Shake, Rattle & Rock!^[4] and The Girl Can't Help It. On December 18, 1957, Domino's hit "The Big Beat" was featured on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

On January 2, 1956, a riot broke out at Fats Domino's show in Fayetteville, NC, with police resorting to tear gas to break up the unruly crowd. Domino jumped out of a window to avoid the melee; he and two other band members were slightly injured.

Domino continued to have a steady series of hits for Imperial through early 1962, including "Walkin' to New Orleans" (1960) (Pop #6), co-written by Bobby Charles, and "My Girl Josephine" (Pop #14) from the same year. After Imperial Records was sold to outside interests in early 1963, Domino left the label: "I stuck with them until they sold out," he claimed in 1979. In all, Domino recorded over 60 singles for the label, placing 40 songs in the top 10 on the R&B charts, and scoring 11 top 10 singles on the pop charts. Twenty-two of Domino's Imperial singles were double-sided hits.

Domino moved to ABC-Paramount Records in 1963. The label dictated that he record in Nashville rather than New Orleans. He was assigned a new producer (Felton Jarvis) and a new arranger (Bill Justis); Domino's long-term collaboration with producer/arranger/frequent co-writer Dave Bartholomew, who oversaw virtually all of his Imperial hits, was seemingly at an end.

Jarvis and Justis changed the Domino sound somewhat, notably by adding the backing of a countrypolitan-style vocal chorus to most of his new recordings. Perhaps as a result of this tinkering with an established formula, Domino's chart career was drastically curtailed. He released 11 singles for ABC-Paramount, but only had one top 40 entry with "Red Sails In The Sunset" (1963). By the end of 1964 the British Invasion had changed the tastes of the record-buying public, and Domino's chart run was over.

Despite the lack of chart success, Domino continued to record steadily until about 1970, leaving ABC-Paramount in mid-1965 and recording for a variety of other labels: Mercury, Dave Bartholomew's small Broadmoor label (reuniting with Bartholomew along the way), and Reprise. His final Top 100 chart single was on Reprise, a cover of The Beatles' "Lady Madonna" which peaked at #100 in 1968. He also continued as a popular live act for several decades.

He made a cameo appearance in the movie Any Which Way You Can, filmed in 1979 and released in 1980, which resulted in a Country Chart hit, "Whiskey Heaven".

In the 1980s, Domino decided he would no longer leave New Orleans, having a comfortable income from royalties and a dislike for touring, and claiming he could not get any food that he liked any place else. His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and an invitation to perform at the White House failed to persuade Domino to make an exception to this policy.

Fats Domino was persuaded to perform out of town periodically for Dianna Chenevert, agent, founder and president of New Orleans based Omni Attractions, during the 1980s and early 1990s. Most of these engagements were in and around New Orleans, but also included a concert in Texas at West End Market Place in downtown Dallas on October 24, 1986.

On October 12, 1983, USA Today reported that Domino was included in Chenevert's Southern Stars poster which was created for the agency (along with historically preserving childhood photographs of other famous living musicians from New Orleans and Louisiana).  Domino provided a photograph of his first recording session, which was the only one he had left from his childhood. Domino autographed these posters, whose recipients included USA Today's Gannett president Al Neuharth, and Peter Morton founder of the Hard Rock Cafe. Times-Picayune columnist Betty Guillaud noted on September 30, 1987 that Domino also provided Chenevert with an autographed pair of his shoes  (and signed a black grand piano lid) for the Hard Rock location in New Orleans.

Domino lived in a mansion in a predominantly working-class Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, where he was a familiar sight in his bright pink Cadillac automobile. He makes yearly appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and other local events. Domino was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. In 1998, President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts.  In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #25 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."

 

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Bronte Blues Hall of Fame  

Bronte Blues Club Awards 2010 -the winners!

Pics -John & Charles

Best dressed act - The Revolutionaires  *  Best harpist - 'Big Pete' van der Pluijim

Best drummer - Mark Matthews  *   Best instrumentalist (other) - Stratton Doyle

Best bassist - Rich Stephenson  *   Best keyboardist - Paddy Milner

Best guitarist (acoustic) - Marcus Bonfanti  *   Best guitarist (electric) - Matt Schofield

Best vocalist -Earl Green  *   Best solo act -Ian Siegal  * Best band - Hamilton Loomis Band

2009 Awards ......they were announced on 8th January 2010 -

Hamilton Loomis was delighted, on 26th March, to receive his 'bbc best-of ' awards for 'Best Electric Guitarist' and 'Best Band' in 2009

Picture -Charles Waller

Best Drummer – Mark Matthews (Revolutionaires)

 Best Instrumentalist (other) –Harper (Didgeridoo)

 Best Harpist –Johnny Mars    

Best Bassist- Akos Hasznos (Ramon Goose Band)

 Best Keyboardist – Ben Waters       Best Guitarist (Acoustic) – Toby Walker

 Best Guitarist (Electric) –Hamilton Loomis        Best Vocalist – Kyla Brox

 Best Dressed Band –The Revolutionaires     Best Solo Artist –Ben Waters

 Best Acoustic Act –Toby Walker     Best Band –Hamilton Loomis Band

"That's fantastic news!! What a wonderful way to start off our morning. I'd be delighted if you could send those certificates to us... we'll be sure to frame them on the wall. Please extend my thanks to all of the members of the Bronte Blues Club."  (Toby Walker)

"That's Awesome...I wish I was with you guys over there right now! "(Harper)

Hall of Fame 2008 - Bronte Blues Club's First Annual Awards

Pictures by Charles Waller shows Roach & Mars receiving their award in February 2009 and Doug MacLeod receiving his in June.

In December, members voted for the best acts of 2008.. RESULTS WERE ANNOUNCED ON 9th JANUARY!

Branwell’s A-Z of the blues

A  Aaron ‘T-Bone’ Walker- The King of West Coast Swing; innovative blues guitarist.

B- Bessie Smith – the ‘Empress of the Blues’; raunchy and regal.

C  Chess Records -the Chicago label that defined blues-as-we-know it; Wolf, Waters ‘n’ more.

D  Delta Blues – down home country blues, often featuring acoustic slide guitar.

E  Eric Clapton- the epitome of white blues-guitar heroes; his heart is in it!

F  Freddie Below – possibly the greatest blues drummer ever.

G Gospel Music -the spiritual sister music to the secular blues

   Buddy Guy – longstanding guitar hero idolised by GB bluesmen.

H  Howling Wolf – primeval life-force was Muddy’s greatest rival.

I   Illinois –Chicago was the ‘promised land’ for black musicians from the southern USA.

J  Jimmy Reed- the ‘Big Boss Man’ was a ‘one-trick-pony’ but an extremely popular one in the 1960s.

K   King; BB, Freddie & Albert – three influential electric blues guitar namesakes

      Keb Mo – Grammy-winning popular contemporary singer/songwriter bluesman          

L  ‘Lemon Jefferson’ – this blind Texan wrote the blueprint for acoustic bluesmen.

M  Memphis Slim –urbane piano bluesman,

    Muddy Waters - from sharecropping to King of Chicago, the original Hoochie Coochie Man.

N   Nu Blues – modern UK blues-rock-sample hybrid. It’s new but is it blues?

O – Otis Redding ; not a bluesman? Listen to the self-penned ‘Hawg for You’

P  Paul Jones – from pop singer to UK blues guru; to appear on his show is to have ‘arrived’ in the UK

Q   ‘Queen of Soul’ – Aretha Franklin’s blues tracks, such as Dr. Feelgood, are a revelation.

R   Ray Charles – much feted singer/ pianist credited with the invention of soul-music.

     Robert Johnson – the most covered Delta bluesman artist ever?

S   Soul Music- what urban blues became in the 1960s

    Sonny Boy Willamson II – ‘Rice Millar’ was a harp player extremely influential on the ‘British Blues Boom’.

T  Ike Turner – Tina’s revelation of marital strife masked his huge contribution to R’n’B music.

U Underground sound – Blues/ R’n’B was the hip music for the 60’s in crowd.

V Victoria Spivey – top singer-songwriter-pianist of the St Louis jazz-blues era.

W  Willie Dixon – Chicago bass-man and songwriter without equal

X  Crossover Hit - to have a hit record in the ‘White Chart’ was a crock of gold for artistes on the ‘chitling circuit’.

Y J immy Yancy – Chicago-born blues pianist of the first decade of 20^th C.

Z  Z Z Top – 12 bar blues-rock with beards. Blues for rednecks?

 ©MF

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