Gerry Lockran (19 July 1942 – 17 November 1987) was a British blues singer, songwriter, poet and guitarist.

Biography

Early years

Gerald Cranston Frederick Loughran was born in the Yeotmal province of the central plains of India. He was the youngest of eight children, having three brothers and four sisters. His forefathers emigrated from Ireland to India around 1800, while his paternal grandmother was of Russian descent. His father Albert Loughran (known as Locky) was a Chief Inspector of Police in the Central Province of India. His mother, Lizzie Cranston, was born of a British father and an Indian mother. He spent the earliest years of his life growing up on the family farm just outside the town of Damoh, and attended Wynberg Allen Memorial School in Mussoorie, a small village in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

Personal life

After the death of Gerry's father in 1949, the Loughran family emigrated to south London, England in 1953, following the sale of the family farm. He took up an apprenticeship at Kingston power station, qualifying after five years as an instrument engineer. 1963 saw the death of Gerry's mother, and also his marriage to Bobbi, whom he had first met in 1959. They had two sons, Jason and Jethro. At the end of 1981 he suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

and

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

after which he lost the use of his left hand. He died on 17 November 1987, after another heart attack.

Musical career

Lockran discovered skiffle music and for three years played in skiffle group 'The Hornets', at well known venues such as the Skiffle Cellar. Lockran also appeared at the Finsbury Park Empire, London with Wally Whyton and The Vipers. Towards the end of the 1950s, Lockran met and become lifelong friends with two other young blues musicians: Cliff Aungier, another singer/guitarist and Royd Rivers, who played blues harmonica and 12-string guitar. Lockran and Rivers worked as a duo until 1963, playing live in pubs and clubs throughout Southern England, including the Red Lion in Sutton, Surrey which was one of England's first folk clubs. In 1961, Lockran acquired the guitar he was most associated with: a Martin D-28 as played by his biggest influence,

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

. Lockran continued to perform solo throughout the early 1960s, and his live work included tours of France, Germany, Italy and Sicily. Fellow guitarist John Renbourn has cited Lockran as a key influence on his career: "He was a great player and a great guy who took me under his wing and gave me a platform" In 1964, he also began an association with Jersey in the Channel Islands, performing extensively on television and radio there. Around April 1965, he changed the spelling of his surname from Loughran to Lockran for stage purposes. His British live schedule at this time included a package tour called 'Kings of the Blues' with

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including t ...

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and

Duffy Power Duffy Power (born Raymond Leslie Howard; 9 September 1941 – 19 February 2014) was an English blues and rock and roll singer, who achieved some success in the 1960s and continued to perform and record intermittently later. Career Ray Howard w ...

. On 6 August 1965, Lockran, together with Aungier and Rivers, founded 'Folksville', a folk and blues club at the Half Moon, Putney in west London which remains a thriving music venue. In 1966, Lockran secured a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

which resulted in the release of his first album ''Hold On - I'm Coming!'', featuring

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and

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. He followed this release with ''Blues Vendetta'' in 1967, featuring "Jason's Blues", written for his three-year-old son. In 1969, ''The Essential Gerry Lockran'' was released, and he also featured on the ''Blues at Sunrise''

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

with Redd Sullivan, and Dave Travis. In the early 1970s, his career was managed by Nigel Thomas, who also represented

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and Juicy Lucy. During 1972 and 1973, Lockran toured the U.S., Canada and Europe as part of package of tours featuring these artists. The U.S. and Canadian tour headlined by Joe Cocker lasted three months, and involved 40 concerts at venues including

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and The Forum in

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. This was followed by a two-month European tour through France, Holland, Italy, Germany and England. Lockran recorded further albums during this period, ''Wun'' (released in 1972),''Pinup'' (released 1973) with

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and others, then ''Rags to Gladrags'' (released in 1976) with musicians including

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and Cliff Aungier. He then concentrated on touring in Europe, performing in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, France and Italy, working with blues harmonica players Matt Walsh and Walter Liniger,

Hans Theessink Hans Theessink (born 5 April 1948, Enschede, Netherlands) is a Dutch guitarist, mandolinist, singer and songwriter, living in Vienna, Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the south ...

and Ian Hunt, with whom he recorded ''The Shattered Eye'' (1979) and ''Total'' (1980). Around this time he also started to use the relatively new Ovation Legend guitar. During a tour of Belgium and Holland in 1981, he started suffering heart problems, which culminated in a heart attack and stroke, depriving him of the use of his left hand and effectively ending his career as a professional musician. Lockran never played guitar again, but turned to photography and poetry. He took promotional portraits of other musicians including

Ralph McTell Ralph McTell (born Ralph May, 3 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song " Streets of London" (19 ...

, Cliff Aungier and the psychedelic indie-group

Ozric Tentacles Ozric Tentacles are an English instrumental rock band, whose music incorporates elements from a diverse range of genres, including psychedelic rock, progressive rock, space rock, jazz fusion, electronic music, dub music, world music, and ambi ...

which featured Gerry's nephew, Paul Hankin on percussion. In 1983, a private collection of his poems, ''Smiles and Tears'' was privately published by Waddling Duck Press.

Discography

*''Hold On - I'm Coming!'' (1966) *''Blues Vendetta'' (1967) *''The Essential Gerry Lockran'' (1969) *''Blues at Sunrise'' - with Redd Sullivan and Dave Travis (1969) *''Wun'' (1972) *''Pinup'' ( Bellaphon Ear 5008 1973 ) *''Blues Blast Off!'' (1976) *''Rags to Gladrags'' (1976) *''No more cane on the brazos''(1976) (munich records)- with Dave Travis, Ted Hatton, Jeff Witthington and Lloyd Ryan *''Rally Round the Flag'' - Live in Germany, featuring Matt Walsh (1976) *''The Shattered Eye'' - with Ian Hunt (1979) *''Total'' - with Ian Hunt (1979) *''Across the Tracks'' (1982) *''Cushioned for a Soft Ride Inside'' - with Hans Theesink (1982)

References

Bibliography

The Conscience of the Folk Revival: The Writings of Israel “Izzy” YoungMore Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Artists from the Later 20th Century By David Dicaire “Gerry Lockran”
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Volume 5''.
''Folk Directory''The Guinness Encyclopedia Of Popular Music “Gerry Lockran”
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Volume 6
''English Dance & Song''
*

External links

Official website

John Renbourn website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockran, Gerry 1942 births 1987 deaths Blues singer-songwriters British blues guitarists 20th-century British poets 20th-century British male singers 20th-century British guitarists