More Info on Lonnie DoneganSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Lonnie Donegan MBE | image = Lonnie Donegan.jpg| caption = Lonnie Donegan in the 1970s| image_size =| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Anthony James Donegan| alias = The King of Skiffle| birth_date = Birth date|1931|04|29|df=y Glasgow , Scotland | death_date = Death date and age|2002|11|3|1931|04|29|df=y Peterborough , England | instrument = Guitar , human voice|vocals , banjo | genre = Skiffle , traditional pop music , blues , Folk music|folk , Country music|country | occupation = Musician , singing|singer , songwriter | years_active = Late 1940s2002| label = Pye Records Decca Records United Artists Records Virgin Records | associated_acts = Tony Donegan Jazz Band Chris Barber|Chris Barber's Jazz Band Lonnie Donegan's Skiffle Group| website =| Website = http://www.lonniedoneganinc.com Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan Order of the British Empire|MBE (29 April 1931 & ndash; 3 November 2002) was a skiffle music ian, with more than 20 United Kingdom|UK Top 40|Top 30 hit record|hits to his name. He is known as the " List of honorific titles in popular music|King of Skiffle " and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of United Kingdom|British musicians who became famous in the 1960s. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/2400229.stm Skiffle king Donegan dies (BBC), accessed 5 January 2008.cite web |url= http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/64093/hats-off-an-interview-with-roy-harper/|title=Hats Off: An Interview with Roy Harper |accessdate=20 October 2008 |author=Jennifer Kelly |date=2008-10-20 |publisher=Pop Matters The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums states Donegan was " United Kingdom|Britain 's most successful and influential recording artist before The Beatles . He chalked up 24 successive Top 30 hit record|hit s, and was the first United Kingdom|UK male to score two United States|U.S. Top 10s".
Early life and trad jazz
Born as Anthony James Donegan in Bridgeton, Glasgow , Scotland , the son of a professional violin ist who had played with the Scottish National Orchestra , he moved with his family in 1933 to East Ham , Essex (now in Greater London ).cite web |first= |last= |url=Allmusic|class=artist|id=p8434/biography|pure_url=yes |title=Biography by Bruce Eder |publisher=Allmusic.com |accessdate=23 June 2009
Donegan was evacuated to Cheshire to escape the Blitz in World War II , and he attended St Ambrose College , initially at the school's original site in Dunham Road, Altrincham .
In the early 1940s he mostly listened to Swing music|swing jazz and vocal acts, and became interested in the guitar . Country music|Country & western and blues records, particularly by Frank Crumit and Josh White , attracted his interest and he bought his first guitar at the age of fourteen in 1945. From listening to BBC radio broadcasts in the following years he began learning songs such as " Frankie and Johnny (song)|Frankie and Johnny ", " Puttin' On the Style ", and " The House of the Rising Sun ". By the end of the 1940s he was playing guitar around London and visiting small jazz clubs.cite web |url= http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/donegan_lonnie/artist.jhtml |title=Lonnie Donegan : Music Artist : Videos, News, Photos & Ringtones : MTV |author=Bruce Eder |date= |work= Allmusic |publisher= MTV |accessdate=19 September 2008
The first musical ensemble|band he played in was the trad jazz band led by Chris Barber , who approached him on a train asking him if he wanted to audition for his band. Barber had heard that Donegan was a good banjo player; in fact, Donegan had never played the banjo at this point, but he bought one and tried to bluff his way through the audition. More on personality than playing, he was brought into Barber's band. His stint with the band was interrupted when he was called up for National Service in 1949, but his military service in Vienna gave him contact with United States|American military personnel|troops , and access to records as well as the opportunity to listen to the American Forces Network radio station .
In 1952 he formed his first group, the Tony Donegan Jazzband, which found some work around London. On one occasion they opened for the blues musician Lonnie Johnson at the Royal Festival Hall . Donegan was a fan (person)|fan of Johnson, and took his first name as a tribute to him. 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. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/years/1960/music2.shtml I love 1960s music: Lonnie Donegan (BBC) accessed 5 January 2008.
In 1953 cornet ist Ken Colyer , enjoying hero status for having spent time in a New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans jail (due to a visa problem), returned to England and, when invited to play with Chris Barber's band, became a moving figure within it. With the new name, Ken Colyer's Jazzmen, the group, with Donegan, made its initial public appearance on 11 April 1953 in Copenhagen . The following day, Chris Albertson recorded the group (as well as a Monty Sunshine Trio, with Donegan and Barber) for Storyville Records . These were Donegan's first commercially released recordings.Citation needed|date=September 2008
Skiffle
While playing in Ken Colyer 's Jazzmen with Chris Barber , Donegan singing|sang and played both guitar and banjo as part of their Dixieland jazz set. He also began playing with two other band members during the intervals, to provide what was called on their posters a "skiffle" break, a name suggested by Ken Colyer's brother, Bill, after recalling the Dan Burley Skiffle Group of the 1930s. In 1954 Colyer left, and the band became Chris Barber's Jazz Band.
With a washboard , a tea-chest bass and a cheap Spanish guitar, Donegan entertained audiences with folk and blues songs by musician|artists such as Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie . This proved so popular that in July 1954 he recorded a fast-tempoed version of Leadbelly's " Rock Island Line (song)|Rock Island Line ", featuring a washboard but not a tea-chest bass, with " John Henry (folklore)|John Henry " on the A-side and B-side|B-side . It was an enormous hit in 1956 (which also later inspired the creation of a full album , An Englishman Sings American Folk Songs , released in America on the Mercury Records|Mercury record label|label in the early 1960s) but ironically, because it was a band recording, Donegan made no money from this recording beyond his original session fee. (Nevertheless, Donegan received considerable music publishing royalties from "Rock Island" simply by claiming the British copyright on an unregistered song which was considered to be in the Public Domain. This led to the peculiar situation that any "cover" version of "Rock Island Line" which was released on record in Britain from 1956 showed the song composition credited to Lonnie Donegan.) It was the first debut record to go music recording sales certification|gold in the United Kingdom|UK , and reached the Top Ten in the United States . His next single (Music)|single for Decca Records|Decca , "Diggin' My Potatoes", was recorded at a concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 30 October 1954. Decca dropped Donegan thereafter, but within a month he was at the Abbey Road Studios in London recording for EMI 's Columbia Records|Columbia label. He had left the Barber band by then, and by the spring of 1955, Donegan signed a recording contract with Pye Records|Pye . His next single "Lost John" reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart .
He travelled to the United States, where he appeared on television on both the Perry Como Show and the Paul Winchell Show . Returning to the UK, Donegan recorded his debut album , Lonnie Donegan Showcase , in the summer of 1956, which featured songs by Lead Belly and Leroy Carr , plus "I'm a Ramblin' Man" and " Wabash Cannonball ". The LP was a hit, securing sales in the hundreds of thousands. 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 . Donegan's " Gamblin' Man " / " Puttin' On the Style " single was number one on the UK chart in July 1957, when Lennon first met Paul McCartney .
Donegan went on to make a series of popular records with successes including " Cumberland Gap (folk song)|Cumberland Gap " and particularly " Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor (On The Bedpost Over Night)|Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Over Night) ", his biggest hit song in the U.S., released on Dot Records|Dot . He turned to a music hall style with " My Old Man's a Dustman " which was not well received by skiffle fans, or in an attempted but ultimately unsuccessful American release by Atlantic Records|Atlantic in 1960, but it reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. 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 drum s or percussion and Donegan playing acoustic guitar or banjo and singing the lead.
He continued to appear regularly in the UK charts until 1962, before succumbing to the arrival of The Beatles and beat music .
Later career
Donegan recorded sporadically during the 1960s, including some sessions at Hickory Records in Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville , Tennessee with Charlie McCoy , Floyd Cramer and The Jordanaires . After 1964, he was primarily occupied as a record producer for most of the decade at Pye Records. Among those he worked with during this period was Justin Hayward .
Donegan was unfashionable and generally ignored through the late 1960s and 1970s (although he wrote "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" for Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones in 1967), and he began to play on the American cabaret circuit. A notable departure from his normal style was an a cappella recording of " The Party's Over (1956 song)|The Party's Over ". There was a reunion concert with the original Chris Barber band in Croydon in June 1975 - notable for a bomb scare, meaning that the recording had to be finished in the studio, though patrons were treated to an impromptu concert in the car park. Citation needed|date=September 2008 The resultant release was entitled The Great Re-Union Album .
He suffered his first myocardial infarction|heart attack in 1976 while in the United States and underwent quadruple bypass surgery. He returned to the public's attention in 1978, when he made a record of his early songs with such figures as Rory Gallagher , Ringo Starr , Elton John and Brian May called Putting on the Style . A follow-up album featuring Albert Lee saw Donegan working in a less familiar Country music|country and western vein. By 1980, he was making regular concert appearances again, and another album with Barber followed. In 1983 Donegan toured with Billie Jo Spears , and in 1984, he made his theatrical debut in a revival of the 1920 musical Mr. Cinders . More concert tours followed, along with a move from Florida to Spain . In 1992 Donegan underwent further Coronary artery bypass surgery|bypass surgery following another heart attack.
In 1994, the Chris Barber band celebrated 40 years, with a tour with both bands. Pat Halcox was still on trumpet (a position he retained until July 2008). The reunion concert and the tour were recorded on CD and DVD.
Donegan experienced another late renaissance when in 2000 he appeared on Van Morrison 's album The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast 1998 , a critically acclaimed album featuring Donegan sharing vocals with Van Morrison and also featuring Chris Barber, with a guest appearance by Dr. John . Donegan also played at the Glastonbury Festival , and was awarded the Order of the British Empire|MBE in 2000.
Donegan's final CD was ''This Y'ere the Story
Family
Donegan married three times. He had two daughters by his first wife, Maureen Tyler (divorced 1962), a son and a daughter by his second wife, Jill Westlake (divorced 1971), and three sons by his third wife, Sharon, whom he married in 1977. He was the second cousin three times removed of the Scottish people|Scottish Gaelic Football er, Chris Pendergast .
Death
Lonnie Donegan died in 2002, aged 71, after suffering a heart attack in Market Deeping mid-way through a UK tour and shortly before he was due to perform at a memorial concert for George Harrison with The Rolling Stones . He had suffered from cardiac problems since the 1970s and had several heart attacks in his last years.
Legacy
Mark Knopfler released a tribute song to Donegan entitled "Donegan's Gone" on his 2004 album, Shangri-La (Mark Knopfler album)|Shangri-La , and said that he was one of his greatest musical influences. Donegan's music formed the basis for a musical theatre|musical starring his two sons. Lonnie D - The Musical took its name from the Chas & Dave tribute song which started the show. Subsequently, http://www.peterdonegan.com Peter Donegan formed a new band that performed his father's material and has since linked up with his father's band from the last 30 years with newcomer Eddie Masters on bass. They released an album together in 2009 entitled "Here We Go Again". Donegan's eldest son, Anthony, also formed his own band, under the name Lonnie Donegan Jnr.
On his album A Beach Full of Shells , Al Stewart paid tribute to Donegan in the song "Katherine of Oregon". Additionally, in the song "Class of '58", he describes a seminal British entertainer who is either Donegan or a composite including him.
Quotations
cquote|I'm trying to sing acceptable folk music. I want to widen the audience beyond the artsy-craftsy crowd and the pseudo intellectuals - but without distorting the music itself. NME - June 1956cite book | first= John | last= Tobler | year= 1992 | title= NME Rock 'N' Roll Years | edition= 1st | publisher= Reed International Books Ltd | location= London | page= 27 | id= CN 5585
"In England, we were separated from our folk music tradition centuries ago and were imbued with the idea that music was for the upper classes. You had to be very clever to play music. When I came along with the old three chords, people began to think that if I could do it, so could they. It was the reintroduction of the folk music bridge which did that." & mdash; Interview, 2002.
"He was the first person we had heard of from Britain to get to the coveted No. 1 in the charts, and we studied his records avidly. We all bought guitars to be in a skiffle group. He was the man." & mdash; Paul McCartney
"He really was at the very cornerstone of English blues and rock." & mdash; Brian May .
"I wanted to be Elvis Presley when I grew up, I knew that. But the man who really made me feel like I could actually go out and do it was a chap by the name of Lonnie Donegan." & mdash; Roger Daltrey
"Remember, Lonnie Donegan started it for you." & mdash; Jack White (musician)|Jack White 's acceptance speech at the Brit Awards .cite book
| first= John | last= Peel | authorlink = John Peel | year= 2005 | title= Margrave of the marshes | edition= 1st | publisher= Bantam Press | location= London | page= 47 | isbn= 0-593-05252-8
Discography
Singles
" Rock Island Line (song)|Rock Island Line " / " John Henry (folklore)|John Henry " (1955) - UK Singles Chart|UK #8
"Diggin' My Potatoes" / "Bury My Body" (1956)
"Lost John" / "Stewball" (1956) - UK #2
"Bring A Little Water, Sylvie" / "Dead or Alive" (1956)
"On A Christmas Day" / "Take My Hand Precious Lord" (1956)
"Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O" (1957) - UK #4
" Cumberland Gap (folk song)|Cumberland Gap " (1957) - UK #1
" Gamblin' Man " / " Puttin' On the Style " (1957) - UK #1
"My Dixie Darlin'" / "I'm Just a Rolling Stone" (1957) - UK #10
" Jack of Diamonds (song)|Jack O' Diamonds " / "Ham 'N' Eggs" (1957) - UK #14
" Grand Coulee Dam (song)|The Grand Coulee Dam " / "Nobody Loves Like an Irishman" (1958) - UK #6
" Midnight Special (song)|Midnight Special " / "When The Sun Goes Down" (1958)
"Sally Don't You Grieve" / "Betty, Betty, Betty" (1958) - UK #11
"Lonesome Traveller" / "Times are Getting Hard Boys" (1958) - UK #28
"Lonnie's Skiffle Party" / "Lonnie Skiffle Party Pt.2" (1958) - UK #23
" Tom Dooley (song)|Tom Dooley " / "Rock O' My Soul" (1958) - UK #3
" Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight? ) " / "Aunt Rhody" (1959) - UK #3
"Fort Worth Jail" / "Whoa Buck" (1959) - UK #14
"Fort Bewildered" / "Kevin Barry" / "It is No Secret" / "My Lagan Love Buck" (1959)
" The Battle of New Orleans|Battle of New Orleans " / " Darlin' Cory|Darling Corey " (1959) - UK #2
"Sal's Got A Sugar Lip" / "Chesapeake Bay" (1959) - UK #13
"Beans in My Ears" / "It's a Long Road to Travel" (1964)
"Fisherman's Luck" / "There's A Big Wheel" (1964)
"Get Out Of My Life" / "Won't You Tell Me" (1965)
"Louisiana Man" / "Bound For Zion" (1965)
" World Cup Willie " / "Where In This World are We Going" (1966)
"I Wanna Go Home" / "Black Cat (Cross My Path Today)" (1966)
"Aunt Maggie's Remedy" / "(Ah) My Sweet Marie" (1967)
"Toys" / "Relax Your Mind" (1968)
"My Lovely Juanita" / " Who Knows Where the Time Goes " (1969)
"Speak To The Sky" / "Get Out of My Life" (1972)
"Jump Down Turn Around (Pick a Bale of Cotton)" / "Lost John Blues" (1973 - Australia only release)
Albums
Lonnie Donegan Showcase (December 1956) - UK Albums Chart|UK # 2; UK Singles Chart|UK #26
*" Wabash Cannonball " / "How Long" / " How Long, How Long Blues|How Long Blues " / " Nobody's Child (song)|Nobody's Child " / " I Shall Not Be Moved " / " I'm Alabama Bound|I'm Alabamy Bound " / "I'm a Rambling Man" / " Wreck of the Old 97 " / " Frankie and Johnny (song)|Frankie and Johnny "
Lonnie (November 1957) - UK # 3
Tops with Lonnie (September 1958)
Lonnie Rides Again (May 1959)
''Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight) (1961)
More& #33; Tops with Lonnie (April 1961)
Sing Hallelujah (December 1962)
The Lonnie Donegan Folk Album (August 1965)
Lonniepops - Lonnie Donegan Today (1970)
The Great Re-Union Album (1974)
Lonnie Donegan Meets Leinemann (1974)
Country Roads (1976)
''Puttin' on the Style (February 1978)
* Including guest musicians Rory Gallagher , Elton John , Brian May and Ringo Starr amongst others.
Most of the above gramophone record|records were accredited to Lonnie Donegan; except, as follows:
Billed as the Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group
Billed as Lonnie Donegan and his Skiffle Group
Ά Billed as Lonnie Donegan meets Miki & Griff with the Lonnie Donegan Group
? Billed as Lonnie Donegan and his Group
? Billed as Lonnie Donegan and Angela Morley|Wally Stott 's Orchestra
? Billed as Miki and Griff with the Lonnie Donegan Group
cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | pages= 164165
See also
List of honorific titles in popular music
References
reflist
External links
http://www.lonniedoneganinc.com Official website
http://members7.boardhost.com/lonniedonegan/ Lonnie Donegan Discussion Forum
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1243557,00.html Go Lonnie go & ndash; article by Billy Bragg for The Guardian
http://www.p.griggsy.btinternet.co.uk/Untitled/Lonnie.html My Memories of Lonnie Donegan by Paul Griggs
http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dirl/lonnied.htm Lonnie Donegan biography and discography
http://www.tsimon.com/donegan.htm Lonnie Donegan and his Skiffle Group
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,585-2503406.html His Old Mans the Guvnor & ndash; article by Alan Franks
http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,2283223,00.html My twenty-year love affair with the joy of skiffle, article by Mark Kermode The Observer , 1 June 2008
Persondata | NAME = Donegan, Lonnie | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = British singer, songwriter and musician | DATE OF BIRTH = 29 April 1931 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Bridgeton, Glasgow , Scotland | DATE OF DEATH = 3 November 2002 | PLACE OF DEATH = Market Deeping , England DEFAULTSORT:Donegan, Lonnie Category:1931 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Scottish banjoists Category:Scottish guitarists Category:Scottish male singers Category:Scottish songwriters Category:English banjoists Category:English guitarists Category:English male singers Category:English people of Scottish descent Category:English songwriters Category:Anglo-Scots Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in England Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:People from Glasgow Category:People from East Ham Category:People from Newham (district) Category:Pye Records artists Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Dot Records artists Category:Skiffle Category:People educated at St. Ambrose College
