Skiffle Founder Lonnie Donnegan Dead At 71 (1 Viewer)

[Micahel C]

Sadly I came across this news earlier today. Strange that I hadn't read anything on his passing in the news. For those of you who are unfamilar with the name, Lonnie Donnegan probably best known here in the U.S. for his hit "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight" had a very long music career and is considered to be one of the most sucessful recording artists of the 50's and 60's.

More importantly, he's recognized as the founder of "Skiffle Music" the result of which, had just about every young teenage boy in England learning to play guitar in the mid 50's.

It's interesting to speculate that had it not been for Mr. Donnegan's "Skiffle", music as we know it today might have turned out quite different. You see, it all started way back in 1956......



**1956**

August
John Lennon forms The Quarry Men Skiffle Band and the group performs what's known in England as "skiffle."

**1957**

July 6

The Quarry Men perform at St. Peter's Church Garden Fete. John and Paul meet and the pair find out that they have similar pop idol interests: "Paul, what kind of music do you like?" asked John. "Well I used to like Lonnie Donnegan but now that skiffle is fading out I love the music of Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochrane, Gene Vincent, Little Richard..." "Hey," John interrupted, "they're all the people I'm into."


**1958**

January 24
The Quarry Men perform at the Cavern. This would be the only performance billed as The Quarry Men at the club. It would be a long wait, an amazing three years before the band would turn up again at the Cavern but under their new name as The Beatles.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Makes you think, doesn't it?.

Thanks ever so much Lonnie! You will be missed.

 

[Jack Briggs]

I hope enough of our members appreciate Donnegan's importance and influence.

 

[luke j. chung]

Bottom line: without Mr. Donnegan, there would have been no Beatles. RIP, Lonnie!:frowning:

 

[Grant B]

anyone have any cd recommendations by Lonnie? I have only heard snipets of his music
I dont want to get some crappy budget cd that turns me off to his music

 

[Micahel C]

Grant,

If you can locate it, look for "The EP Collection". It is considered the definitive Lonnie Donegan collection of his work up through 1962. Released in 1992, it contains 24 tracks, all of which were remastered with original artwork represented and a very detailed biography. For his later stuff, the follow-up "The EP Collection Vol 2" will suffice.

For the really big fan, there 1993's "More Than Pye in the Sky" an 8 cd box set with 209 tracks which pretty much covers his entire career. Very expensive however. Hope this helps.

 

[Grant B]

Micahel C
Thanks, I will check on it next time I hit a record store. Amoeba records tend to have very hard to locate cds in stock
Grant

 

[Danny Tse]

Thanks for the info, Michael.

I heard the term skiffle mentioned several times when I was watching one of those "History of Rock and Roll" documentaries. I always wanted to look into what kind of music skiffle is, but there was always something else. Maybe now is the time....

According to an article I read on Yahoo! News, Pete Townshend was strongly influenced by Mr. Donnegan's work as well. Talk about being influential.