Eric Bibb Informations

Eric Charles Bibb (born August 16, 1951) is an American-born blues singer and songwriter.

Bibb's father, Leon, was a musical theatre singer, who made a name for himself as part of the 1960s New York folk scene; his uncle was the jazz pianist and composer John Lewis, of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Family friends included Pete Seeger, and actor/singer/activist Paul Robeson, Bibb's godfather.

He was given his first steel-string acoustic guitar at age seven. Growing up surrounded by talent, he recalls a childhood conversation with Bob Dylan, who, on the subject of guitar playing, advised the 11-year-old Bibb to "Keep it simple, forget all that fancy stuff" (as recounted in "The Transatlantic Sessions 5" program and DVD from the BBC).

Bibb remembers from his early teen years:

When Bibb was 16 years old, his father invited him to play guitar in the house band for his TV talent show Someone New. Bill Lee, who played bass in this band, later appeared on Bibb's albums Me To You and Friends. In 1969, Bibb played guitar for the Negro Ensemble Company at St. Mark's Place in New York.

He went on to study psychology and Russian at Columbia University, but did not finish these studies. The next year, aged 19, he left for Paris, where he met guitarist Mickey Baker who focused his interest on blues guitar.

Bibb moved to Stockholm, where he immersed himself in pre-war blues and the newly discovered world music scene, while he continued to write and perform. Good Stuff was released in 1997 on Opus 3 and the American label Earthbeat. Bibb signed to the British-based Code Blue label, but only released one album, Me to You, featuring appearances from some of his personal heroes, Pops and Mavis Staples, and Taj Mahal. This was followed by tours of the UK, US, Canada, France, Sweden and Germany.

In the late 1990s Bibb joined forces with his then manager Alan Robinson to form Manhaton Records in Britain. The albums Home to Me (1999), Roadworks (2000) and Painting Signs (2001) followed, as did the 2005 releases for Opus 3, Just Like Love and Spirit and the Blues (Hybrid SACD of 1999 Earthbeat release). After that, he made A Family Affair (2002) with his father, Leon Bibb. This was followed by Natural Light, then Friends, which contained 15 tracks featuring Bibb duetting with friends and musicians he had met on his travels such as Taj Mahal, Odetta, Charlie Musselwhite, Guy Davis, Mamadou Diabate and Djelimady Toukara.

In 2004, Eric Bibb released Friends as his debut release under Telarc International Corporation. Bibb remained with Telarc Records from 2004 until 2011, releasing several additional albums including, A Ship Called Love in 2005, Diamond Days in 2007, and Spirit I Am in 2008. He released Booker's Guitar in January 2010 with music channeled from the Delta guitar master himself, Booker White, also known as Bukka White. In November 2011, Bibb signed to Stony Plain Records.In 2018, Bibb opened for George Benson on his UK tour.

Bibb received Grammy nominations for Shakin' a Tailfeather in 1997 and Migration Blues in 2017.He has been nominated for several Blues Music Awards (formerly known as the W.C. Handy Awards). He won the award for Acoustic Artist of the Year in 2012 and 2013. In 2017 he won the award for Acoustic Album of the Year for The Happiest Man in the World.

Eric Bibb, Ale Möller, Knut Reiersrud, Aly Bain etc: "Jazz At The Berlin Philharmonic - Celtic Roots" (ACT, 2016)

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