Bert Weedon

Weedon's single Apache

Herbert Maurice William "Bert" Weedon ( OBE ; born May 10, 1920 in East Ham , London , † April 20, 2012 in Beaconsfield ) was a British guitarist .

Life

Weedon led groups like the Blue Cumberland Rhythm Boys and Bert Weedon and His Harlem Hotshots as a teenager . In the 1930s and 1940s he played in the semi-professional Dixieland jazz band Harry Gold's Pieces of Eight and also performed with the jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli and the pianist George Shearing in the early 1940s . Together with the classical guitarist Julian Bream he worked as a theater musician for the production of Garcia Lorca's play Blood Wedding .

He began his career in the orchestras of Mantovani and Ted Heath before he was hired by the BBC as a soloist in their show band. He accompanied American artists such as Frank Sinatra , Judy Garland and Tony Bennett on recordings in London. From 1955 he appeared regularly in British television programs such as Slater's Bazaar , and around 1960 also in some children's TV shows such as Small Time, Tuesday Rendezvous and Five O'Clock Club , with Muriel Young, Wally Whyton and Ollie Beak.

With titles such as Guitar Boogie Shuffle , Apache and Nashville Boogie , he was able to establish himself in the British charts at the end of the 1950s . His well-known compositions from this period include Sorry Robbie (1960), China Doll (1961) and Ginchy (1961). In 1976, his album 22 Golden Guitar Greats was a number one hit on the LP charts. This made him the first solo guitarist to succeed.

Weedon's guitar playing and his textbook Play in a Day had a strong influence on later rock guitarists such as Joe Brown , Eric Clapton , Paul McCartney and Brian May . The first edition of the book appeared in 1957, since then more than a million copies have been sold.

Discography

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

King size guitar   UK 18th 07/16/1960 (1 week) 22 Golden Guitar Greats   UK 1  gold 10/23/1976 (25 weeks)

Singles

Guitar boogie shuffle   UK 10 05/16/1959 (9 weeks) Nashville boogie   UK 29 11/21/1959 (2 weeks) Big beat boogie   UK 37 03/12/1960 (4 weeks) Twelfth Street Rag   UK 47 06/11/1960 (2 weeks) Apache   UK 24 07/30/1960 (4 weeks) Sorry Robbie   UK 28 01/07/1961 (11 weeks) Ginchy   UK 35 02/04/1961 (5 weeks) Mr Guitar   UK 47 05/06/1961 (1 week) Napoli Melody   DE 17th 05/01/1962 (16 weeks)

Albums

• King Size Guitar , 1960
• Saturday Club (compilation), 1960
• Honky Tonk Guitar , 1961
• Your Favorite TV and Radio Themes (compilation), 1962
• The Romantic Guitar of Bert Weedon , 1970
• Rocking at The Roundhouse , 1970
• Sweet Sounds of Bert Weedon's Guitar , 1971
• Contour Sampler Album (compilation), 1971
• Bert Weedon Remembers Jim Reeves , 1973
• The Gentle Guitar of Bert Weedon , 1975
• Bert Weedon Remembers Nat King Cole , 1975
• 22 Golden Guitar Greats , 1976
• Guitar in Gold (compilation), 1976
• 20 Super Guitar Greats , 1977
• Let the Good Times Roll , 1977
• Blue Echoes , 1977
• Honky Tonk "Guitar" Party , 1977
• Million Selling Guitar Compilation , 1977
• 16 Country Guitar Greats , 1978
• Bert Weedon Plays Nat "King" Cole Favorites , 1978
• 40 Guitar Greats , 1979
• Heart Strings , 1980
• Bert Weedon and His Dancing Guitars , 1982
• Love Letters , 1981
• Bert Weedon Mr Guitar , 1984

literature

• Bert Weedon's Play in a Day , Faber Music, London, ISBN 0-571-52965-8 .

Web links

• The Official Bert Weedon website (English)
• Influential guitarist Bert Weedon dies (English)
• Bert Weedon at Discogs (English)
• Bert Weedon at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Adam Sweeting: Bert Weedon - Influential musician who inspired millions of budding guitarists to 'play in a day' . In: The Guardian
2. ↑ ^{a b} DE UK
3. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK