John Porter (born 11 September 1947 in Leeds) is an English musician and record producer.
He attended St Michael's School, Allerton Grange School, King's College, London, and Newcastle University.
While at Newcastle, Porter met singer Bryan Ferry, and was part of his fledgling band The Gas Board. [1] Ferry's later band Roxy Music had achieved success in the early 1970s, but having had some troubles with bass players, Ferry invited Porter on board to record the 1973 album For Your Pleasure and its subsequent tour. [1] Porter went on to serve as a record producer for many later albums for Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry.
He has since produced for The Smiths, Billy Bragg, The Blades, Microdisney, School of Fish, B. B. King, Los Lonely Boys, Buddy Guy, Ryan Adams, Missy Higgins and numerous other bands. [2] Lol Tolhurst, a founding member of The Cure, stated that Porter was the producer for the second album recorded by another of his bands, Presence. [3]
In 1983, Porter married British model Linda Keith.
Porter is credited on the following Roxy Music, Andy Mackay and Bryan Ferry works:
Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr., better known by his stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician. He plays the guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and many other instruments, often incorporating elements of world music into his work. Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Hawaii, and the South Pacific.
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album was awarded from 1988 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Contemporary Blues Performance and in 1989 was awarded to a song rather than to an album.
Kevin Roosevelt Moore, known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician. He is a singer, guitarist and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link to the seminal Delta blues that travelled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America." His post-modern blues style is influenced by many eras and genres, including folk, rock, jazz, pop and country. The moniker "Keb Mo" was coined by his original drummer, Quentin Dennard, and picked up by his record label as a "street talk" abbreviation of his given name.
Señor Blues is a 1997 studio album by the blues musician Taj Mahal. It contains a cover of James Brown's "Think". It won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 40th Grammy Awards.
The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards, are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, "Father of the Blues". The first award was presented in 1980 and is "universally recognized as the highest accolade afforded musicians and songwriters in blues music". In 2006, the awards were renamed Blues Music Awards in an effort to increase public appreciation of the significance of the awards.
The Long Beach Blues Festival, in Long Beach, California, United States, was established fully in 1980, and was one of the largest blues festivals and was the second oldest on the West Coast. It was held on Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend. For many years it was held on the athletic field on the California State University, Long Beach campus. The 2009 festival, the 30th annual, was held at Rainbow Lagoon in downtown Long Beach. The Festival went on hiatus in 2010, and has not been held since.
Michael Kelly Finnigan was an American keyboard player and vocalist, his specialty being the B3 Hammond organ. Working primarily as a freelance studio musician and touring player, he played with a wide variety of musicians in pop, rock, blues and jazz.
Just Like You is the third studio album by Delta blues artist Keb' Mo', released in 1996. It features guest artists Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt, both on the title track "Just Like You". Unlike the first album, Just Like You features a more blues-pop to blues-rock feel and more of its tracks feature a full band. In 1997, Just Like You won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.
Suitcase is the ninth studio album by Delta blues artist Keb' Mo' released in June 2006. Suitcase sees Moore re-unite with producer John Porter who helped Moore put together his first few commercial releases up to Slow Down, where the two started working on projects with others. In this lieu, Moore worked with a variety of producers gaining a varied production experience, along with producing himself. In this time, Porter moved into new areas of production and produced artists such as Taj Mahal, Bob Dylan and others. The critical and consumer response to this album is higher than the previous few albums by Moore and this can be traced to the reunion of the two, among other factors.
Billy Branch is an American blues harmonica player and singer of Chicago blues. Branch is a three-time Grammy nominee, a retired two-term governor of the Chicago Grammy Chapter, an Emmy Award winner, and a winner of the Addy Award. In addition, he has received numerous humanitarian and music awards.
The San Francisco Blues Festival was active from 1973 until 2008, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was the one of the longest running blues festival in the United States.
Jon Cleary is a British-born, American funk and R&B musician, based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Cleary is an accomplished pianist as well as being a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter.
Darrell Leonard is an American, Los Angeles–based, trumpet player, composer and arranger.
Phantom Blues is a studio album by American blues artist Taj Mahal.
The 30th Annual John Lennon Tribute: Live from the Beacon Theatre, NYC is a compilation tribute album to John Lennon by various artists, released in November 2011. Proceeds from the album benefit the Japanese Red Cross. Not all songs from the concert are included here, such as Cyndi Lauper's covers of "Across the Universe" and "A Day in the Life".
Tony Braunagel is an American drummer, producer, and songwriter from Houston, Texas, United States, who is based in Los Angeles, California. Braunagel has played on many film scores and television shows as well as numerous albums as a musician, composer and producer. He is best known as a session drummer and/or percussionist of over 200 albums including those of Otis Rush, Eric Burdon, Johnny Nash, Coco Montoya, Lucky Peterson, as well as Grammy winning albums of Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Buddy Guy (percussion) and for performing live with dozens of music icons including Bonnie Raitt, Rickie Lee Jones, BB King, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Robert Cray, Bette Midler, Lyle Lovett, and Taj Mahal to name just a few.
Dot Com Blues is a 2001 album by the American jazz organist Jimmy Smith. The album was Smith's first recording for five years, and features guest appearances by B.B. King and Etta James.
TajMo is a joint album by the American blues musicians Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo'. It was released May 5, 2017, and won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. TajMo is the twenty-sixth studio album by Taj Mahal and the thirteenth by Keb' Mo'.
Oklahoma is the fourteenth studio album by American musician Keb' Mo' and was released on June 14, 2019 by Concord Records label. The album featured guest contributions from Rosanne Cash, Jaci Velasquez, Robert Randolph, Taj Mahal and a duet with Robbie Brooks Moore. The album also produced two singles: "Put a Woman in Charge" released on September 28, 2018, and "Don't Throw it Away" released on June 12, 2019. The album was produced by Colin Linden and co-produced by Keb’ Mo’.
Jontavious Willis is an American country blues singer, guitarist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Willis has released three albums to date, with his sophomore effort, Spectacular Class, debuting at number 12 in the Billboard Blues Albums Chart in May 2019.