Listen to the Cyril Davies R&B All-Stars’ first single, ‘Country Line Special’/'Chicago Calling’:
Critics have hailed the Cyril Davies R&B All-Stars as the best British blues band of the early Sixties after the Rolling Stones. The line-up was largely poached from Screaming Lord Sutch’s Savages in 1962 by Leadbelly-inspired harp player/singer Davies after he left Blues Incorporated, a blues group he’d founded with Alexis Korner, and the All-Stars took over the Marquee’s prestigious Thursday night slot on 3rd January 1963. After a label bidding war, they were signed to Pye and toured on pop packages with the likes of Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas and Gerry & the Pacemakers. But sadly, towards the end of the year, Davies started to suffer from pleurisy and he died, aged 31, on 7th January 1964 from endocarditis (inflammation of the heart). However, despite the briefness of his career, numerous musicians, including Rod Stewart, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Jimmy Page, continue to acknowledge the important role Davies played in popularising American style blues in the UK.