(NewsReady.com) – John Mayall was a musical icon. The British blues pioneer recently passed away at the age of 90. The music industry is mourning the death of the legendary artist.
Mayall was born in 1933 in Cheshire, England. When he was an adult, he was sent to Korea as part of his required military service. He brought back his first electric guitar from Japan at the end of his service. When he returned home, he enrolled in the Manchester College of Art and began playing the guitar with a band called the Powerhouse Four.
The guitarist graduated with a degree in art design but music had hooked him. He moved to London in 1963 and became a full-time artist. Two years later, Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds and fled to London after he decided he had enough of the band’s commercial success. At that time, Mayall was performing with the Bluesbreakers and welcomed Clapton into the band.
The band became successful in the UK’s club circuit. The band had a rotating line-up of artists that included people who went on to be rock & roll legends like Clapton and the Rolling Stones’ Mick Taylor. Mayall made blues a successful genre in the UK, then he moved to Los Angeles in 1969.
While in the US, he continued recruiting musicians to perform with him at festivals and other tours. He also played the keyboard. By the time his last album was published in 2022, he’d created more than 70 music albums.
Mayall passed away on July 22 in California. Mick Jagger mourned his longtime friend in a post on social media, saying he was “sad to hear” of his death. He called Mayall a “great pioneer of British blues” and said he had a “wonderful eye for talented musicians,” including when he noticed Jagger’s gift and recommended him to the Rolling Stones.
Mayall is survived by six children, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
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