Bert de Ruijter (born 1952) known as Leigh Blond, is a Dutch composer, singer and songwriter.

Career

He was born to musically gifted parents in a shipyard town called Hardinxveld. At young age Blond was exposed to the jukebox music of

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and

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. A little later there were John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Champion Jack Dupree, Otis Spann, and Cuby + Blizzards. He learned to play the drum kit, guitar, piano and harmonica. The first bands were formed and his first self-written songs took place around his 17th birthday. 1969 took him to London to listen to blues music in the

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. Blond met 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 several other British musicians and played with them randomly for a while as a guest guitarist and pianist. Writing his own songs, Blond started to record them in the late 1970s and 1980s. Two EP/LPs came out under his own label, ''Keys'' and ''River of Tears''. In 1990 a project was initiated that included the making of a CD together with

Eelco Gelling Eelco Gelling (born 12 June 1946) is a Dutch blues guitarist. Gelling played with Cuby + Blizzards (which he co-founded together with Harry Muskee) until 1976. Cuby + Blizzards (1966–1974) Cuby + Blizzards (C+B) was founded by Eelco Gelling a ...

, Kaz Lux, Herman Deinum and Hans laFaille. The first Leigh Blond CD was released named ''Bluesness'' on the Munich Record label. The second album, ''See Me Thru'' (1996/1999) was recorded in England with

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producer Hugh Murphy. Chris Farlowe, Pavel Rosak and

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contributed on the record. The title song became a top ten hit in several countries in the world with the aid of Sony Music. A tour was organized to promote ''See Me Thru'' with a band including Chris Farlowe, Eelco Gelling, Herman Deinum, Hans laFaille, Pavel Rosak, Kim Snelten, Arjan de Swart and Leigh Blond. In 2004, the album ''Tribute To PCL'' came out. This was followed in 2006 by ''Blueside of the Road'', ''Subtle Ways of Blues'' (2012) and ''Dignity'' (2017). All releases contain songs written by Leigh Blond, who also produced ''Blueside of the Road'', ''Subtle Ways of Blues'' and ''Dignity''. Chris Farlowe and a dozen other musicians recorded Leigh Blond songs between 1985 and today. Half of these covered songs have been copyrighted under other aliases of Blond.

Discography

* ''River of Tears'' (1982) * ''Bluesness'' (1992) * ''See Me Thru'' (1999) * ''Tribute To PCL'' (2004) * ''Blueside of the Road'' (2006) * ''Subtle Ways of Blues'' (2012) * ''Dignity'' (2017) * ''Innocence'' (2022)

External links

Official site of Leigh Blond
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blond, Leigh Living people 1952 births Dutch singer-songwriters Dutch male guitarists Dutch pianists Dutch drummers Male drummers Harmonica players Blues drummers Blues pianists Blues guitarists Blues harmonica players Blues singers Place of birth missing (living people) Male pianists 21st-century pianists 21st-century Dutch male singers 21st-century Dutch singers People from Hardinxveld-Giessendam