Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan (born April 29, 1931 in Glasgow , Scotland ; † November 3, 2002 in Peterborough , England ) was a British folk, jazz and skiffle musician who between 1956 and 1962 had more than 30 hits in the British and American charts .
Lonnie Donegan was a major influence on the development of rock music . He sparked a skiffle wave in the course of which he was called the "King of Skiffle" and inspired a large number of talent including John Lennon , Pete Townshend , Eric Clapton , Mark Knopfler , Rory Gallagher , Elton John , Rod Stewart , Chris Farlowe and Van Morrison .
Live and act
Donegan moved to London with his mother at a young age after his parents divorced. Inspired by the blues he heard on the radio, he started playing the guitar.
In 1952, while he was stationed in Germany, he formed his first band, the Tony Donegan Jazzband , while he was already playing banjo in Chris Barber's Dixieland band . During a performance as the opening act for blues musician Lonnie Johnson , the announcer is said to have mixed up with the names and announced the group as "Tony Johnson" and "Lonnie Donegan". He kept this name as a stage name.
As early as 1956, Donegan had his first hit with his version of Leadbelly's Rock Island Line , which he recorded with Chris Barbers Jazz Band, with which he was playing at the time. After separating from Barber, other hits followed, including Cumberland Gap (1957), Battle of New Orleans (1959), My Old Man's a Dustman (1960) and Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (on the Bedpost Over Night?) (1961 ).
Donegan's success initially lasted until 1962. In 1963 he became known to a broader audience, not just jazz or skiff-loving, with his version of the spiritual Michael Row The Boat Ashore . In 1966, he was temporarily popular with the official FIFA soccer World Cup song World Cup Willie . In 1969, with I'll Never Fall in Love Again for Tom Jones, he was to achieve another hit outside of the Dixieland and skiffle scene. In between he performed regularly a. a. in Hamburg , where he (like Chris Barber before) influenced many young musicians who later became known under the collective term Hamburg scene . In 1974 he recorded two long-playing records with the German jazz and skiffle band Leinemann. In England he also appeared again and again a. a. with Max Miller in public and summer shows.
In 1976 he suffered a first heart attack in the USA and had to undergo an operation.
In 1978 he re-recorded a number of his earlier hits with well-known colleagues such as Ringo Starr , Elton John , Brian May , Ron Wood and Albert Lee . The album was released under the title Putting on the Style .
In 1992 Donegan underwent another heart operation after another heart attack; In 1999 he performed at the Glastonbury Festival . In 2000 he brought with Van Morrison a. a. the album The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast , in the same year he received the Order of the British Empire .
Donegan died while touring the UK in 2002 , just before he was due to perform at a concert in memory of George Harrison .
One of his sons, Peter Donegan, also appears as a singer and musician (Lonnie Donegan had three daughters and four sons from three marriages).
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 UK
|
|||
| 1956 | Lonnie Donegan Showcase | - |
UK2 (22 weeks) UK |
|
| 1957 | Lonnie | - |
UK3 (13 weeks) UK |
|
| 2000 | The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast |
DE80 (2 weeks) DE |
UK14 (4 weeks) UK |
|
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
More albums
- 1958: Tops with Lonnie
- 1959: Lonnie Rides Again
- 1960: Skiffle Folk Songs
- 1961: Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (On the Bedpost Overnight)
- 1961: More! Tops with Lonnie
- 1962: Sing Hallelujah
- 1965: The Lonnie Donegan Folk Album
- 1970: Lonniepops - Lonnie Donegan Today
- 1974: The Great Re-Union Album
- 1974: Lonnie Donegan meets Leinemann
- 1976: Country Roads
- 1979: Sundown
- 1999: Muleskinner Blues
- 2004: This Yere de Story
- 2006: The Last Tour
- 2007: Jubilee Concert 1st Half
- 2007: Jubilee Concert 2st Half
- 2008: Lonnie Live! Rare tapes from the late sixties
- Donegan on Stage - Lonnie Donegan at Conway Hall
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
|||
| 1962 | Golden Age of Donegan |
UK3 (23 weeks) UK |
|
| 1963 | Golden Age of Donegan Volume 2 |
UK15 (3 weeks) UK |
|
| 1978 | Puttin 'on the style |
UK51 (3 weeks) UK |
|
| 2003 | Puttin 'on the Style - The Greatest Hits |
UK45 (2 weeks) UK |
More compilations
- 1998: King of Skiffle
EPs
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
|||
| 1956 | Skiffle session |
UK20 (2 weeks) UK |
More EPs
- 1954: Rock Island Line
- 1956: Backstairs Session
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1955 | Rock Island Line | - |
UK8 (22 weeks) UK |
US8 (17 weeks) US |
B-side: John Henry
|
| 1956 | Lost John | - |
UK2 (18 weeks) UK |
US58 (2 weeks) US |
B-side: Stewball
|
| Bring a little water, Sylvie | - |
UK7 (13 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Dead or Alive
|
|
| 1957 | Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O | - |
UK4 (17 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: I'm Alabammy Bound
|
| Cumberland Gap | - |
UK1 (12 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Love is strange
|
|
| Gamblin 'man | - |
UK1 (19 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Puttin 'On the Style
|
|
| My dixie darlin ' | - |
UK10 (15 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: I'm Just a Rolling Stone
|
|
| Jack O'Diamonds | - |
UK14 (7 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Ham 'N' Eggs
|
|
| 1958 | The Grand Coulee Dam | - |
UK6 (15 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Nobody Loves Like an Irishman
|
| Sally Don't You Grieve | - |
UK11 (7 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Betty, Betty, Betty
|
|
| Lonesome Traveler | - |
UK28 (1 week) UK |
- |
B-side: Times Are Getting Hard, Boys
|
|
| Lonnie's Skiffle Party | - |
UK23 (5 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Lonnie Skiffle Party Pt.2
|
|
| Tom Dooley | - |
UK3 (14 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Rock O 'My Soul
|
|
| 1959 | Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (On the Bedpost Overnight?) |
- |
UK3 (12 weeks) UK |
US5 (11 weeks) US |
B-side: Aunt Rhody
|
| Fort Worth Jail | - |
UK14 (5 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Whoa Buck
|
|
| Battle of New Orleans | - |
UK2 (16 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Darling Corey
|
|
| Sal's Got a Sugar Lip | - |
UK13 (4 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Chesapeake Bay
|
|
| San Miguel | - |
UK19 (4 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Talking Guitar Blues
|
|
| 1960 | My Old Man's a Dustman | - |
UK1 (13 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: The Golden Vanity
|
| I Wanna Go Home (Wreck of the 'John B') | - |
UK5 (17 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Jimmy Brown the Newsboy
|
|
| Lorelei | - |
UK10 (8 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: In All My Wildest Dreams
|
|
| Lively | - |
UK13 (9 weeks) UK |
- |
B-Side: Black Cat (Cross My Path Today)
|
|
| Virgin Mary | - |
UK27 (5 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Beyond the Sunset
|
|
| 1961 | Have a drink on me |
DE50 (4 weeks) DE |
UK8 (15 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Seven Daffodils
|
| Michael, Row the Boat |
DE4 (20 weeks) DE |
UK6 (11 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Lumbered
|
|
| The Comancheros | - |
UK14 (10 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Ramblin 'Round
|
|
| 1962 | The Party's Over | - |
UK9 (12 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Over the Rainbow
|
| Pick a bale of cotton | - |
UK11 (10 weeks) UK |
- |
B-side: Steal Away
|
|
More singles
- 1956: Diggin 'My Potatoes / Bury My Body
- 1956: On A Christmas Day / Take My Hand Precious Lord
- 1958: Midnight Special / When the Sun Goes Down
- 1959: Bewildered / Kevin Barry
- 1959: Hold Back Tomorrow
- 1960: Rockin 'Alone
- 1961: (Bury Me) Beneath the Willow / Leave My Woman Alone
- 1962: I'll Never Fall in Love Again / Keep on the Sunny Side
- 1962: The Market Song / Tit-Bits
- 1963: Losing by a Hair / Trumpet Sounds
- 1963: It Was a Very Good Year / Rise Up
- 1963: Lemon Tree / I've Gotta Girl So Far
- 1963: 500 Miles Away From Home / This Train
- 1964: Beans in My Ears / It's a Long Road to Travel
- 1964: Fisherman's Luck / There's a Big Wheel
- 1965: Get Out of My Life / Won't You Tell Me
- 1965: Louisiana Man / Bound for Zion
- 1966: World Cup Willie / Where in This World Are We Going?
- 1966: I Wanna Go Home / Black Cat (Cross My Path Today)
- 1967: Aunt Maggie's Remedy / (Ah) My Sweet Marie
- 1968: Toys / Relax Your Mind
- 1969: My Lovely Juanita / Who Knows Where the Time Goes?
- 1972: Speak to the Sky / Get Out of My Life
- 1973: Jump Down Turn Around (Pick a Bale of Cotton) / Lost John Blues (only in Australia)
- 1976: I've Lost my Little Willie / Censored
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ For a musicological analysis of Lonnie Donegan's version, see: Ansgar Jerrentrup: Development of rock music from the beginning to the beat . Regensburg: Gustav Bosse Verlag, 1981 (Cologne contributions to music research, vol. 113), also Diss. Phil. University of Cologne 1980, pp. 194–196; Score transcription of the version, p. 228.
- ↑ a b c d Chart sources: DE UK US1 US2
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Donegan, Lonnie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Donegan, Anthony James |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British skiffle musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 29, 1931 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Glasgow , Scotland |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 3, 2002 |
| Place of death | Peterborough |