blues in britain

"Papa George is a great songwriter and has a lovely voice; he is a skilled guitarist and a really pleasant person; just the sort of person that Fran Leslie loves to have round to Blues in Britain for lunch to tell his story. Photos by Sam Hare.

My first experience of music was hearing my mother, who was always singing around the house, in Greek (my parents are Greek Cypriots who met each other in London). My mum had a very expressive voice.

By the time I was eight/nine years old, I had heard people like Ray Charles and Elvis Presley and I really liked their sound. And so, in 1961, when my parents took us on holiday to the Isle of Wight, I performed "Lovesick Blues" on stage in a talent competition. I came second and I won a toy truck.

Once The Beatles hit the scene I wanted to play guitar. My folks bought me an electric Futurama for £16. I was hooked. At school I was drawing the shapes of guitars in my exercise books! I wanted to learn, not maths, but everything about guitars. I remember seeing photographs of John Lennon holding down a bar chord and I would mimic the shape of his fingers. My friend also had a guitar and together we learned the basics of a 12-bar blues.

In my teens, I worked part-time selling programmes at the Hammersmith Odeon. I'd see American artists like Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and Ray Charles. They just blew me away! When the American Folk Blues Festivals came to town, people like John Lee Hooker would play there.

In 1973 I was into Hendrix, Rory Gallagher, the whole blues-rock thing. I met this guy, Geoff Stevenson (songwriter/full-time musician). I thought 'Wow, I didn't know you could do that as a job!' By then, I'd learnt my trade making hand-made shoes and boots and was making good money. One night my boss wanted me to stay on and do some overtime, but I told him that I couldn't because I had a gig to do with Geoff. I had a dilemma, my day job or the gig? I chose the gig. I didn't think this would go down too well with my folks, but when I told my mother she said, 'Well, give the music a go and if it doesn't work out, you can always go back to your trade. It's no good waiting until you're sixty years old and regretting that you made the wrong decision".

So I became a full-time musician in 1974. It was so exciting because I was meeting many musicians and songwriters and gigging in lively places, like the "Borsch and Tears", Knightsbridge. There I met Ian Hunt, guitarist/vocalist, and we did a lot of festivals around Europe.

I also formed a rock band, Taxi. Peter Straker (singer) hired Taxi as his backing band to open the show for Tina Turner in 1983, at the Hammersmith Odeon. That was a real buzz. We then headlined The Royal Festival Hall. It was a nice experience to get out on a big stage.

Freddie Mercury used to show up at some of our gigs and, on one occasion, he got up on stage at the Hog's Grunt, Cricklewood and sang "Jail House Rock" with Taxi (captured on video). He was brilliant! People in the audience didn't believe it was Freddie. They thought, 'God, that guy don't 'alf look like Freddie Mercury!"

Then I met Steve Simpson, a happening guitar player and singer. We got on really well and formed The Monday Band. We were playing soul and blues and gigging around the Surrey area.

I went off to the States for six months, in 1985, three months of which I spent in Texas. I had written and recorded some songs and tried to punt them around a bit in New York and LA. I guess I ran out of money and had to get my phone book out to see if I knew anybody I could gig with. A couple of names came up and they happened to be in Texas, so off I went to the "Lone Star State"

I was gigging around Odessa for three months and dug the Stevie Ray Vaughan sound. One night this guy said, 'Hey man, you gigging on Saturday? There's a hundred bucks if you're not gigging, just come along with us!' and I was working with them for a dozen or so gigs. They'd say, 'We got a guitar picker from London, over here!' That gave me a little edge. I had a lot of great times there.

It came to the point when my visa was running out and I had to get back to London. I resumed where I left off, got hooked in with Steve and The Monday Band and also in duo format with Steve. Ian Hunt and I continued our duo partnership too.

The Papa George Band shaped itself around 1986, with Kevin 'Smash' O'Neil on drums and backing vocal, Pete Rees on bass, and I fronted it with guitar and vocals. We were doing a mixture of originals and covers, I'd throw in a couple of Stevie Wonder tunes like "I Wish", or "Living for the City" which worked really well, we put our own treatment on it.

We toured Norway frequently for about three years, where I met one of my favourite bluesmen, Taj Mahal. During the 90s the PGB did a couple of festivals in Sicily. Playing at one of these I noticed a big banner across the stage that read something like Festival Against the Mafia! It made me a little anxious at first, but it turned out to be a really cool festival. Back in the UK we played the Kent Custom Bike Show. As the sun was setting we were playing a slow blues number, "Old Blue Jean Blues", by ZZ Top, there was a real mellow vibe in the air.

I played in Colombia in 94 (having played there several times in the 70s and 80s). I had made many good friends and had some wild times. It was another world and I felt a long way away from the comforts of the west, yet I loved it there. On this visit I captured my feelings on a song called "Runaway Boogie". It's on my solo album and the Best of British Blues 2000 album.

1996 was an interesting year. The Papa George Band recorded a live album, Nite With You. We played the Jarvenpaa Blues Festival (Finland) and I met Matti Nevalainen, maker of the Flying Finn guitar. He enjoyed my playing and asked if I would like to try his guitars. I did and liked them. (He has given me three Flying Finns since then.) In the summer I hooked in with Bobby Tench and together we fronted the Barnes Blues Band, with a twice-monthly residency at the Bull's Head, Barnes. In the autumn Micky Moody and I played the Hell Blues Festival, Norway and the North Bucks Blues Fest, UK. Last year we played the Monaghan Blues Festival, Ireland.

When Micky and I work together we usually have a selection of guitars, setting them up for different styles and tunings. We play a mixture, ranging from rag-time to heavy blues.

The PGB played the Chelsea Blues Festival, in 1999. Gary Moore guested with us. What a great player. That October, in Hawaii, I wrote an instrumental called Aloha Anne. I met lap-steel guitarist, Ken Emerson in Hawaii. A year later Paul Jones interviewed us both on Jazz FM, where we played live. We played Hawaiian and blues styles, including a couple of songs from my solo album Being Free Ain't No Crime, released in December 2000.

Last year I played the Dobrofest, in Slovakia, as a solo artist. There I met and jammed with steel guitarist Bob Brozman, another great player. I was honoured to represent the UK at The Dobro Gala performance. It went out live on satellite TV.

I met John Dopyera Jr., son of the inventor of Resonator guitars (originally from Slovakia). John Dopyera Snr. moved to the States in the 20s and started off National guitars, which were mechanically amplified. I also met John and Patricia of Resound, (UK distributors for Amistar guitars.) They dug my style and have commissioned a "Resounder" (reso-electric) made to my own specifications: silver-plated; engraved with an art deco design. It's being made now in the Czech Republic. I will receive it very soon.

Back in Finland in 2000, I had talked to Matti Nevalainen about my developing interest in resonator guitars, suggesting that he might like to make his first Flying Finn Reso. He has now made me a Papa George model. Last April, he brought over the prototype. I gave it an outing at a recent London Resonator Centre Slide Show in the Union Chapel. It picks really good. I used it in regular tuning. Normally, when I use resonator guitars I use D and G tunings. Matti has improved on this model and made a second one for me, called 'The Black Beauty'. I'm looking forward to receiving it.

Last year I met Marcus Malone at the Cartoon, Croydon. What a fabulous voice he has! He asked me to record two tracks on his album "Walking Shoes", one of which I do a duet with him called "Take It To Heart', which I would like to do on my new album. That's had some air-play on Jazz FM and BBC Radio 2.

Another album I've played on is by Doctor Ika (Grapevine Band), which has just been released. I'm singing on two tracks of his album, one is a modified Robert Johnson track "Crossroads" and the other one is a Dr. Ika composition called "Separate Ways".

I am working on a new PGB album. I have completed a couple of new songs: "The Sun Gonna Shine" (Gospel-ish), and; "Man with the Blues", an up tempo shuffle. I'm also going to re-vamp two tracks from "Nite With You". You can expect to hear both acoustic and electric on the new CD. I hope to have it completed before the end of the year.

Nowadays I have a more dynamic set-up with my band. For my rhythm section I use Sam Kelly, Geoff Dunn, or Darby Todd on drums and Pete Stroud or Pete Rees on bass.

My future plans include the August "Pordenone Blues Fest", near Venice, Italy, plus a return visit to play a few venues, in November. I'm also going to spend some time considering the distribution market.

Last April I did a solo tour in Florida. Drummer,Tom Compton, sat in with me on one of the gigs. He has also worked with the PGB in the past. Tom was working with Johnny Winter, for more than a decade. Tom and I want to set up a US tour with Nathaniel Peterson (bass/vocals), ex- Savoy Brown.

Next year I'll be fifty, so I will have been playing guitar for forty-two years. Whilst I'm playing and singing I am in another world, the adrenaline rush I get still excites me as much as ever. And I get paid for it!