Paul Vaughn Butterfield was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his native Chicago, where he met Muddy Waters and other blues greats, who provided encouragement and opportunities for him to join in jam sessions. He soon began performing with fellow blues enthusiasts Nick Gravenites and Elvin Bishop.
Marion Walter Jacobs, known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him comparisons to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, the first and, to date, only artist to be inducted specifically as a harmonica player.
John Lee Curtis "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He is often regarded as the pioneer of the blues harp as a solo instrument. He played on hundreds of recordings by many pre–World War II blues artists. Under his own name, he was one of the most recorded blues musicians of the 1930s and 1940s and is closely associated with Chicago producer Lester Melrose and Bluebird Records. His popular songs, original or adapted, include "Good Morning, School Girl", "Sugar Mama", "Early in the Morning", and "Stop Breaking Down".
Junior Wells was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song "Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album Hoodoo Man Blues, described by the critic Bill Dahl as "one of the truly classic blues albums of the 1960s". Wells himself categorized his music as rhythm and blues.
Kim Wilson is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s, "Tuff Enuff" and "Wrap It Up."
The Richter-tuned harmonica, or 10-hole harmonica or blues harp, is the most widely known type of harmonica. It is a variety of diatonic harmonica, with ten holes which offer the player 19 notes in a three-octave range.
James Henry Cotton was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career.
Donna and Joseph McCaul, also known as The McCauls, are a brother and sister musical duo who represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Ukraine. They were not pre-qualified for the final, due to Ireland's result from the 2004 contest, which meant they took part in the semi-final on 19 May 2005.
David Michael Gordon "Davey" Graham was a British guitarist and one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival. He inspired many famous practitioners of the fingerstyle acoustic guitar such as Bert Jansch, Wizz Jones, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy, John Martyn, Paul Simon and Jimmy Page, who based his solo "White Summer" on Graham's "She Moved Through the Fair". Graham is probably best known for his acoustic instrumental "Anji" and for popularizing DADGAD tuning, later widely adopted by acoustic guitarists.
Jean-Jacques Milteau is a French blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter, as well as radio presenter.
Jerry McCain, often billed as Jerry "Boogie" McCain, was an American electric blues musician, best known as a harmonica player.
Olive "Bibi" Baskin is an Irish radio presenter, hotelier and former television presenter for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). She has been described as "RTÉ's legendary redhead". She has also worked as a magazine and newspaper writer and journalist.
Jennifer Zamparelli is an Irish comedian and television presenter. She is known for her role on the TV show Republic of Telly, where she was a primary writer, and as co-host of the 2FM morning show Breakfast Republic with Bernard O'Shea and Keith Walsh. She also stars in the sitcom Bridget & Eamon.
Mississippi Heat is an American blues band based in Chicago, led by harmonica player Pierre Lacocque. Formed in 1991, the band has toured in the United States, Canada, and Europe, with occasional performances in South America and North Africa.
Fáilte Towers is a reality TV show broadcast that aired on RTÉ during August 2008 on RTÉ. The concept involved thirteen celebrities running a hotel for sixteen days and nights in order to win money for their designated charities. The show format was not repeated nor was it exported or resold. The name is a play on the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers and the word fáilte meaning 'welcome' in Irish. The hotel used in the series is Bellingham Castle in Castlebellingham, County Louth.
Dave Gage is an American harmonica player and instructor, recording artist, author, and webmaster, known for harmonica web sites and more than 25 years of session work in recording studios throughout Southern California.
John Creedon, also known as "Creedo", is an Irish language enthusiast and veteran broadcaster with RTÉ Radio. Host of The John Creedon Show, weekday evenings 8-10pm on RTÉ Radio 1, he has also filled in for Dave Fanning on The Dave Fanning Show.
Adare Productions is an Irish entertainment television production company. It has produced numerous television shows which have been broadcast in Ireland, including Delegation, Livin' with Lucy, Hanging with Hector, The Fame Game, and Fáilte Towers for Radio Telefís Éireann, and Glas Vegas and Underdogs for TG4. The company is credited with discovering numerous television presenters.
The Electric Revelators are a blues band, formed in Swansea 2004, Wales, added Jerry Donahue ex-member of Fairport Convention and Chris Rea Band to the line-up in 2011. Originally called The Revelators they added Electric to the name in 2009 when they toured with The Animals and David "Honeyboy" Edwards.
"Blues with a Feeling" is a blues song written and first recorded by Rabon Tarrant with Jack McVea and His All Stars in 1947, as the B-side of "Slowly Goin' Crazy Blues". Although the original release was commercially unsuccessful, the song later became an important hit for Little Walter, with whom it is usually identified.
