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John Mayall music biography continued...

Mayall taught himself to play the guitar, piano and harmonica at a young age, and moved to London to pursue a career in music in 1963. Soon after, he formed a band called The Bluesbreakers, which saw a constant turnover in musicians during its first few years. However, when Eric Clapton joined the group in 1965 and they recorded Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton in 1966, Mayall became a star. After Clapton and Jack Bruce left the band to form Cream, a succession of great musicians defined their artistic roots under Mayall's leadership, and he became as well known for discovering new talent. As sidemen left to form their own groups, others took their places. Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood became Fleetwood Mac. Andy Fraser formed Free, and Mick Taylor joined the Rolling Stones. When Mayall moved from London to Los Angeles in 1970 and began forming bands with American musicians. Throughout the 70's, Mayall became further revered for his many jazz/rock/blues innovations featuring such notable performers as Blue Mitchell, Red Holloway, Larry Taylor, and Harvey Mandel, making him a legendary blues man on both sides of the pond.



Although Mayall's popularity waned in the 80s, he continued to perform and record. The 90s saw a Mayall resurgence, as the bluesman kicked off the decade with the release of several albums that have set new standards in rock blues, including "Behind The Iron Curtain", "Chicago Line", "A Sense of Place", and the Grammy-nominated "Wake Up Call." The new millennium proved equally as productive with such critically lauded and commercially successful albums as "Along for the Ride" and "STORIES," which peaked on the Billboard blues chart at #1. Spring 2007 brought John Mayall's 56th album release, on Eagle Records: "In The Palace Of The King," an entire studio album that honored and paid tribute to the music of the Mayall's long-time hero of the blues, Freddie King. After a heavy touring schedule to promote the album, Mayall decided to scale back, finally disbanding the Bluesbreakers all together in 2008, but not be before he had earned a reputation as the elder statesman of British blues.