John Mayall, the so-called “Godfather of British blues” who led the blues explosion of the mid-1960s and introduced the world to such guitar luminaries as Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor, as well as drummer Mick Fleetwood, all early members of his band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, has died at age 90, it was announced Tuesday.
A statement on Mayall’s Instagram page announced his death, saying only that the musician, singer and bandleader died Monday at his home in California surrounded by his family.
Mayall had a decades-long association with Los Angeles, naming a popular 1968 album “Blues from Laurel Canyon,” where he lived in a three-story hillside home for 10 years until a brush fire in September 1979 left only a charred foundation and a hand-painted swimming pool on the property. He remained in the area afterwards.
Mayall released more than three dozen albums during his career, remaining faithful to American blues music while showing an ear for talent, utilizing countless support players, many of whom eclipsed the leader with their own bands or as members of other highly successful groups.
For British blues guitarists of the 1960s, Mayall’s band was a kind of finishing school. Introducing Clapton on the 1966 album, “Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton,” Mayall allowed his young side man to take center stage, giving birth to a guitar-heavy sound that dominated rock music for the next 20 years.
Clapton famously quit Mayall’s band without notice after less than a year, replaced by Green, who left the Bluesbreakers shortly afterwards with drummer Fleetwood in tow to form the highly successful Fleetwood Mac, which was founded by Green.
Mayall next hired a teenage Taylor to fill the Bluesbreakers’ closely watched guitar spot, and four albums later, Mayall’s young protégé departed to accept an offer from the Rolling Stones.
In the many bands he led, Mayall wrote songs, handled vocals, played harmonica, organ and guitar, and often produced his own album artwork. Although he usually remained true to American blues with little deviation, a drummerless jazz-inspired outfit he ran in the 1970s proved to be his most popular group since the days of the big name guitarists to whom he handed the spotlight. Yet he remained a draw in the clubs and at summer festivals around the world until his retirement from touring in 2022 after a final gig at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.
Mayall was born on Nov. 29, 1933 in Macclesfield, near Manchester, in central England. He once said, “The only reason I was born in Macclesfield was because my father was a drinker, and that’s where his favorite pub was.”
Mayall was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005. His selection as a recipient of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Musical Influence Award: was announced April 21. The two-time Grammy nominee will be inducted into the hall of fame posthumously Oct. 19.
Mayall is survived by two ex-wives, six children, Gaz, Jason, Red, Ben, Zak and Samson, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.