Artist Biographies in alphabetical order
(if the name of the band is the person's name, it will be in alphabetical order by last name, if the name of the band is NOT the performers name, it is alphabetically by the first word of the band name.)

RONNIE BAKER BROOKS
Second-generation bluesman Ronnie Baker Brooks is known for his blistering guitar style and powerful vocals. Brooks, son of legendary Alligator Records recording star Lonnie Brooks, was born in Chicago on Jan. 23, 1967. His first opportunity on stage came at the tender age of nine, playing with his father's band at Chicago's famed Pepper's Lounge.
After graduating from Hales Franciscan High School in 1985, Brooks worked briefly as a mail clerk before joining his father's band full-time in 1986. Two years later, his work was featured on his father's album, "Live From Chicago - Bayou Lightning Strikes." He later appeared on another of his father's albums, "Satisfaction Guaranteed," and played on the Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Tour.
During that prestigious tour, Brooks had a chance to play with some true blues legends, including Koko Taylor, Elvin Bishop and Lil' Ed Williams. Since that time, Brooks has been on stage with such giants of the genre as Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and Keb Mo.
In 1992, Brooks made his debut as a solo performer, substituting for his ill father at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The following night, he performed in Memphis, TN, while one of his idols, the great Albert king, watched from backstage. Until he struck out as a solo artist in January of 1989, Brooks opened his Dad's live gigs with a blistering set of his own, and closed each show playing a few acoustic songs with his father.
Brooks recorded his first solo album, "Golddigger" in 1998. The album featured 12 original songs, all composed, arranged and co-produced by Brooks. His father joined him on the track, "Make These Blues Survive," and co-producer Jellybean Johnson is featured on the track, "Must've Been Bought."
The late 1990s brought a great deal of attention and well-deserved recognition to Brooks' work. In 2000 he was nominated for a Blues Music Award by the Blues Foundation in the "Best New Artist" category. His years of hard work dues-paying on stage were starting to pay off.
While his famous father certainly played a major role in getting him established in the business, it was his own natural talent and creativity that put the younger Brooks on the national blues map. His live shows leave eager blues fans in a foot-stomping frenzy, anxious for more.

TINLSEY ELLIS
" Feral blues guitar...non-stop gigging has sharpened his six-string to a
razor's edge...his eloquence dazzles... he achieves pyrotechnics that rival Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton." -- Rolling StoneHard-rocking blues-soaked guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tinsley Ellis will celebrate his return to Alligator Records with his first-ever live CD, LIVE?HIGHWAYMAN. The CD is an Ellis fan's dream-come-true, because as great as he is in the studio, it's the stage where Ellis really fires it up.Ellis' live shows feature extended fretwork filled with melodic and rhythmic experimentation, in the spirit of jam bands like his friends Widespread Panic and The Allman Brothers. Atlanta Magazine declared Ellis ?the most significant blues artist to emerge from Atlanta since Blind Willie McTell.? Since first hitting the national scene with his Alligator Records debut, GEORGIA BLUE, in 1988, Ellis has toured non-stop and continued to release one critically acclaimed album after another. His stellar guitar work, always a staple of his live shows and CDs, is matched by his strong songwriting and powerful, soulful vocals. Tinsley's hometown paper, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, calls his music, "a potent, amazing trip through electric blues-rock."
Ellis made five critically acclaimed albums for Alligator between 1988 and 1997 before recording for the Capricorn and Telarc labels. LIVE -- HIGHWAYMAN is overflowing with over 77 minutes of music, making this the longest single release in Alligator's catalog. Ellis recorded two nights of performances at Chord On Blues in St. Charles, IL, a suburb of Chicago, on March 25 and 26, 2005. At the recording, he burned hotter than ever, taking his band and his audience to spine-chilling heights. Ellis' original songs, extended soloing and heartfelt singing brought his audience to its feet early and kept them shouting and dancing all night long.
Born in Atlanta in 1957, Ellis grew up in southern Florida and first played
guitar at age eight. He found the blues through the backdoor of the British
Invasion bands like The Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream, and The Rolling Stones. He especially loved the Kings ? Freddie, B.B. and Albert ? and spent hours immersing himself in their music. His love for the blues solidified when he was 14. At a B.B. King performance, Tinsley sat mesmerized in the front row. When B.B. broke a string on Lucille, he changed it without missing a beat, and handed the broken string to Ellis. After the show, B.B. came out and talked with fans, further impressing Tinsley with his warmth and down-to-earth attitude. By now Tinsley's fate was sealed; he had to become a blues guitarist. And yes, he still has that string.
Already an accomplished teenaged musician, Ellis left Florida and returned to Atlanta in 1975. He soon joined the Alley Cats, a gritty blues band that
included Preston Hubbard (of Fabulous Thunderbirds fame). In 1981, along with veteran blues singer and harpist Chicago Bob Nelson, Tinsley formed The Heartfixers, a group that would become Atlanta's top-drawing blues band. Upon hearing the band's second release, Live At The Moonshadow (Landslide), The Washington Post declared, ?Tinsley Ellis is a legitimate guitar hero.? After cutting two more Heartfixers albums for Landslide, Cool On It (featuring Tinsley's vocal debut) and Tore Up (with vocals by blues shouter Nappy Brown), Ellis was ready to head out on his own. Ellis sent a copy of the master tape for his solo debut to Bruce Iglauer at Alligator Records. "I had heard Cool On It," recalls Iglauer, " and I was amazed. "I hadn't heard Tinsley before, but he played like the guys with huge international reputations. It wasn't just his raw power; it was his taste and maturity that got to me. It had the power of rock but felt like the blues. I knew I wanted to hear more of this guy." GEORGIA BLUE, Tinsley's first Alligator release, hit an unprepared public by surprise in 1988. Critics and fans quickly agreed that a new and original guitar hero had emerged. Before long, Alligator arranged to reissue COOL ON IT and TORE UP, thus exposing Tinsley's blistering earlier music to a growing fan base. Tinsley's next releases, 1989's FANNING THE FLAMES, 1992's TROUBLE TIME,
1994's STORM WARNING and 1997's FIRE IT UP (produced by the legendary Tom Dowd), solidified Ellis' reputation as a guitar hero with depth and substance.
The Associated Press described Ellis' music as, "A solid heaping of blues?a
mixture of well-written originals and covers all held together with scorching guitar and a big voice to carry his sharply written lyrics."
A move to Capricorn Records in 2000 saw Ellis revisiting his Southern roots with Kingpin. Unfortunately, the label folded soon after the CD's release. In 2002, he joined the Telarc label, producing two well-received albums of soul-drenched blues-rock, Hell Or High Water and The Hard Way. All the while, Ellis never stopped touring. "A musician never got famous staying home," he's quick to note.Ellis has played in all 50 states, as well as Canada, Europe, Australia and South America. Whether he's out with his own band or sharing stages with The Allman Brothers, Robert Cray, Koko Taylor or Widespread Panic, he averages over 150 performances a year, bringing his fast-moving, high-energy, guitar-drenched performances to fans all over the world. Live, there's simply no one better at igniting a crowd, jamming with focus and purpose. LIVE -- HIGHWAYMAN captures Tinsley Ellis' ferocious live power for the very first time.

DAVE HOLE-Australian Slide Guitar Player
Biting electric-slide, banshee squeals and hell-bent fret runs...a jubilant
high-speed showcase" - Rolling Stone
His seven Alligator recordings have earned him critical praise and
enthusiastic fans all over the world. Hole's aggressive, over-the-top slide
playing never fails to bring audiences to their feet and leave them
open-mouthed in amazement. Performance information is as follows:
His last CD, 2003's THE LIVE ONE, was recorded in front of wildly enthusiastic audiences in Dave's hometown of Perth, Australia in 2001 and in his spiritual home of Chicago, Illinois in 2002. THE LIVE ONE captures blistering live performances of songs from throughout Dave's career. And as any fan will attest, there's nothing quite like experiencing the energy and guitar assault of a live Dave Hole performanceDave Hole's love of blues started early. As a young teenager he followed the musical trail of the Rolling Stones, the Animals and Them directly to records by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Jimmy Reed. When he joined his first band in Perth at age 16, Dave recalls "mystifying" people with music they'd never heard before - the blues. But people were even more mystified - and blown away - when Dave discovered the secrets behind the eerie sounds of Waters, Elmore James and Robert Nighthawk came from slipping a small piece of glass or metal over the little finger - a slide. He set out to master the style, but an injury to his little finger forced him to take a rather unusual approach. Instead of sitting on the sidelines waiting for his finger to heal, Dave put the slide on his index finger and hung his hand over the guitar neck, creating a launching pad for a sound and style all his own. When the finger finally healed, Dave continued playing the wrong way for all the right reasons. While it's been just over 10 years since Dave Hole first put himself on the United States musical map, he's actually been playing and performing for 35 years. Born in England in 1948, he moved with his family to Perth, Australia when he was a child. After falling in love with the blues, he wanted to hear more, but because of Perth's isolation it was difficult to find blues records. It was even rarer for a blues artist to perform there, so Dave had to teach himself how to play. At first, only Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix albums were easily available, but with persistence (a trait Dave Hole has in abundance) he got his hands on records by Blind Willie Johnson, Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson and many others. His main teachers - on record - were Robert Johnson, Elmore James and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Hole listened to their recordings over and over, until he knew all of their licks, and he then
developed his own radical instrumental technique.
Beginning in 1974 and throughout the 1980s, Hole was playing steadily around Perth and the country towns of western Australia, only twice venturing to major eastern cities like Sydney and Melbourne. In 1990, the blues magic struck again for Hole when he self-financed and recorded his debut album, SHORT FUSE BLUES, primarily for sale to his fans at his live gigs. Acting on a whim, he mailed a copy of his record to Guitar Player magazine. An April, 1991 review and a July, 1991 feature story launched Hole into the blues stratosphere. Then a copy of the story and the album landed on the desk of Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer, who took a chance by releasing the album and making Dave Hole the label's only overseas signing.
The gamble more than paid off. Critics all over the country heaped mounds of praise on Hole, and many new fans heard Dave on the radio as hundreds of stations spun the disc in their rotations. Even without setting foot on
American soil, Dave's name was being mentioned alongside those of Duane Allman, Ry Cooder and Johnny Winter, taking him from virtual obscurity to international recognition. And it wasn't just the critics who were paying attention. People everywhere were moved, including Metallica's Kirk Hammett, who named Dave Hole as one of his favorite guitarists, saying, "His slide playing kills me."Hole made his debut North American tour in 1993, playing almost 50 shows in nine weeks in every major city in the United States. His next five Alligator albums made Hole a bona fide slide guitar hero. Repeated American tours kept Hole firmly on the radar, satisfying fans' hunger to see him perform live. Billboard exclaimed, "Slide guitar fanatics will have their brains blown out by this Australian fret-melter." Mixing his blistering, over-the-top slide work and supercharged vocals on THE LIVE ONE, Dave continues to place more and more people under his unbreakable blues-rocking spell. But even with a slew of globe-crossing tour dates, can Dave Hole - one guitar player from Perth, Australia - possibly live up to all of this praise? "Yes," said Blues Revue, "he's that good."
ALLIGATOR DISCOGRAPHY:
Short Fuse Blues (1992)
Working Overtime (1993)
Steel On Steel (1995)
Ticket To Chicago (1997)
Under The Spell (1999)
Outside Looking In (2001)
The Live One (2003)

LITTLE CHARLIE & THE NIGHTCATS
Little Charlie & The Nightcats are not new to the scene, nor are they a modern-day revivalist band attempting to recreate classic songs. They are truly originators, not "copycats." Their utter mastery of American roots music, from Chicago blues to Texas swing, is fueled by Baty’s jaw-dropping guitar acrobatics and Estrin’s cutting vocals. 
   Baty first met Estrin in the early 1970s while Baty was a harmonica-playing student at the University of California at Berkeley. Since Estrin was already an accomplished harp player, Baty decided to switch to guitar full-time and the two formed a blues band. After relocating to Sacramento, Baty quickly emerged as a take-no-prisoners, one-of-a-kind guitarist. With the addition of a drummer and a bass player, Little Charlie & The Nightcats were born.
   In 1986 the band sent an unsolicited tape to Alligator Records. Alligator president Bruce Iglauer was so impressed, he flew to Sacramento to see the band perform. The show came off perfectly and the band now had a recording contract. 
   Their debut album, "All The Way Crazy" was released in 1987 and was a huge success. Almost immediately, the band went from playing small Sacramento blues clubs to performing concerts and festivals across the nation and around the world. 
   The bands next six albums, 1988's "Disturbing The Peace", 1989's "The Big Break", 1991's "Captured Live", 1992's "Night Vision", 1995's "Straight Up", and 1998's "Shadow Of The Blues" solidified their reputation as one of the most adventurous and sophisticated blues bands on the planet. Each recording generated rave reviews throughout the blues community. 
   The band’s latest studio effort, "Nine Lives", is the ninth album of their remarkable career. It features 13 original songs, including three blistering instrumentals. As on their previous recordings, they combine unsurpassed musicianship and inventive lyrics with their deep understanding of blues and jazz traditions to produce music that is both technically brilliant and soulfully streetwise. 
   The Associated Press called the album, "Endlessly impressive," and the San Francisco Examiner proclaimed it, "Marvelously entertaining and brilliantly played." High praise indeed, but not surprising given the incredible talents and experience this band has to offer.

BOBBY PARKER
During the 50's Bobby started out by working with the doo-wop group
Otis Williams and the Charms. He played lead guitar with Bo Diddley,
toured with Paul Williams, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Laverne Baker,
Clyde McPhatter, and the Everly Brothers. He also toured with Chuck
Berry, Buddy Holly and Little Richard in late '50s. In 1958 while
working with Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams and playing at the Apollo in
Harlem, he wrote and recorded "Blues Get Off My Shoulder" (recorded on
Vee-Jay label).1960's
In 1961, Bobby relocated to Washington DC and began appearing at all
the major clubs in DC. He recorded "Watch YournStep" (V-Tone label) in 1961 which became a regional hit and was later
covered by Spencer Davis Group, Dr. Feelgood and Santana. "Watch Your
Step" became a hit on British and US R & B charts. In 1968, he toured
England and recorded "It's Hard to be Fair" for the Blue Horizon label.
1970'S-80's
The 70s and 80s found Bobby performing heavily in the Washington DC
area and he became a key figure in the city's blues scene. 
1990's. In 1993, Bobby Parker headlined the Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues
Festival. He recorded his first album, "Bent Out of Shape" for the
Black Top label. In 1995 it was joined by his second album "Shine Me
Up" also on the Black Top label (distributed by Rounder).  Bobby
continues to play weekly in DC clubs and has developed a following of
both old and new blues fans. His powerful guitar licks and superb
songwriting make him one of the most exciting artists around today!
Bobby's show continues to rock the new century. He performs frequently
in the Washington DC area and on tours around the world. His new tunes,
soon to be released are dynamite!
"Bobby Parker is one of the most exciting performers in modern blues."
-All Music Guide to the Blues

JOHNNY RAWLS

Rawls was born in Purvis, Mississippi, in 1951. The son of a mill worker and devoted homemaker, he used to listen to his grandfather play the blues guitar. By the time he was 12 or 13 years old, Rawls was already learning how to play music.
Influenced by soulful vocalists like Jackie Wilson and O.V. Wright, Rawls got his first big opportunity from his high school band director. The instructor was so impressed with Rawls' talent, he asked him to play in his own professional group, a show band that accompanied such stars as Z.Z. Hill, Little Johnny Taylor, Joe Tex, and The Sweet Inspirations when they came through the area. Rawls became a full-fledged professional at an age when most musicians are just beginning to develop their talents.
In 1969, he took a trip to Milwaukee to visit a friend and ended up moving there permanently. The move, however, didn't curtail his career - it just made the road trips a bit longer. In the mid-1970s, Rawls saw a childhood dream come true. He went to work for his old idol, O.V. Wright, as Wright's band director. After Wright died in 1980, Rawls joined Little Johnny Taylor and led his band for several years. Restless to strike out on his own, he eventually began to tour under his own name.
In 1985, he created his own record label (Touch Records) and released an LP entitled "You're the One." Most of the 1980s, however, was still spent on the road - playing his sweet fusion of soul, blues and emotion-laden pop for audiences throughout the south.
Rawls came to the attention of what might be called the "crossover" audience (a mostly white group that gets its blues from CDs and nightclubs rather than black-oriented blues radio) when Willie Cobbs introduced him to Jim O'Neal of Rooster Blues Records. Rawls, along with fellow soul session stalwart L.C. Luckett, accompanied Cobbs on his widely-acclaimed album, "Down To Earth," released on the Rooster label in 1994.
Rawls stayed on with Rooster following that project, working as a studio musician. In 1995, he and Luckett released their own album on the Rooster Blues label, "Can't Sleep At Night" After signing with JSP Records in 1996, Rawls really finally had a chance to showcase his talent on a national level. His debut release, "Here we Go," produced the widespread recognition he so richly deserved. Since then, there's been no looking back for this southern-born bluesman with a soulful flair.
Rawls was recently named 2006 R&B Male Vocalist of the Year by the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame.

BOBBY RADCLIFF
Bobby Radcliff's stinging guitar leads accompanied by strong rhythm, both played simultaneously by Bobby,  coupled with his incredible vocals and hard driving rhythm section make this power trio a show not to be missed. The show achieves high energy mixed with some of the best slow, soulful Blues you've ever heard.
"Busting out of left field is one of the hottest blues stylists on the
current scene. Able to change sound with a single bound, this
super-guitarist stands out from the pack."  Robert Gordon in "Option"
magazine   "Bobby Radcliff is one of the greatest guitar players alive."
Jamie Dell Apa of The Baltimore Blues Society   "Bobby's a fine vocalist as
well, and a force to be reckoned with any way you look at it."  Ruth Brown
on National Public Radio's "Blues Stage"   "His music is drenched in the
primal emotions of pain and anger, not only because of his screaming guitar
but equally because of the naturally gloomy timbre of his voice, which
enables him to wrench feeling out of lyrics without resorting to the
contortions that pass for singing among too many of his peers."  Steve
Hoffman for WDCU-FM, Washington, DC   "An enigmatic personality, this
Washington, DC native is a tough one to pin down. Just when you think you've
got his "West Side" pocket figured out, he drops Hank Ballard's "Twist" on
you and makes it work like a whole new groove."  Dave Hussong for "Vintage
Guitar" magazine   "Bobby Radcliff just may be the greatest blues guitarist
to ever come out of New York City."  Kevin Roe in "Sound Views" magazine
"...one of the most volatile and distinctive blues guitarists working today.
Actually, 'blues' may be too confining a label to describe Radcliff's
music."  Mike Joyce for The Washington Post   "Radcliff is perhaps the
angriest blues guitarist in the East. The New Yorker's axe phrasing is
constricted, even paranoid. At times his crammed, busy notes and screamingly
nervous tone are nearly frightening."  The Boston Phoenix   "...his fingers
are someday going to spontaneously burst into flames during a solo. If you
don't agree that Bobby Radcliff is one of the greatest guitarists walking
the earth today, then you're stupid. So there."  Andy Glass in "The
Musicians' Exchange"   "That guy's a musical Mengele!"  Adam Roth, star of
"Big Daddy Addy's Variety Revue"   "Wow! I doesn't get any hotter than
that!"  John Hammond, Jr.    
 "Electrifying! It's like he's plugged into an electrical socket."  Snooks Eaglin   "Bobby Radcliff plays like a man possessed..."  Andy Glass in "The Musicians' Exchange"   "...like a serrated knife and he slices with abandon..."  "Hard Report"   "...the jolt of a bungee-jump off the 59th Street Bridge."  "downbeat" magazine "...hot-wired...and cutting the air with his testifying vocals."  Ted
Drozdowski in "PULSE!" magazine   "Radcliff's work is intense, explosive,
frantic, tortured and always soulful. In an industry full of copy-cats, he's
the real deal in Blues."  Brandywine Valley Weekly   "Like Doctor
Frankenstein tinkering in his lab... he hits each song with a jolt of
lightning and creates a new life-form..."  Paula Goff in The Allentown
Morning Call   "KILLER is a tidy description... full-throttle badass..."
Ted Drozdowski in "PULSE!" magazine   "... the combination of manic guitar
and distinctive cawing voice with encyclopedic lickology and sledgehammer
delivery..."  Charles Shaar Murray in the "Blues On CD" directory   "...a
biting, wrenching style that's as steely and wiry as it is taut and mean..."
CMJ New Music Report   "...unmercifully aggressive fretwork and, just as
impressively, his quivering vocal delivery... leaves you feeling musically
mugged."  Steve Walbridge in "Blues Revue"   "Radcliff comes on stage and
wipes everybody out."  Bill Holland for The Washington Post    
 
"Radcliff is usually pigeonholed as a blues artist, but
he owes just as much to the 60s soul and funk of James Brown and P-Funk as he does to the Chicago blues of Magic Sam and Buddy Guy. Because he plays with a trio, Radcliff has to handle both the lead and the rhythm duties
himself, and he marries the slashing lead lines of Guy with the choppy
syncopation of Brown's Jimmy Nolan."  Geoffrey Himes for The Washington Post "...a range of blues influences from his first hero, Magic Sam, through
B.B.King, Buddy Guy, and Lightnin' Hopkins. But the tense, articulate
chicken-pickin' of Don Rich (Buck Owens' longtime sideman) and the rounded tones of Scotty Moore are present also, as well as the strains of late-60s soul."  Dan Daley for "Musician" magazine   "I'm hearing rockabilly and his soloing is unabashedly Cowboy. Radcliff plays the whole instrument. His nimble fingerings and bent chords are uplifting as he moves swiftly through an improvisation; he's absorbed all these influences, yet remained in the blues tradition."  Peter Pullman in "The Wire" magazine   "...churning out chunky, Venturesque minor chords while simultaneously spinning off manic, white-hot bursts of barely controlled single-note blues and surf licks." Kevin Roe in "Sound Views magazine   "He switches between lead and rhythm with an unnatural fluidity that allows him to play both keyboard and horn parts..."  Mark Edmunds for The Boston Phoenix   "...mixing sharply clipped ninth chords and other funk and boogie grooves with mercurial single-note runs that radiated a luster off their own... Radcliff also sang with the assurance and conviction that few of his peers can match."  Mike Joyce for The Washington Post   "The firebrand's Fender shudders, dithers, and fulminates in a rough, deep-seated ecstasy too seldom encountered in this age of superficial, smoke-and-verbiage blues."  "downbeat" magazine   "His colorful tenor packs a soulful wallop, while his electric guitar solos snarl and squeal with robust intensity that rarely sacrifices substance for flash."  Dave Okamoto for The St.Petersburg Times   "Bobby ain't no porch-puppy! He can run with the big dogs anytime."  Earl King

ROOMFUL OF BLUES
The horn-fueled, jumping, swinging, award-winning band, Roomful of Blues, will celebrate the release of its new Alligator CD, STANDING ROOM ONLY, with a live performance in Londonderry. The great Count Basie called them "the hottest blues band I've ever heard." DownBeat said the band is ?in a class by itself.? Without a doubt, Roomful of Blues is all this and more. Roomful of Blues won the 2005 W.C. Handy Blues Award for Blues Instrumentalist?Horns, and in 2004 they picked up both the coveted 2004 W.C. Handy Blues Award for "Band of the Year" and the "Blues Instrumentalist Horns" award. With an almost non-stop performance schedule for the last 36 years, Roomful of Blues has earned critical, popular and radio success and a legion of fans around the globe. Twice, the prestigious DownBeat International Critics Poll selected Roomful of Blues as Best Blues Band. They joined the Alligator Records family with That's Right! in 2003. The CD received massive amounts of praise and received yet another Grammy© nomination.

It all began in Westerly, Rhode Island in 1967 when guitarist Duke Robillard
and keyboardist Al Copley started a band that played tough, no-holds-barred Chicago blues. They soon began exploring the swinging, jumping blues, R&B and jazz of the 1940s and 1950s, and added a horn section in 1970. In 1974, they performed with Count Basie, and a few years later, legendary songwriter Doc Pomus helped them land their first record deal. In 1977, Roomful of Blues' self-titled debut album on Island Records (recently reissued on Hyena Records) brought them to the attention of fans and critics from coast to coast. Roomful recorded the critically acclaimed Hot Little Mama for their own Blue Flame label and two successful albums for the Varrick label during the 1980s.
In 1994 they released Dance All Night, their first featuring guitarist Chris
Vachon (who joined the band in 1990) and harpist/vocalist Sugar Ray Norcia. Radio play was increasing, as was the band's stature. Their 1995 album, the Grammy©-nominated Turn It On! Turn It Up!, was a remarkable mix of big band swing and rock 'n' roll, bringing the band its greatest radio and sales success to date, and giving them credibility with the rock radio audience.
In addition to their band recordings, Roomful of Blues have often backed
legendary musicians like Jimmy Witherspoon, Jimmy McCracklin, Roy Brown, Joe Turner, Eddie ?Cleanhead? Vinson and Earl King?stars of the 1940s and 1950s blues scene, and the very people who created the music that Roomful still keeps vital and alive. Roomful recorded albums with Turner, Vinson and King during the 1980s, and all three recordings received Grammy© nominations. The Roomful Horns backed many other artists as well, including Canadian star Colin James on his double platinum album (in Canada), Colin James and the Little Big Band, and Stevie Ray Vaughan on his 1984 Live At Carnegie Hall album on Epic.
In 2002, singer/harpist Mark DuFresne took over the vocal duties, and the band began a return to their jazzy, jump-blues musical roots. Their winning
combination of jump, swing, blues, R&B and soul remains their calling card, as does their ability to fill the dance floor. Since the release of THAT'S RIGHT!, the band has toured?as they always have?virtually non-stop, hitting cities from coast to coast, and traveling abroad to Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey and Russia.
In 2005, Roomful of Blues will once again hit the road hard, bringing their
horn and guitar-fueled music to fans around the world. With their non-stop
touring schedule, long-time fans and new converts alike can see for themselves why The San Francisco Examiner called them ?the hottest, most solid and wonderfully entertaining band around.? With STANDING ROOM ONLY, they have all the proof they'll ever need.

SUGAR RAY & THE BLUETONES (click here for more on Sugar Ray)
It was 1977. Sugar Ray Norcia and Neil Gouvin were working southern Rhode Island in their band, Sugar Ray & the Blues Stompers. Up in Boston, Ronnie Earl, still using his given surname Horvath, was beginning to try stage monikers such as Little Ronnie. Ronnie had been a replacement for Ron Levy in John Nicholas’ band, The Rhythm Rockers, which featured Kaz Kazanoff (tenor sax and harp), Sarah Brown (Fender bass) and Terry Bingham (drums). When John Nicholas left New England for Texas (along with drummer Fran Christina) to join the western swing band Asleep At the Wheel, Ronnie decided the time was also right for him to make a change and become a bandleader. He started the Hound Dogs, with Mark Cedrone (harp and vocals), Michael “Mudcat” Ward and Brother Charles Robinson on drums. The Hound Dogs based themselves at the Speakeasy in Cambridge, where they backed up Mama Thornton among other artists. After a while, the winds of change were swirling. Ronnie and Mudcat were searching for musical colleagues that wanted to (and had the ability to) play bluer, lower down, earthier and produce the highest quality blues.