Norman Beaker

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Norman Beaker (2015)

Norman Beaker (actually Norman Hume) (born June 21, 1950 in Manchester ) is an English blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, band leader and music producer who has been active in the British blues scene since the early 1970s. The Norman Beaker Band has been on tour since the mid-1980s and in the recording studio with numerous blues musicians such as B. Graham Bond , Jack Bruce , Chuck Berry , Jimmy Rogers , Alexis Korner , Buddy Guy , Lowell Fulson , Fenton Robinson and BB King . Beaker himself toured with Chris Farlowe , Larry Garner and Van Morrison and played guitar on recordings with Jack Bruce, Lowell Fulson, James Booker and Van Morrison.

Life and musical career

The 1960s and 1970s

Beaker taught himself to play the guitar at the age of seven when he was bedridden for a year and a half in a serious accident. At a summer camp, he won first prize in a competition with his guitar at the age of twelve. In addition to ten shillings, he won an appearance on the Lonnie Donegan show. Further appearances on the Skiffle King's show marked the beginning of Norman's stage career. Lonnie Donegan and Hank Marvin were his first influential role models, but soon his older brother Malcolm introduced him to blues greats like Howlin Wolf , Jimmy Reed , Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy Williamson . In 1967 Beaker formed his first band, "Morning After", with his brother Malcolm Hume on drums, John McCormick on rhythm guitar and Ian Stocks on bass. The album "Blue Blood" was created in 1971. In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, joined the band on a regular basis until Beaker finally the Blues Train by Victor Brox joined. This meant regular appearances on Granada TV on the show "So It Goes".
In 1977 Beaker formed a new band called "No Mystery", named after the Chick Corea album and song "No Mystery". In addition to Beaker, there were Dave Lunt, bass, Tim Franks, drums and John Dickinson on second guitar. The band name was supposed to signal that they wanted to play more experimental music, but soon the band returned to the blues. They were hired to accompany Louisiana Red when they appeared on television on the entertainment program The Old Gray Whistle Test . The band accompanied James Booker , Alexis Korner, Tommy Tucker and Zoot Money on other guest appearances .
In 1979 “No Mystery” traveled to the GDR as the first British blues band with Victor Brox and harmonica player Johnny Mars .

The years 1980 to 2016

In 1981 the band "No Mystery" released a single "Taxman's Wine" produced by Ray Russell. A year later the band broke up. After several tours with Jack Bruce and many record productions for various musicians, Beaker founded the Norman Beaker Band in 1985 with Kevin Hill (bass), Lenni "Sax" Zacksen (saxophone), Dave Bainbridge (keyboard) and Tim Franks (drums). The band released the live album “Bought in the Act” in 1986 and recorded his album “I once was a Gambler” with Phil Guy. The band became more and more the house band for many guest artists from the USA.
In 1994, Beaker organized the Alexis Korner Memorial Concert at the Buxton Opera House in Derbyshire. It brought Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant back together for the first time after the split and featured Dick Heckstall-Smith and Chris Barber , among many others . Fleetwood Mac founders Peter Green , Chris Farlowe, Eric Burdon and many others appeared in later memorial concerts, all organized by Beaker for the next nine years .
In the 1990s, Norman Beaker began producing albums for Del Taylor's Indigo label, including Chris Farlowe's 1995 live album "Lonesome Road". Here the former 10cc drummer Paul Burgess played with the band.
In 1996 the Norman Beaker Band accompanied Ruby Turner on their album "Guilty" and Mick Abraham on "Mick's Back" with Tim Franks on drums and singer Sheila Gott. The band toured across Europe with Chris Farlowe for the next two decades. A live performance at Rockpalast with Farlowe in 2006 was released on CD and video.

Discography

  • 1989: Into the Blues , JSP Records
  • 1999: The Older I Get, The Better I Was , Out of Time Records
  • 2002: Who's He Calling Me Him? , Delicious
  • 2010: Larry Garner, Norman Beaker and Friends - Live at the Tivoli (recorded at the Tivoli Theater, Wimborne in October 2009)
  • 2013: Larry Garner & The Norman Beaker Band - Good Night in Vienna (recorded in "Reigen" Vienna on April 16, 2013)
  • 2013: Between The Lines
  • 2015: Live in Belgrade Norman Beaker Blues Trio, Jnr / CD Baby
  • 2017: We See Us Later Norman Beaker Band featuring Steve Ellis and Larry Garner
  • 2020: Running Down The Clock , Norman Beaker (with John Price and Leo Andjelkovic)

Web links

Commons : Norman Beaker  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Victor Brox gave Norman the name Beaker because he saw a resemblance to the “Beaker folk” ( mug people ), a population group in Stone Age England
  2. ↑ Jack Bruce: Past Tours: 1991-1995 . Retrieved February 24, 2008.
  3. ↑ Overview at Allmusic
  4. ↑ Most of the information about Beaker’s biography comes from interviews with blues.gr , earlyblues.com and from private email contact with Beaker in February 2016
  5. ↑ The over an hour long video can be seen here on the Rockpalast website.
personal data
SURNAME Beaker, Norman
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hume, Norman (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, band leader and record producer who has been active in the British blues scene since the early 1970s
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester