Cyril Davies
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Cyril Davies (23 January 1932 - January 7, 1964) was one of the first English blues harmonica players and blues musician.
Born at St Mildred's, 15 Hawthorn Drive, Willowbank, Denham, Buckinghamshire, near London, Davies began his career in the early 1950s first within Steve Lane's Southern Stompers, then as part of an acoustic Skiffle and Blues group with Alexis Korner. He began as a banjo and 12-string guitar player before becoming Britain's first Chicago-style blues harmonica player
In 1962, they opened a club called the Ealing Club in London, adding bassist Jack Bruce, saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith and drummer Charlie Watts, to form the electric band Blues Incorporated.
Many budding young musicians visited the Ealing Club and 'guested' with Blues Incorporated, including Rod Stewart, Paul Jones, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Eric Burdon, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Ginger Baker.
By this stage there was musical tension in the band - as some wanted to play crowd-pleasers like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley tracks whilst Cyril Davies was a blues purist who wanted to play what he saw as only genuine Chicago-style R&B. Following the dissolution of Blues Incorporated in 1963, Davies formed the Cyril Davies All-Stars and recorded five tracks for Pye Records who had announced an R&B label featuring music imported from Cyril's favourite Chicago musicians ("Country Line Special", "Chicago Calling", "Preaching the Blues", "Sweet Mary" and "Someday Baby"). The original line-up shown in the photograph, largely recruited from Lord Sutch's Savages, was later subject to frequent changes, particularly after Cyril's untimely death. A number of 'R&B All-Stars' tracks with various line-ups, including Carlo Little, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Nicky Hopkins are to be found on different labels and anthologies - the name apparently continuing for several years. Davies died in 1964 (frequently reported as of leukaemia but some accounts suggest it was pleurisy and others small cell lung cancer). The core band was taken over by Long John Baldry and formed the basis of his 'Hoochie Coochie Men'.
[edit] External links
A full account of Cyril's life and contribution to the development of the UK blues boom is on the Cyril Davies web site. http://www.cyrildavies.com
More information on Cyril Davies and the All-Stars can be found on the website of the late Carlo Little, one of the drummers with the band. Carlo Little: The R&B Years
