Big Jim Sullivan
James George Tomkins (14 February 1941 – 2 October 2012),[1] known professionally as Big Jim Sullivan, was an English guitarist.
For other people named Jim Sullivan, see Jim Sullivan (disambiguation).
Big Jim Sullivan
James George Tomkins
14 February 1941
Uxbridge, England
2 October 2012 (aged 71)
Billingshurst, England
Musician
Guitar, sitar
1958–2012
Best known as a session guitarist, he was one of the most in-demand studio musicians in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s, and performed on around 750 charting singles over his career, including 54 UK number one hits.[2]
Early life and career[edit]
James George Tomkins was born in Hillingdon Hospital, Middlesex, England, and went to Woodfield Secondary School in Cranford, Middlesex. At the age of 14, he began learning the guitar, and within two years had turned professional.[3]
When he was young he played with Sid Gilbert and the Clay County Boys, a Western swing group, Johnny Duncan's Blue Grass Boys, Vince Taylor & the Playboys, Janice Peters & the Playboys, and the Vince Eager Band. Sullivan gave guitar lessons to near-neighbour Ritchie Blackmore.[3]
In 1959, at The 2i's Coffee Bar, he met Marty Wilde and was invited to become a member of his backing group, the Wildcats, who were the opening act in the television series, Oh Boy!, produced by Jack Good. The Wildcats backed Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent on their tour of Britain in 1960, during which Cochran died.[3] Wilde bought Sullivan a Gibson Les Paul guitar, reputedly the first to be played in Britain, which he had bought from Sister Rosetta Tharpe. He later played a cherry-red Gibson ES-345 guitar.[4]
Sullivan, Ritchie Blackmore and Pete Townshend persuaded Jim Marshall to make better and more affordable amplifiers.[5]
Sitar[edit]
In the 1960s, Sullivan learned to play the sitar, having been inspired by attending a recording session for Indian classical musician Vilayat Khan.[7] Sullivan released an album of Indian-style recordings under his own name, Sitar Beat (1967), and one as "Lord Sitar", Lord Sitar (1968).[8]
He played sitar on a musical interpretation of the Kama Sutra. Sullivan was among a group of English guitarists who adopted the sitar, including George Harrison of the Beatles,[9] whose Esher home Sullivan regularly visited to practise on the instrument. Throughout this period, Sullivan studied formally with Nazir Jairazbhoy and, until 1969, he all but abandoned guitar in favour of the sitar.[7] Together with Harrison, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and Shawn Phillips, he was among the most dedicated of the many rock guitarists who embraced the instrument during the 1960s.[10]