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Bert Weedon

 
Artist: Bert Weedon
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists

Followers:

Gary Potter

Worked With:

Ted Heath Big Band, Mantovani, BBC Big Band, The Squadronaires, Laurie London, Billy Fury, Tommy Steele, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Judy Garland
  • Born: May 10, 1920, East Ham, London, England
  • Active: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s
  • Genres: Rock
  • Instrument: Guitar
  • Representative Albums: "King Size Guitar/Honky Tonk Guitar", "The Very Best of Bert Weedon", "Best of the EMI Years

Biography

One of the stumbling blocks to the growth of rock & roll in England during the 1950s, apart from the larger cultural differences with America, lay in the fact that the country had no popular guitar heroes, and no jazz or blues tradition to draw on from which one could easily emerge. The only exception to this rule was Bert Weedon, a guitar instrumentalist whose virtuoso playing on the electric instrument constituted just about the only socially acceptable incarnation of the instrument for many adults. His pop-instrumental music, for all of its virtuosity, was too tame to attract many teens who were listening to Lonnie Donegan, but the classically-trained guitarist's command of the instrument and the offer of a guitar study course in his name was a way in for kids who weren't ready to start mimicking Scotty Moore or Buddy Holly, much less Les Paul, Charlie Christian, or Django Reinhardt, to get to know the instrument. Musically, he was the guitarist equivalent to Roger Williams or Ferrante & Teicher, and by the end of the 1950s, rock & roll had produced its own guitar heroes in the Shadows' Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, and other axemen in various bands who followed, not to mention session man Big Jim Sullivan. Weedon, however, remains a sentimental favorite and a perennially popular figure in England, and was still recording guitar-driven instrumental versions of Broadway and Hollywood hits in the 1990s. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Bert Weedon
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
This article is about the musician. For the guitar, see Gibson Les Paul.
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Bert Weedon
Born 10 May 1920 (1920-05-10) (age 89)
East Ham, Essex, England
Genres Jazz, blues
Occupations Musician, guitarist, composer
Instruments Guitar
Years active 1959 – present
Website http://www.bertweedon.com

Bert Weedon OBE (born 10 May 1920, East Ham, Essex, now Greater London) was an English guitarist and composer during the 1950s and 1960s.

Contents

Biography

Weedon began learning the guitar at twelve. The first British guitarist in the UK Singles Chart, with "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" in 1959, he was an influence on many stars, including Eric Clapton, Brian May, Mike Oldfield, The Shadows and The Beatles.[citation needed]

As well as his hits and TV appearances at a crucial time in modern British music history, his best-known contribution to British guitar style is his tutorial guide Play in a Day, which many stars claim was a major influence on their learning and playing.

His playing style focuses on both rhythm and melody, and is itself influenced by the jazz guitarists of the 1950s, notably Les Paul. Weedon placed a lot of emphasis on control of tone, and wanted to make the guitar the star of his music. He won, and his name was synonymous with the guitar for a generation of young music fans.[citation needed]

Modest, gentle and unassuming, he is a far cry from the modern guitar hero. The later 1960s generation of underground rock performers satirised him as too mainstream, the Bonzo Dog Band singing the line "We are normal and we dig Bert Weedon" in 1968.

Married to Maggie Weedon, he has two sons, Lionel and Geoffrey, and nine grandchildren.

A Water Rat, he is highly active in charity work and fundraising, especially for children and the disabled, and was elected King Rat in 1992. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001 for his services to entertainment and charities.

His playing style is best known nowadays through the music of The Shadows, especially Hank Marvin.

Selected discography

Releases on the Top Rank label

Albums

  • BUY026 Kingsize Guitar
  • 35/101 Honky Tonk Guitar

Singles

  • JAR117 "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" / "Bert's Boogie" 7"/78
  • JAR121 "Sing Little Birdie-Quickstep" / "The Lady is a Tramp-Quickstep" 7"/78
  • JAR122 "Petite Fleur-Slow Foxtrot" / "My Happiness-Slow Foxtrot" 7"/78
  • JAR123 "Charmaine-Waltz" / "It's Time to Say Goodnight-Waltz" 7"/78
  • JAR136 "Teenage Guitar" / "Blue Guitar" 7"/78
  • JAR210 "Jealousy-Tango / "Tango Tango" 7"/78
  • JAR211 "Stardust-Slow Foxtrot" / "Summertime-Slow Foxtrot" 7"/78
  • JAR221 "Nashville Boogie" / "King Size Guitar" 7"/78
  • JAR300 "Big Beat Boogie" / "Theme from a Summer Place" 7"
  • JAR360 "Twelfth Street Rag" / "Querida" 7" (As Bert Weedon & His Honky Tonk Guitar)
  • JAR415 "Apache" / "Lonely Guitar" 7"
  • JAR517 "Sorry Robbie" / "Easy Beat" 7"
  • JAR537 "Ginchy" / "Yearning" 7"
  • JAR559 "Mr Guitar" / "Eclipse" 7"
  • JAR582 "Ghost Train" / "Fury" 7"
  • JKP3008 Weedon Winners EP

[1]

References

  1. ^ link Vinylnet.co.uk

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 
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