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George "Buddy" Guy (Lettsworth (Louisiana), 30 juli 1936) is een Amerikaanse blues- en rockgitarist en zanger die reeds vijfmaal een Grammy Award won. Hij is bekend als inspiratie van Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, en andere bekende bluesgitaristen uit de jaren 60. Hij is de vader van rapster Shawnna en Michael.
Guy groeide op in Louisiana en begon in zijn jeugd gitaar te spelen. Zijn inspiratie was Muddy Waters. Begin jaren 50 begon hij met bandjes op te treden in Baton Rouge. In 1957 verhuisde hij naar Chicago, in 1958 kreeg hij een platencontract. Vervolgens heeft hij onder verschillende labels heel veel albums uitgebracht. In 2005 werd Guy opgenomen in de Rock and Roll Hall of Fame en in 2014 in de Musicians Hall of Fame. In the mid-1950s, Guy began performing with bands in Baton Rouge, including with Big Papa Tilley and Raful Neal. While living there, he worked as a custodian at Louisiana State University. In 1957, he recorded two demos for a local DJ in Baton Rouge for Ace Records, but they were not issued at the time. Soon after moving to Chicago on September 25, 1957, Guy fell under the influence of Muddy Waters. In 1958, a competition with West Side guitarists Magic Sam and Otis Rush gave Guy a record contract. Soon afterwards he recorded for Cobra Records. During his Cobra sessions, he teamed up with Ike Turner who helped him make his second record, "You Sure Can't Do" / "This Is The End", by backing him on guitar and composing the latter. Meer... |
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After two releases from Cobra's subsidiary, Artistic, Guy signed with Chess Records. Guy's early career was impeded by his record company, Chess Records, his label from 1959 to 1968, which refused to record Guy playing in the novel style of his live shows. Leonard Chess, Chess Records founder, denounced Guy's playing as "just making noise". In the early 1960s, Chess tried recording Guy as a solo artist with R&B ballads, jazz instrumentals, soul and novelty dance tunes, but none of these recordings was released as a single. Guy's only Chess album, I Left My Blues in San Francisco, was released in 1967. Most of the songs were influenced by the era's soul boom, with orchestrations by Gene Barge and Charlie Stepney. Chess used Guy mainly as a session guitarist to back Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor and others. As late as 1967, Guy worked as a tow truck driver while playing clubs at night. During his tenure with Chess, Guy recorded sessions with Junior Wells for Delmark Records under the pseudonym Friendly Chap in 1965 and 1966. In 1965, he participated in the European tour American Folk Blues Festival. He appeared onstage at the March 1969 "Supershow" in Staines, England, which also included Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Jack Bruce, Stephen Stills, Buddy Miles, Glenn Campbell, Roland Kirk, Jon Hiseman, and the Misunderstood. In 1972, he established The Checkerboard Lounge, with partner L.C. Thurman. Guy's career was revived during the blues revival of the late 1980s and early 1990s. His resurgence was sparked by Clapton's request that Guy be part of the "24 Nights" all-star blues guitar lineup at London's Royal Albert Hall. Guy subsequently signed with Silvertone Records and recorded his mainstream breakthrough album Damn Right, I've Got the Blues in 1991. Guy had a small role in the 2009 crime film In the Electric Mist as Sam "Hogman" Patin. As of 2019, Guy still performs at least 130 nights a year, including a month of shows each January at his Chicago blues club, Buddy Guy's Legends. Music style While Guy's music is often labelled Chicago blues, his style is unique and separate. His music can vary from the most traditional, deepest blues to a creative, unpredictable and radical gumbo of the blues, avant rock, soul and free jazz that changes with each performance. As the New York Times music critic Jon Pareles noted in 2005: "Mr. Guy, 68, mingles anarchy, virtuosity, deep blues and hammy shtick in ways that keep all eyes on him.... Guy loves extremes: sudden drops from loud to soft, or a sweet, sustained guitar solo followed by a jolt of speed, or a high, imploring vocal cut off with a rasp.... Whether he's singing with gentle menace or bending new curves into a blue note, he is a master of tension and release, and his every wayward impulse was riveting". In an interview taped on April 14, 2000, for the Cleveland college station WRUW-FM, Guy said: "The purpose of me trying to play the kind of rocky stuff is to get airplay...I find myself kind of searching, hoping I'll hit the right notes, say the right things, maybe they'll put me on one of these big stations, what they call 'classic'...if you get Eric Clapton to play a Muddy Waters song, they call it classic, and they will put it on that station, but you'll never hear Muddy Waters". Guitars Guy has played numerous guitars over the course of his career and continues to use multiple guitars in concerts and recordings, but he has become known for his custom model Fenders with their characteristic Polka-dot finish. In a June 2022 interview, Guy explained that the Polka-dot pattern was a tribute to his late mother, and to remind him of a lie he told her when leaving home to start his career in Chicago: Back to about my mother and that Polka dot, I lied to her and I told her I'ma make double the money, I'ma send you some money, and I'ma drive back down here to Louisianna—I'm trying to make her feel good—in a Polka-dot Cadillac. And I knew I was lyin' and I knew I didn't never want to buy a Polka dot 'cause if you got famous, that polka dot would show up everywhere there where you went, you couldn't rest 'cause sometime I try to go to dinner now in Brazil or Germany or wherever and if they recognize you, if you're going to your mouth with a fork they'll come grab your hand and say 'will you sign this?' So anyway, my mother passed away and I said 'Oh man I didn't get a chance to tell her I lied to her about that Polka-dot Cadillac,' and I went to fender and I said 'I need something to remind me of that big lie I told my mom about that Polka-dot Cadillac.' I said 'I'd like to get a Polka-dot guitar made so I'd have that with me the rest of my life. The original guitar was based on the Eric Clapton Custom Shop Stratocaster that Guy had been playing in the late 80s and has since been developed into its own line of Buddy Guy Signature models that Fender sells to the public. Various models of the Polka-dot guitar and Polka-dot motif feature in the artwork for a number of his albums since 1994's Slippin' In. Recent years saw him on stage wearing a shirt of the same design. Accolades When inducting Guy into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Eric Clapton said: "No matter how great the song, or performance, my ear would always find him out. He stood out in the mix, simply by virtue of the originality and vitality of his playing". Beck recalled the night he and Vaughan performed with Guy at Buddy Guy's Legends club in Chicago: "That was just the most incredible stuff I ever heard in my life. The three of us all jammed and it was so thrilling. That is as close you can come to the heart of the blues." Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman said: "Guitar Legends do not come any better than Buddy Guy. He is feted by his peers and loved by his fans for his ability to make the guitar both talk and cry the blues. Such is Buddy's mastery of the guitar that there is virtually no guitarist that he cannot imitate". Guy was a judge for the 6th and 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists. Guy has influenced the styles of subsequent artists such as Reggie Sears and Jesse Marchant of JBM. On February 21, 2012, Guy performed in concert at the White House for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. During the finale of the concert, he persuaded President Obama to sing a few bars of "Sweet Home Chicago". Personal life Guy married Joan Guy in 1959. They have six children together: Charlotte (1961), Carlise (1963), Colleen (1965), George Jr., Gregory, and Geoffrey. Greg Guy also plays blues guitar. He was married to Jennifer Guy from 1975 to 2002. They had two children: Rashawnna and Michael. The marriage ended in divorce. Rashawnna Guy, known by her stage name Shawnna, is a rapper. Guy has lived in Orland Park, Illinois, a suburb south of Chicago as of 2014. |