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29 Oct 08 - 03:55 PM (#2479248) Subject: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Philly Folk Addict Years ago we liked a folk-singer named Major Wiley. He played clubs in the Village and did some acting/TV too. He was at Gerdes Folk City a lot in the late 1960's and 70's and then he disappeared. He played there when Dominic Chianese was M.C.(he went on to the Sopranos HBO series). |
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30 Oct 08 - 09:35 AM (#2479842) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Stefan Wirz good question - here's one who also would like to know ... in the meantime listen to some sound clips on my MW discography at http://www.wirz.de/music/wiley_m.htm |
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07 Aug 10 - 07:12 PM (#2960306) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST London |
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07 Aug 10 - 07:29 PM (#2960310) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Matthew Edwards Well it is good to know Major Wiley is still around although some more specific information would be good. He wrote the lyrics to a song Right, Wrong or Ready which Karen Dalton recorded, but I'd like to know a lot more about his story. Matthew |
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08 Aug 10 - 12:06 AM (#2960399) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Art Thieme Jeez, it's been 50 years since I thought of him. He was gigging around Chicago in the early 1960s I think it was. I liked him and his style a lot. His version of "Dink's Song" was pretty special as I recall. Good memories! Art Thieme |
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12 Sep 10 - 10:56 PM (#2985486) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,Andrea I knew him in Greenwich Village in the mid 60s ... would love to know where he is now ... |
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13 Sep 10 - 06:41 PM (#2986129) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Tug the Cox he was a regular at Streatham ( London)in the early 70's When we had Sonny Terry and brownie mcGhee at Phillippa Fawcett College, he came along and persuaded us to let him open the show for two bottles of lager...sang proud mary, also 'offered' for a fee to open a folk concert we were running later in the year featuring a number of local acts....Tight like That, Puffing Billy, Brixton Bert. |
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14 Sep 10 - 04:19 AM (#2986380) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Bonnie Shaljean There's a similar thread here which asks the same question, though no answers I'm afraid - Lyr Req: Right, Wrong or Ready (Major Wiley) http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=32118#2973735 CLONES: Any hope of linking these two with a "Related threads" clickie at the top? |
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21 May 11 - 05:16 PM (#3158358) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,mb He used to sing at "Fiction"(long gone) in Northcote Road, Battersea in the nineties. Wizz Jones ran a session there on Mondays |
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27 Jun 11 - 10:00 PM (#3177519) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,fiddlemage I met him in the Midwest on the folk circuit, knew him in New York in middle 60s. Good guy, and I liked his music. I wish him well. |
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30 Jun 11 - 12:01 AM (#3178851) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Lynn Gold major wiley was a friend years ago when were both singing at Gerde's Folk City...sensitive, gifted, he could belt out blues with Brownie and Sonny, then sing an ancient Irish ballad as traditionally as someone born to the sod...beautifully...he was kind and generous with a keen intelligence...hope someone can track him down... |
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25 Jul 11 - 10:58 AM (#3194945) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,Stephen in Joburg Hello. Major was married to my sister for whom he wrote Black Eyed Susan. He has two grown up children who are talented and socially aware. Major still lives in London, and I hear occassionally plays and sings for friends and when pushed commercially. But you are right. He had a most wonderful voice, that could be both tender (heartbreakingly so), and also as powerful as an old steam engine! I also loved his guitar work (he kindly showed me a couple of great tricks!) and especially his very special finger strumming style. I wonder if others remember it? I haven't seen him since emigrating years ago, but I bet he can still sing a mean song. |
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28 Jul 11 - 09:22 AM (#3197247) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,Ali in Sydney I knew Major in London in the early 80's. He was a friend of actor Tim Morand. Lovely person and someone I have thought about lots since I left england. The last thing we talked about was the fact that I run away from everything. Which of course I did! I tried to find him when I went back to England in 1993 but failed. If anyone can put me in touch I would be very grateful! |
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21 Sep 11 - 12:14 PM (#3226641) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,Douglas Nicholas I was a big fan in the early to mid-1960s in Greenwich Village, NYC. Fred Neil, Hoyt Axton, Major Wiley, all passing the basket. Below is a poem I wrote about Major, and about memory. The Singer Major Wiley Along the sidewalks of West Third Street, over the irregular plates and ridges of dark gray ice clamped to the frozen concrete, a wind cold to the point of pain blew hissing veils of granular snow to tick against the glass in the door, to pile in the corners of the storefront window of the Café Elysée, candle-haunted, cinnamon-scented, chiming with the click and clink of china in the shadows; it is dead now these twenty years There I would hear the singer Major Wiley, trim and broad-shouldered, with the moderate stature, the moon face of West African ancestors; he sang the old traditional songs in a rough pale tenor. He carried a big steel-strung Chicago-made guitar, and he played it in a style at once robust and untutored. To everything he sang he brought an urgent intensity: songs of love, songs about badmen, the sour laments of slavery days. A basket was passed for coins; that café was too poor to pay its singers Late in the evening, as the snow built up on the windows, as the wicks sailed away on luminous clear lakes of wax, he grew tired; the songs grew more quiet and more somber. If I had wings, he said, like Noah's dove, and he said, I would fly up this river to the one I love, and he played a little decorative curl of notes round the end of the line, a little filigree of sound, and all the time the snow tapping: Let me in. Ah, you all know that old song, where the melody descends in the third line like a three-tiered waterfall, to plunge beneath a minor chord and there his voice like a pike in a black mountain pool moved through bitter regret, hopeless longing I see him, I see him still before my eye, young and confident, sturdy as a post, centered in the splash of light, quick-fingered, thick-throated, singing with a voice like silvered gravel Tell me, who among you, given those wings, would not fly back to the ones you love, though you left them oh so far upstream? |
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21 Sep 11 - 12:18 PM (#3226642) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,Douglas Nicholas Well, the previous post lost the line breaks; this one I think will retain the correct breaks, but the hyphens are weird. The Singer Major Wiley Along the sidewalks of West Third Street, over the irregular plates and ridges of dark gray ice clamped to the frozen concrete, a wind cold to the point of pain blew hissing veils of granular snow to tick against the glass in the door, to pile in the corners of the storefront window of the Café Elysée, candle-haunted, cinnamon-scented, chiming with the click and clink of china in the shadows; it is dead now these twenty years There I would hear the singer Major Wiley, trim and broad-shouldered, with the moderate stature, the moon face of West African ancestors; he sang the old traditional songs in a rough pale tenor. He carried a big steel-strung Chicago-made guitar, and he played it in a style at once robust and untutored. To everything he sang he brought an urgent intensity: songs of love, songs about badmen, the sour laments of slavery days. A basket was passed for coins; that café was too poor to pay its singers Late in the evening, as the snow built up on the windows, as the wicks sailed away on luminous clear lakes of wax, he grew tired; the songs grew more quiet and more somber. If I had wings, he said, like Noah's dove, and he said, I would fly up this river to the one I love, and he played a little decorative curl of notes round the end of the line, a little filigree of sound, and all the time the snow tapping: Let me in. Ah, you all know that old song, where the melody descends in the third line like a three-tiered waterfall, to plunge beneath a minor chord and there his voice like a pike in a black mountain pool moved through bitter regret, hopeless longing I see him, I see him still before my eye, young and confident, sturdy as a post, centered in the splash of light, quick-fingered, thick-throated, singing with a voice like silvered gravel Tell me, who among you, given those wings, would not fly back to the ones you love, though you left them oh so far upstream? |
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24 Nov 11 - 06:44 AM (#3262581) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,Dave Sugarbeet Courtesy of my good friend Mr Patrick Carroll (a lifelong friend of Major): "Major Wiley: International Bluesman of Mystery. In fact, Major lives - as he has done for 30-odd years - in the Shepherds Bush area of West London. (I crashed in his flat earlier this month.) Over that time he has continued to sing, play, write and perform. He has also worked as an actor in films, on stage with the Royal National Theatre, and on television. He has also given occasional guitar tutorials. His later recordings have generally been restricted to demos and promotional discs of his own material. An important recent exception is his appearance as vocalist on the CD "Meet The Beet" (MTBCD02) as a guest member of Dave Sugarbeet's Last Gasp Blues Band fronted by the cult virtuoso blues violinist Dave Sugarbeet. Major's contributions include his own song "I Was Sick But Now I'm Ill"; renditions of Robert Johnson's "When You've Got A Good Friend" and Dino Valente's "Let's Get Together"; and a duet with singer/guitarist Steve Mole on "Corinna Corinna". Those interested in knowing a little more about Major's background are directed to the website http://www.patrickcarroll.co.uk particularly to chapter 3 (Dropout) and chapter 6 (South With the Italians) of the Memoir category. The concluding two chapters of this section of Notes of a Footnote will also feature Major prominently. Further, should interested parties happen to be in West Cornwall (U.K. not upstate New York) toward the end of February next year) Major is scheduled to make some appearances". |
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23 Mar 12 - 01:12 PM (#3327741) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST Major taught me to play the blues, I love him like a brother. There needs to be a reunion, too bad Jimmy left us (died). Connect Major, I miss you. Gene |
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26 Jun 12 - 06:17 PM (#3368381) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST Hey, Major. think of you sometimes and remember fun we shared. Still have my record. Love to hear that you're ok. As you used to say, I'm still here, if you're still there! love, Ba xx |
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29 Jul 12 - 05:32 PM (#3383363) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST I'm currently sat in a pub in St. ives listening to Major giving a live gig. He is very good, and seems like a really nice guy. |
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07 Oct 12 - 06:39 AM (#3415783) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST It's a Major Wiley love fest.........Beautiful man. Just plain beautiful inside and out. I've been looking for him ever since I made the mistake of moving to NY back at the end of the 70s. We used to sing together back in Trent Park days. Lost contact around '79-'80. Back then I was Helena Lachter. Now and again, I get back to England to see my mum. She's 93. She used to love Major. I was there a few weeks ago. Would love to hook up with him when I'm next over or when he's stateside. I see there's a new youtube - he looks and sounds as wonderful as ever. So good to see. I need to reach him. How do I do this? I miss him. He was a great friend. Enough years have passed. Helena helenashayer@yahoo.com |
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07 Oct 12 - 09:17 PM (#3416094) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,Guest - Jim Younger I remember Major Wiley - a great singer, player, and performer. I would love to see him at a gig some time soon. |
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14 Sep 13 - 03:11 AM (#3558812) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,timor Am filming with Major Wiley: International Bluesman of Mystery, tomorrow. More info to follow |
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25 Mar 16 - 07:38 AM (#3781051) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,susan faulkner-wiley . March 25th 2016 . Major has been very sick and passed away today ! Feeling sad ! Xxx |
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26 Mar 16 - 06:54 AM (#3781385) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Bonnie Shaljean I am so sorry to hear this. I think we need a separate Obit thread. May he rest in peace. |
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26 Mar 16 - 05:01 PM (#3781550) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,Patrick Carroll I am deeply grieved to hear of Major's death. We were friends for over 50 years from the time in our teens when, as he used to say, we went to different schools together, to the more recent days when he came and played and recorded and stayed with me and my wife in Cornwall. A multitude of thoughts and memories, many of them concerning Susan, Jacob, India and his grandchildren who I've never met. Some of these recollections are included on the website www.patrickcarroll.co.uk particularly in the memoir posts 'Dropout', Back in Bohemia' and 'Good Old Music' and the recent post 'Dublin 50 Years On.' Apart from my immediate families no one has had a greater and more lasting influence on my life than Major Wiley. I loved him dearly. |
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27 Mar 16 - 01:19 PM (#3781686) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Charmion I hope when I pop my clogs people say such nice things about me. Major Wiley must have been a really good guy. |
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13 Apr 16 - 03:23 AM (#3785030) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST Major Wiley was my Father. Assuring and wonderful to read such admiring and loving comments. My email is indiafw@hotmail.co.uk if you wish to get in touch or attend his funeral on Monday 18th April 2016 in West London India |
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31 May 16 - 10:21 PM (#3793119) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST I am so sorry for your loss and that I just learned about Major's death today. I knew him back in the day from 1968-70 as a friend, mentor and fellow musician nine years my senior. Major always had some insightful words of wisdom to share about any given situation I was facing. Major and I met as actors on the set of Robert Downey, Sr.'s first feature "Putney Swope." I went on to back him up on bass guitar and acoustic lead guitar for the next year and a half playing clubs like Gerde's Folk City in the Village, Cafe Espresso and Four Corners in Woodstock, a radio commercial score and movie score, both composed by Major. I met my wife while on the way to Major's June 29, 1970 recording session after which he expatriated to the British Isles. Major was and still is a major influence on my life. |
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20 Oct 16 - 09:08 PM (#3815775) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST I'm Major Wileys son, Jake major Wiley. Thanks for the comments it's been great reading them. I really miss my Dad a lot. He was not the best father or husband by far, but he was my Dad and one of a kind and had a big part in how and what I've become today. So thank you Major and Susan Wiley, and thank you all for your kind words. One love, from the next generation Jake Major Wiley xx peace This feed has made my day !!! Thank you people xxxx |
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03 Aug 18 - 04:41 PM (#3941360) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST Mick o Donnell knew Major when he played in the Embankment in Dublin in the 70s great guy |
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10 Mar 19 - 03:55 AM (#3981212) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: GUEST,Alan White I have only just found this thread. In the 1970's Major Wiley played a floor spot at a folk club where I was MC. Two songs from that set survive on tape (now sound files) - Yankee Lady and - I think it's called - Baby I'm Yours. My IPod played them on shuffle last Wednesday. I remember the set as though it were yesterday. He was electric. Very sad to read he has died. |
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10 Mar 19 - 04:50 AM (#3981220) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Bonnie Shaljean I love the way this thread pops up from time to time, with people's fond recollections. I remember Major from the period the above poster is talking about. Alan, what was the club, and where? Thanks for writing - There are some other threads on Major - I'm going to post their links here in a minute, and also ask Joe if they can all be combined into one. |
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10 Mar 19 - 05:51 AM (#3981229) Subject: RE: Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? From: Bonnie Shaljean The blue-clickifier isn't playing ball, so I can't get these to hyperlink, which means a copy-&-paste job. Patrick Carroll's recollections of Major on his own blog are also well worth reading, and serve as a fine memorial. I learned there that 5th February 2019 would have been Major's 77th birthday. He's sadly missed by a lot of folks all around the world. R.I.P. Obit: Major Wiley, 25th March 2016 https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=159580 Lyr Req: Right, Wrong or Ready (Major Wiley) https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=32118 Major Wiley https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=66200 [For the sake of completion, this thread] Does anyone know where Major Wiley is? https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=115722 Patrick Carroll Remembers Major Wiley: https://www.patrickcarroll.co.uk/major-wiley/ https://www.patrickcarroll.co.uk/notes-of-a-footnote-9-back-in-bohemia/ https://www.patrickcarroll.co.uk/notes-of-a-footnote-10-good-old-music/ https://www.patrickcarroll.co.uk/dublin-50-years-on/ https://www.patrickcarroll.co.uk/notes-of-a-footnote-3-dropout/ |