The Blues Band is a British blues band formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and vocalist/slide guitarist Dave Kelly, who had previously played with the John Dummer Blues Band, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker. The band’s first line-up also included bassist Gary Fletcher, guitarist Tom McGuinness (also of Manfred Mann) and drummer Hughie Flint, (the two had previously formed McGuinness Flint). In 1982 Flint left and was replaced by former Family drummer Rob Townsend.
Their first album The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album, a mixture of blues standards and original songs featured the Jones and McGuinness composition "Come On In" and their long-standing stage favourite "Flatfoot Sam". This album initially attracted no interest from major record companies, so the band pressed a limited run of 3,000, hand-stamped their logo on the cardboard sleeve and signed them all. After unqualified endorsement from BBC Radio 1 presenter Simon Bates and others, media interest resulted in a recording contract with Arista Records, who released the album under the same title.
They briefly disbanded later that year after recording a live album Bye Bye Blues (1983), but reformed soon afterwards. In the new millennium they recorded albums such as Stepping Out (2002) and Thank You Brother Ray (2004), which paid tribute to Ray Charles. Now in their thirty second year as a band, they still perform across Europe with the same line-up.
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