The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #132214 Message #2989676
Posted By: MikeL2
19-Sep-10 - 09:48 AM
Thread Name: What If Lonnie Donegan had not existed?
Subject: RE: What If Lonnie Donegan had not existed?
Hi
I agree with the guys that were influenced by Lonnie's success with Chris Barber.
Lonnie brought to me music that I had never heard before and like many others at the time I was apt to copy him and go out in public and sing and play "his" material.
The thing for me that was different was that until then audiences were also influenced by Lonnie and crowded into the pubs and clubs to listen to people like us play.
Many years later I met Lonnie when he returned to my home town. Unknown to me Lonnie had lived in the town when he was evacuated during the war and lived there for some years.
He returned to do a charity show for the Mayor's charity because husband of the family he lived with was made mayor.
We played on the same bill but we were pale imitations of Lonnie.
He talked with us and encouraged us to continue and gave us some tips about presentation etc etc.
As others have said here on stage he had a presence that endeared him to the audience and was first and foremost a musician and entertainer.
I know many people who only bought guitars because of the emergence of Lonnie on the British music scene.
In the early days I enjoyed most of his hits eg Cumberland Gap etc etc but latterly I preferred him with more mellow type songs like Nobody's Child and Seven Golden Daffodils.
He is badly missed on the music scene.
cheers
MikeL2