John Baldry appearing with the Brian Auger Trinity in 1965. (Look out for Rod Stewart and Julie Driscoll on backing vocals!)
Six foot seven inches in height, it was inevitable that John Baldry should be given the nickname ‘Long John’. However, he was not only an imposing physical figure, but will always be remembered as one of the leading musicians in the British Blues movement of the early Sixties. He was also a great talent-spotter, working with the likes of Rod Stewart and Elton John well before they become stars in their own right. In 1962, he performed on ‘R&B From The Marquee’, which is considered to be the first British Blues album, and the same year, the Rolling Stones made their first public appearance under that band name opening for Baldry at the Marquee. The Beatles invited him to appear in their first worldwide TV special, ‘Around The World With The Beatles’, in 1964 and he enjoyed his only UK No. 1 hit single with ‘Let The Heartaches Begin’ in 1967. In the early Eighties, he emigrated to Canada, where he continued to work as a singer and as a voiceover artist and where he died in July 2005, following a chest infection.