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 October 1962, Davies formed the Cyril
Davies All-Stars in November 1962 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'.
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
