Eugene Bridges (born March 30, 1963), usually credited as Eugene "Hideaway" Bridges, 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

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

singer, songwriter, guitarist and bandleader who has released seven albums and has performed widely in the US, Asia, Britain, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Biography

He was born in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, the fourth of five children, and was raised in

Amite, Louisiana Amite City ( or ; commonly just Amite) is a town in Tangipahoa Parish, of which it is the parish seat, in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,141 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Hammond Micropolitan Statistical A ...

. His father, Otheneil Bridges Sr., performed as a blues guitarist under the name "Hideaway Slim", and his mother was a cousin of Anna Mae Bullock, better known as

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

, which makes her his first cousin once removed. In his early teens, Eugene Bridges began singing with his brothers as a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

group, The Bridges Brothers, and also formed his own R&B band, The Five Stars. At the age of 16 he moved to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

to join the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, and played in an Air Force band for three years. After leaving the service, he joined a gospel group, The New Chosen, on guitar and vocals, and then joined the

Mighty Clouds of Joy The Mighty Clouds of Joy are an American traditional gospel music quartet. Joe Ligon Bio: Willie Joe Ligon was born on October 11, 1936, and died on December 11, 2016 (80 years, 2 months). He dedicated his life to Jesus making many hit songs ...

. He then moved to live in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, where he joined the police force and formed his own band, the Eugene "Hideaway" Bridges Band, and started touring in the US.Biography by Rovi at Allmusic.com
Retrieved 18 March 2013. In the mid-1990s he travelled alone to Europe, and was seen in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

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 ...

's bass player Joe Turner, who recruited him to play in his own band, Big Joe Turner's Memphis Blues Caravan. After a year in Turner's band, Bridges then formed a new version of the Eugene "Hideaway" Bridges Band, and began performing in clubs and festival mainly in the UK and Europe. In both 1998 and 1999, he topped British and European blues magazine polls as best male vocalist. He released his first album, ''Born To Be Blue'', produced by Mike Vernon, on the Blueside label in 1998. The following year he was signed by British blues label Armadillo, and he has released a series of albums for them starting with ''Man Without A Home'' (2000), and ''Jump the Joint'' (2003), which reached the US Living Blues charts and was nominated for awards. Biography at EugeneBridges.com
. Retrieved 18 March 2013. He has continued to tour internationally, and has developed followings through his performances across Europe and in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. His later albums have been ''Coming Home'' (2005), ''Eugene Hideaway Bridges'' (2007), ''Live In San Antonio'' (2009), and ''Rock and a Hard Place'' (2011), the last of which was recorded with a full horn section.Discography at EugeneBridges.com
Retrieved 18 March 2013. He is described at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

as "a vibrant and enthusiastic singer and guitarist... hobrings fire and intensity to contemporary blues, which he laces with hints of his gospel singing past." Most recently he performed at the Gumball Festival in

NSW ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, during his 30th visit down under.

References

External links

Official website

Interview by Michael Limnios at Blues.gr, 2012

article containing interview with Otheneil "Hideaway Slim" Bridges {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridges, Eugene Hideaway 1963 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singer-songwriters People from Amite City, Louisiana 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Louisiana