Elvin Richard Bishop (born October 21, 1942) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

singer, guitarist, bandleader, and songwriter. An original member of the

Paul Butterfield Blues Band Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...

, he was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

as a member of that group in 2015 and the

Blues Hall of Fame The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum located at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to blues music. Started in 1 ...

in his own right in 2016. Bishop feels that the limitations of his voice have helped his songwriting.

Early life and education

Bishop was born in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

, the son of Mylda (Kleege) and Elvin Bishop, Sr. He grew up on a farm near

Elliott, Iowa Elliott is a city in Montgomery County, Iowa, United States, along the East Nishnabotna River. The population was 338 at the time of the 2020 census. History Elliott was founded in 1879. Geography Elliott is located at (41.149002, -95.162071). ...

. His family moved to

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

when he was 10. There he attended

Will Rogers High School Will Rogers Middle and High School, located at 3909 E. 5th Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was built by Tulsa Public Schools in 1939 using WPA workers and designed by Joseph R. Koberling, Jr. and Leon B. Senter. It was named for the humorist Will Rog ...

, winning a full scholarship to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

as a

National Merit Scholar The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organizati ...

. He moved to Chicago in 1960 to attend the university, where he majored in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

Career

In 1963, Bishop met harmonica player

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...

in the neighborhood of

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

, joined Butterfield's

band, and remained with them for five years. Bishop was originally Butterfield's only guitarist, but was later joined by

Mike Bloomfield Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his ...

, who largely took over the lead guitar role for the band's classic first two albums. After Bloomfield departed, the Butterfield Band's third album, ''

The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw ''The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw'' is a 1967 album by the Butterfield Blues Band, their third release. Its name refers to Elvin Bishop, whose role shifted to lead guitarist after Mike Bloomfield departed to form the Electric Flag. The albu ...

'', took its name from Bishop's nickname and his renewed role as lead guitarist. Bishop recorded a fourth album, ''

In My Own Dream ''In My Own Dream'' is a 1968 album by The Butterfield Blues Band. It continued the trend of its predecessor '' The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw'' in moving towards a more soul-oriented sound, supported by a first rate horn section, (featuri ...

'', with Butterfield, his last with the band, in 1968. During his time with the Butterfield Blues Band, Bishop met blues guitarist Louis Myers at a show. Bishop persuaded Myers to trade his

Gibson ES-345 The Gibson ES-345 is a stereo guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Company. The guitar was produced from 1959 to 1981. It was designed as a jazz guitar and an upscale version of the ES-335. History The 345 was developed in 1958 as an upscale ...

for Bishop's Telecaster. Bishop liked the Gibson so much he never gave it back and has used it throughout his career. Bishop has nicknamed his Gibson ES-345 "Red Dog," a name he got from a roadie for the Allman Brothers Band. In 1968, he went solo and formed the Elvin Bishop Group, also performing with Bloomfield and

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. ...

on their album titled ''

The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper ''The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper'' is a double album recorded at the Fillmore West venue; the album is a successor to the studio album ''Super Session'', which included Stephen Stills in addition to Bloomfield and Kooper, an ...

''. The group signed with Fillmore Records, which was owned by Bill Graham, who also owned the Fillmore music venues. Bishop sat in with the Grateful Dead on June 8, 1969, at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. He opened the second set with the lengthy blues jam "Turn on Your Lovelight" without

Pigpen A sty or pigsty is a small-scale outdoor enclosure for raising domestic pigs as livestock. It is sometimes referred to as a hog pen, hog parlor, pigpen, pig parlor, or pig-cote, although pig pen may refer to pens confining pigs that are kep ...

Jerry Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

. He played two more songs with the Dead, "The Things I Used to Do" and "Who's Lovin' You Tonight." Elvin Bishop Group 1975

In March 1971, The Elvin Bishop Group and

The Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (founder, slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards, songwriting), as well as Dickey Betts (lead guita ...

co-billed a series of concerts at the

Fillmore East The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the (at the time) Lower East Side neighborhood, now called the East Village neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan of New York City. I ...

. Bishop joined The Allman Brothers Band onstage for a rendition of his own song, "Drunken-Hearted Boy." Over the years, Bishop has recorded with many other blues artists, such as

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

, and with Zydeco artist

Clifton Chenier Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), was an American Creole musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music which arose from Creole music, with rhythm and blues, R&B, blues, and Cajun music, Cajun influences. He sang a ...

. In late 1975, he played guitar for a couple of tracks on

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, incl ...

's ''The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll'' album and, in 1995, he toured with

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

. Bishop made an impression on

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-oriente ...

FM radio stations with "Travelin' Shoes" in 1975 but, a year later, in 1976, Bishop released his most memorable single, "

Fooled Around and Fell in Love "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" is a song written and performed by blues guitarist Elvin Bishop with Mickey Thomas on lead vocals. It appeared on his 1975 album, ''Struttin' My Stuff'', and was released as a single the following year. Backgro ...

," which peaked at No. 3 in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

(and No. 34 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

). The recording featured vocalist Mickey Thomas and drummer

Donny Baldwin Donald Baldwin (born June 22, 1950/1951) is an American drummer best known as a member of Jefferson Starship (1982–1984; 2008–present) and its continuation Starship (1984–1989). Early life Baldwin was raised in Palo Alto, California. He at ...

who both later joined

Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albu ...

. During the 1960s and 1970s he recorded for the Fillmore, Epic and Capricorn labels. ElvinBishopFeb06

Bishop appeared at the 1984

Long Beach Blues Festival The Long Beach Blues Festival, in Long Beach, California, United States, was established in full in 1980, and was one of the largest blues festivals and was the second oldest on the West coast of the United States, West Coast (first being the San ...

. In 1988, he signed with

Alligator Records Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the ''Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970. History Iglauer started the label using hi ...

and released ''Big Fun'' featuring Whit Lehnberg & The Carptones, 1991's ''

Don't Let the Bossman Get You Down! ''Don't Let the Bossman Get You Down!'' is an album by the American blues rock musician Elvin Bishop, released in 1991. Bishop supported the album by touring with George Thorogood. Production ''Don't Let the Bossman Get You Down!'' was produced b ...

'', 1995's ''Ace in the Hole'', 1998's ''The Skin I'm In'' and ''That's My Partner'' (2000), on which he paired with an early

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

teacher, Little Smokey Smothers. He later revisited Smothers in the studio, where the two recorded another album in 2009, ''Little Smokey Smothers & Elvin Bishop: Chicago Blues Buddies''. Bishop was inducted into the

Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization that honors jazz, blues and gospel music, gospel musicians in the state of Oklahoma. Housed in the former Union Depot (Tulsa, Oklahoma), Tulsa Union Depot, wh ...

in 1998. In 2005, Bishop released his first new solo CD in seven years, ''Gettin' My Groove Back''. In 2008, Bishop released ''The Blues Rolls On'', on September 23, 2008, switching labels to Delta Groove Music. He was supported by

Tommy Castro Tommy Castro (born April 15, 1955, San Jose, California, United States) is an American blues, R&B, and rock guitarist and singer. He has been recording since the mid-1990s. His music has taken him from local stages to national and internation ...

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

Warren Haynes Warren Haynes (born April 6, 1960) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was a ...

, B.B. King,

Derek Trucks Derek Trucks (born June 8, 1979) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and founder of The Derek Trucks Band. He became an official member of The Allman Brothers Band in 1999. In 2010, he formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, blues sing ...

George Thorogood George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the ...

Kim Wilson Kim Wilson (born January 6, 1951) is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s, " Tuff Enuff" (which was the group's only Top 40 ...

John Németh John Németh (born March 10, 1975) is an American electric blues and soul harmonicist, singer, and songwriter. He has received two Blues Music Awards for Soul Blues Male Artist in 2014 and Soul Blues Album in 2015. He has recorded ten albums sin ...

and

Angela Strehli Angela Strehli (born November 22, 1945) is an American electric blues singer and songwriter. She is also a Texas blues historian and impresario. Despite a sporadic recording career, Strehli spends time each year performing in Europe, the US an ...

. The album was nominated for

Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Traditional Blues Performance and was twice awarded to individual tracks rather than albums. The award w ...

. In 2010, Bishop released ''Red Dog Speaks''. His first live concert DVD, ''That's My Thing: Elvin Bishop Live in Concert'', was recorded live at the Club Fox in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a ...

, on December 17, 2011. It was released on the Delta Groove label in October 2012. The DVD was nominated for Best Blues DVD of 2012 by the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs the ...

. The same organization announced that Bishop had six nominations for the 36th

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

s held in May 2015. He triumphed in three of them. In April 2015, Bishop was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. In November 2017, his album ''Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio'' received a nomination for the

. The Grammy was won by The Rolling Stones for ''Blue and Lonesome.'' In November 2021, his album with

Charlie Musselwhite Charles Douglas Musselwhite (born January 31, 1944) is an American electric blues harmonica player and bandleader, one of the white bluesmen who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal f ...

, ''100 Years of Blues'', received a nomination for the

. Bishop lost to Cedric Burnside for his album ''I Be Trying''.

Personal life

Bishop's daughter Selina and ex-wife Jennifer Villarin were murdered along with three other victims in an August 2000 crime spree. The culprits were later identified as Selina's then-boyfriend Glenn Taylor Helzer, Helzer's brother Justin Helzer, and accomplice Dawn Godman. The murders reportedly occurred as part of a scheme to extort money from an elderly couple from

Concord, California Concord ( ) is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California. According to an estimate completed by the United States Census Bureau, the city had a population of 129,295 in 2019 making it the eighth largest city in the San Francisco Ba ...

. Both killers were sentenced to death for the murders; Justin Helzer, blind and partially paralyzed from an attempt on his own life while incarcerated, committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

in San Quentin prison.

In popular culture

Charlie Daniels Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, pioneering Southern rock. He was best known for his number-one country hit "The Dev ...

mentions Bishop in his 1975 song "

The South's Gonna Do It "The South's Gonna Do It (Again)", is a song written and performed by the Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1974 album '' Fire on the Mountain''. Content The lyrics refer to several Southern rock bands and musicians: * Grinderswitch * T ...

", with the lyric, "Elvin Bishop sittin' on a bale of hay; he ain't good lookin', but he sure can play." Bishop, on his 1974 album ''Let it Flow'', had previously mentioned Charlie Daniels.

Molly Hatchet Molly Hatchet is an American rock band formed in 1971 by guitarist Dave Hlubek in Jacksonville, Florida. They were a popular band during the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s among the southern rock and hard rock communities. The band released ...

also references Bishop in their 1978 song "

Gator Country Gator Country was an American Southern rock band formed in Davie, Florida, in 2005 by several ex-members of the Southern rock group Molly Hatchet. The band, founded by vocalist Jimmy Farrar, guitarist Duane Roland, drummer Bruce Crump, gui ...

", with the lyrics, "Elvin Bishop out struttin' his stuff with little Miss Slick Titty Boom, I'm goin' back to the Gator Country and get me some elbow room." "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" was included in the soundtrack album for ''

Guardians of the Galaxy The Guardians of the Galaxy is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It may more specifically refer to: Comic book teams * Guardians of the Galaxy (1969 team), the original 31st-century team fr ...

'' titled '' Awesome Mix Vol. 1''. The song also is heard playing during the wedding reception scene after Billy Riggins and Mindy Collette were married in the '' Friday Night Lights'' episode "Tomorrow Blues" (Season 3, Episode 13). This song can also be heard playing in the background in the local bar scene between Sarah Jessica Parker and Luke Wilson in the movie ''

The Family Stone ''The Family Stone'' is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Thomas Bezucha. Produced by Michael London and distributed by 20th Century Fox, it stars an ensemble cast, including Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Dermot Mulroney, ...

''. Jeff Garlin's character plays this song during a scene in the Netflix comedy, ''Handsome''. The song was also featured in a memorable scene in the movie ''

Boogie Nights ''Boogie Nights'' is a 1997 American period comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley and focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic fil ...

'' (1997), at Jack's pool party early in the film, and was featured on the second volume of the movie soundtrack, Boogie Nights 2: More Music from the Original Motion Picture. "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" is featured on the E.P. Love Letters by Bryan Ferry (of Roxy Music fame), released in 2022''Love Letters(E.P.)''

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

*''The Best of Elvin Bishop: Crabshaw Rising'' (1975) *''Sure Feels Good: The Best of Elvin Bishop'' (1992) *''The Best of Elvin Bishop: Tulsa Shuffle'' (1994) *''Party Till the Cows Come Home'' (Arcadia, 2004)

Chart singles

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Elvin 1942 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American rock guitarists American rock songwriters American male songwriters American rock singers Blues rock musicians Chicago blues musicians Musicians from Glendale, California Musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma Singers from California Songwriters from California Songwriters from Oklahoma Singers from Oklahoma Guitarists from California Guitarists from Oklahoma Paul Butterfield Blues Band members 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Blind Pig Records artists Alligator Records artists Capricorn Records artists