Historically some attribute this position to Alexis Korner as he was the founder of perhaps the first British blues band, however in terms of influence there is no question that the title belongs to John Mayall, the father of British blues.
In 1963 I saw the American Folk – Blues Caravan when it visited Great Britain.
The music they made connected with me and shaped the rest of my musical “life.”
Within two years I was playing my own version of Blues with the Dartford band “The Flee-Rakers” and had started the long and hard road that I continue to travel today.
When John Lee Hooker toured the UK a year later, I made it my mission to see him.
It was backed by an English band headed by John Mayall. I didn’t realize it at the time, but John’s influence would become ever-present in my life. It showed me that “white” boys can feel and sing their own blues. Even at this early stage, John was a great blues artist, yet it took the popularity of former Yardbird guitarist Eric Clapton to bring Johns’ music to a much wider audience. Mike Vernon persuaded Decca to record the band thanks to the large number of “underground” fans. The resulting 1966 album “Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton” (Beano) is recognized today as a pivotal recording in British blues history.
When the album was released, Clapton was gone and had been replaced by Peter Green. Peter, who appears on Johns’ 67 album “A Hard Road”, left the band shortly after to form his own band. The Bluesbreakers had given birth to “Cream” and “Fleetwood Mac”, two of the most successful blues bands in Britain and eventually the world.
John believes the ever-changing band members acted positively by changing the dynamics and keeping everything “fresh.”
When Green left, I, along with many other hopeful guitarists, responded to the “wanted” ad on Melody Maker and was invited to audition, but then received a call informing me that John had found Mick Taylor.
For the next two years, John would launch Crusade; Diary of a band; Laurel Canyon’s Bare Wires & Blues, meanwhile, leaving band members formed or joined The Allan Price Set, Free and Coliseum.
In 1969 Taylor left to join “The Rolling Stones” at that time the largest band in the world.