I've seen discussions relating to Lonnie's importance in the musical scheme of things.

Can anyone doubt that he was the fountainhead of British pop!? I've even seen some doubts expressed as to his musical competence, and that amazes me (I don't hear any such reservations about the young 'Rollin' Stones' - no Lonnie? No 'Stones'!!). He was SO superior to anything of Brirish origin at the time, that comparison is almost ludicrous. He was a total 'pro' - from his dress and presentation to his choice of musicians and material....

Sometimes I wonder if you 'had to be there' to really understand what he meant to ALL of us who went on to play music for a living. After I saw him in '56 at the Finsbury Park Empire I had no doubt about what I was going to do with my life. Others felt just the same - I did some TV work with George Harrison in '76, and we spent many a long and happy hour discussing guitars, music, and Lonnie in particular. George just loved him, and told tales of queueing to see him, as well as going on fruitless quests for his autograph. I realised that Harrison (the same age as I) had felt the identical emotion as he watched Donegan's performances as I had done.

Before Lonnie, we'd barely heard a flattened 3rd or 5th, or any kind of 'blue note'. Those lyrics he unearthed - 'Lost John', 'Whoa Buck', 'Grand Coulee Dam' and dozens more - can you imagine how they fell on our virgin ears, after all the soppy 'pop' lyrics we'd known?

Listen to 'Gamblin' Man' - that fiery guitar solo (thanks, Jimmy!) and that thunderous drum part - did four guys EVER create such excitement in live theatre with just an old-fashioned house-mic system?

No Donegan? Then there'd have been a totally different musical landscape - on BOTH sides of the Atlantic. We all owe him - big time!

Roger Rettig