Elvin Bishop
(born October 21, 1942) [1] is an American blues and rock and roll musician and guitarist.
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ELVIN BISHOP TICKETS
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Career
Bishop was born in
Glendale,
California and grew up on a farm near
Elliott,
Iowa. His family moved to
Tulsa,
Oklahoma when he was ten. There he attended
Will Rogers High School. He moved to
Chicago in 1960 after he won a
National Merit Scholarship to the
University of Chicago, where he studied
physics. He met harmonica player
Paul Butterfield in 1963 in the neighborhood of
Hyde Park and joined his blues
band, with whom he remained for five years. Their third
album,
The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw
, takes its name from Bishop's nickname.
In 1968 he went
solo and formed the Elvin Bishop Group, also standing in for
Mike Bloomfield on
The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper
.
In March of 1971, The Elvin Bishop Group and
The Allman Brothers Band co-billed a series of
concerts at
Fillmore East. Bishop joined the Allmans onstage for a rendition of his own song, "Drunken Hearted Boy". Over the years, Bishop has recorded with many other blues artists including
Clifton Chenier and
John Lee Hooker. In late 1975, he played guitar for a couple of tracks on
Bo Diddley's
The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll
album. He
toured with
B. B. King in 1995.
In 1976 Bishop released his most memorable
single, "Fooled Around and Fell In Love", which peaked at #3 in the
U.S. Billboard
Hot 100 chart (and #34 in the UK charts), about his love affair with the late Jenny Villarin, the mother of his late daughter Selina Bishop. The
recording featured
vocalist Mickey Thomas and
drummer Donny Baldwin who both later joined
Jefferson Starship. The song was featured in the 2008
movie,
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
.
Bishop feels that the limitations of his voice have helped his songwriting.
[2]
Bishop appeared at the 1984
Long Beach Blues Festival. In 1988 he signed with
Alligator Records and released
Big Fun
featuring Whit Lehnberg & The Carptones, 1991's
Don't Let the Bossman Get You Down
, 1995's
Ace in the Hole
, 1998's
The Skin I'm In
and 2000's
That's My Partner
, on which he paired with his original Chicago bluesman teacher, Little Smokey Smothers.
Bishop's Alligator Records releases have been consistently well conceived.
[3]
thumb
In 2005, Bishop released his first new
CD in five years,
Gettin' My Groove Back
.
[4] Bishop released his latest album
The Blues Roles On
on September 23, 2008, on Delta Groove Music. He was supported by B. B. King,
Warren Haynes,
Derek Trucks,
George Thorogood,
James Cotton,
Kim Wilson,
Tommy Castro, John Nemeth and Angela Strehli. The album was nominated for a
Grammy Award for
Best Traditional Blues Album. This fall, Elvin will be headlining the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival in Fredericton, NB.
Personal life
Bishop's daughter Selina and ex-wife Jennifer Villarin were murdered in August 2000
[5] by Glenn Taylor Helzer, his brother Justin Helzer, and accomplice Dawn Godman. According to the
Point Reyes Light
newspaper, "Bishop, her mother Jenny Villarin, and a friend of Villarin, James Gamble, were murdered as part of an elaborate scheme to extort $100,000 from elderly
Concord, California residents Ivan and Annette Stineman."
[6]
See also
- List of blues musicians
- List of people from Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Music of Oklahoma
- Southern rock
- Country rock
- List of 1970s one-hit wonders in the United States
- One-hit wonders in the UK
References
- Allmusic biography
- Elvin Bishop Interview
- The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
- Elvin Bishop
- Elvin Bishop's Daughter, Ex-wife Murdered
- Selina Bishop murderer admits she's gulty