On Jan. 6, 1956, Lonnie Donegans cover of Rock Island Line enters the UK charts. The record would end up selling over three million copies. The reason we mention this is because this record started the skiffle craze in the UK. This song encouraged many young musician to form bands. The king of skiffle, as Lonnie was called, was also a catalyst for the 16-year-old John Lennon. He’d listened to the music on Radio Luxembourg and thought that it wasn’t difficult to play, so he asked his Aunt Mimi if she could get him a guitar. He also bought a 78rpm record of Rock Island Line, which he later sold to a schoolmate, Rod Davis. Rod was also inspired by Donegan and bought a banjo for £3 from an uncle and joined John Lennon’s new skiffle group, the Quarry Men. Included in the Quarry Men’s repertoire were several skiffle numbers popularized by Donegan, including ‘Rock Island Line’, ‘The Cumberland Gap’, ‘Midnight Special’, ‘Railroad Bill’ and ‘Worried Man Blues’. Ringo Starr also entered the music world during the skiffle era and joined the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group in 1957. Lennons band The Quarrymen went through some personal changes. Soon Paul McCartney would join the band and a little while later @George Harrison joined in. Basically the birth of The Beatles. Lennon has often spoke about Donegan. https://youtube/watch?v=wI4nRD-DRpk
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 10:30:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015