“He taught me that it was OK to play the music you wanted to play. He was my mentor and a surrogate father, too”: Why John Mayall was the godfather of British blues guitar

A black and white action shot of John Mayall onstage playing electric guitar in 1991.

On 22 July, blues legend and bandleader John Mayall died at his home in California. He was 90 years old. Mayall was born in Macclesfield in 1933, and first courted music by scouring his father’s imported collection of blues 78s, before teaching himself piano, guitar and harmonica.

After completing national service in Korea, Mayall returned to Britain in the 1950s, unimpressed by, according to Classic Rock magazine, “a monopoly of trad-jazz bands all playing the same tunes.”