Mayall in 1964
Trailblazing blues rock musician John Mayall died this week at the age of 90. The “godfather of the British blues” picked up the music bug from his father, a guitarist and jazz fan. His eccentricities (from his teen years until his first marriage, he lived in a tree house he built in his grandparents’ back yard) belied his shrewd business sense. He was known to stand outside venues before performances and count the lineups, to ensure he wasn’t shortchanged from ticket sales.
In the 1960s, he fronted the band John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, helping to propel the careers of Eric Clapton and John McVie. He continued to perform to the end of his life and published an autobiography in 2019. By the 1970s, he was living full-time in the U.S. A 1979 brush fire destroyed his Los Angeles home, including his diaries of the previous 25 years and several Tudor-era antiques.
Mayall was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II’s 79th birthday. Earlier this year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
