Alexis Korner
Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues".[2] A major influence on the sound of the British music scene in the 1960s,[3] he was instrumental in the formation of several notable British bands including The Rolling Stones and Free. Korner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical influence category in 2024.
Alexis Korner
Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner
"Father of British Blues"
19 April 1928
Paris, France
1 January 1984 (aged 55)
London, England
Musician, singer-songwriter, historian, broadcaster
Vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, Martin tiple, piano[1]
1955–1984
Decca, Polydor, Spot Records, CBS Records, Transatlantic Records, Fontana, RAK Records, Tempo, Brain Records, Liberty, Atlantic/Metronome, 77 Records, Warner Bros., Charisma
Early career[edit]
Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner was born on 19 April 1928 in Paris, France,[4] to an Austrian Jewish father and a mother of Greek, Turkish and Austrian descent.[5][6] He spent his childhood in France, Switzerland and North Africa, and arrived in London in 1940 after the start of the Second World War. One memory of his youth was listening to a record by black pianist Jimmy Yancey during a German air raid. Korner said, "From then on all I wanted to do was play the blues."[7]
After the war, Korner played piano and guitar (his first guitar was built by friend and author Sydney Hopkins, who wrote Mister God, This Is Anna) and in 1949 joined Chris Barber's Jazz Band[8] where he met blues harmonica player Cyril Davies. They started playing together as a duo, started the influential London Blues and Barrelhouse Club in 1955 and made their first record together in 1957.[4]
Korner made his first official record on Decca Records DFE 6286 in the company of Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group. His talent extended to playing mandolin on one of the tracks of this British EP, recorded in London on 28 July 1955. Korner encouraged many American blues artists, previously virtually unknown in Britain, to perform at the London Blues and Barrelhouse Club, which he established with Davies at the Round House pub in Soho.[9]
Broadcasting[edit]
In the 1960s Korner began a media career, working initially as a showbusiness interviewer and then on ITV's Five O'Clock Club, a children's TV show.[4] Korner also wrote about blues for the music papers, and continued to maintain his own career as a blues artist, especially in Europe. Korner's main career in the 1970s was in broadcasting. In 1973, he presented a six-part documentary on BBC Radio 1, The Rolling Stones Story,[3] and in 1977 he established a Sunday-night show on Radio 1, Alexis Korner's Blues and Soul Show, which ran until 1981.[4] He also used his gravelly voice to great effect as an advertising voice-over artist.
Family life and death[edit]
In 1950, Korner married Roberta Melville (died 2021), daughter of art critic Robert Melville.[16] He had a daughter, singer Sappho Gillett Korner (died 2006), and two sons, guitarist Nicholas 'Nico' Korner (died 1989) and sound engineer Damian Korner (died 2008).
Alexis Korner died in London from lung cancer on 1 January 1984, at the age of 55.[4]
Korner was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024 in the musical influence category.[17][18]