ELISHA BLUE
Elisha Blue, was one of the best blues guitar players of our time & his loss to the whole world and to the Blues school of musicianship leaves a huge void in the development & outreach of this genre. He was born in Philadelphia, USA where he was made a ward of state until 18. He started playing the guitar at the age of 12 & at 13 he hitch-hiked across the USA and headed straight for Haight Ashbury in California, the centre of the flower power hippie movement and beat generation of San Francisco. With his Epiphone under his arm he lived & played there for 2 years, honing his craft. In 1990 he made is way to the UK
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Elisha was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Germantown where he was made ward of court until he was 16. At 17 he slipped off a Greyhound bus that was destined for Philadelphia and headed for downtown Chicago. There he started playing with Blues artists ie: John Little John, Koko Taylor, Sunnyland Slim, Albert Collins, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Carey & Lurrie Bell.
At 19 went back to LA to play guitar in clubs all over LA until he was 20 and then joined Carey & Lurrie Bell; once again in Chicago. He toured Europe in 1982 with Carey & Lurrie Bell as part of the American Folk Blues Festival and featured on the live album, produced by Lippman and Rau. Blue was also featured on the Chicago Young Blues Generation live compliation from the same tour. Part of this tour was aired on German TV under the title ‘Sons of the Blues’ “Going on Main Street” (L&R Records) was also recorded that year. Blue played on all the tracks.
Carey & Lurrie Bell released an album in 1994 called ‘Son of a Gun’ on the Rooster Records label and Elisha played guitar on every track.
In Jan 1985 Elisha played live on his 12 string acoustic guitar on a Virgin Airlines transatlantic flight in exchange for his ticket to the UK. He started busking in Covent Garden in Jan 1985, but had to leave the UK due to the one month visa period and went to Amsterdam. A month later he returned for a six month period and quickly settled in to the UK music scene. He played at the Town and Country Club supporting Johnny & Buddy Guy & Junior Wells with Gus Isadore (ex Thin Lizzy & Seal’s song co-writer of Kiss for a Rose), Jerome Rimson (ex Bass for Thin Lizzy) & Stretch on the drums. He then moved back to Amsterdam for a short while and was called over to Berlin to record with ‘Guitar Crusher’ on the Poolmuzikproduction label.
In 1990 Elisha moved to the UK to start a family and in 1991 teamed up with Andrew Roachford to play on the album ‘Get Ready’ released by Columbia.
In 1993 he played at Wembley backing E17 at the ‘Smash Hits Winner’s Party’ hosted by Will Smith. He was also the guitarist in an early version of Skunk Anansie band called ‘Mam Wild’.
Throughout the late 90’s Elisha toured with Andrew Roachford (now lead singer for Mike and the Mechanics) in the UK, Europe and Australia.
Elisha joined Rooftop Records London in 2014 and has written & recorded songs for the past 6 years. He has gigged in Italy, Germany, France, Russia, New York & Philadelphia and all across the UK showcasing his unique Chicago Blues adaptation of old Blues classics. He has also recorded half a dozen of his own Acoustic songs which are released on all platforms through Rooftop Records London which are “Works of Beauty” in the words of Andrew Roachford. In addition he has recorded a handful of songs which show his huge diversity of musicianship and these are due for release in 2021. He has collaborated with other singersong writers like Andrew Roachford, Michael Barnes, Tomi Saario, Carl Falck and Rick James. He has re-united with his beautiful 3 daughters & finally found his mother after 62 years, but will never actually meet her. Sadly he passed away on 29th April 2020 after struggling with failing health despite his self isolation during Covid_19. He will be sadly missed & I for one learned so much about music from him. I will miss the studio sessions, the song writing & production & just hanging out with a guitar laughing & telling stories. Go quietly towards the light my friend ( Turn up the volume full blast when you get there in true blue style) - Carl Falck