Alexis Korner 19th April 1928 ~ 1 January 1984
Alexis Korner was a pioneering blues musician and radio broadcaster who has sometimes been referred to as “a Founding Farther of British Blues. Throughout the 1960s, Korner had a major influence on the British music scene.
Born in Paris to a Greek mother and Austrian farther, Korner spent his childhood in Europe and Africa before arriving in London in 1940 at the start of the Second World War. Korner once recalled listening to a record by Jimmy Yancey during a German air raid, later stating, “From then on all I wanted to do was play the blues”.
Korner played piano and guitar. Along with fellow band member Cyril Davies, he formed the influential London Blues and Barrelhouse Club, bringing many American blues artists, previously unknown in England, to perform.
In 1961, Korner and Davies formed Blues Incorporated. The group included, at various times, such influential musicians as Charlie Watts and Ginger Baker. It also attracted a wider crowd of younger fans, some of whom occasionally performed with the group, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, John Mayall and others. Indeed it was in the earliest days of the Rolling Stones, that the members played for no money at the intervals of Alexis Korner’s gigs, borrowing his equipment to perform.
Korner’s influence on the British music scene is equally well demonstrated by his introduction of Jimmy Page to a young Robert Plant. Plant had been jamming with Korner and together they were recording a full album together. Page was so impressed he asked Plant to join “the New Yardbirds”, which would eventually become Led Zeppelin.
Korner’s broadcasting career begun in the 60’s and became his main career in the 1970s. He wrote for a number of influential musical publications and presented TV and Radio. In 1967, he interviewed The Jimi Hendrix Experience for the BBC Radio Show. Korner himself appeared on some of the recordings made in that session.
Korner’s own musical ventures included, Rocket88 with Charlie Watts and C.C.S., New Church and Snape, which all featured singer Peter Thorup. Korner was widely respected and continued to collaborate with influencial musicians until his death from lung cancer in 1984, he was 55.
