Mel London (April 9, 1932 – May 16, 1975) was an American songwriter, record producer, and record label owner. He was active in the

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 ...

and R&B scenes in the 1950s and 1960s. London is best known for his compositions for Chicago blues artists

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

, and

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song " Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album '' Hoodoo Man Blues ...

as well as being the record producer and owner of

Chief Records Chief Records, together with its Profile and Age subsidiaries, was an independent record label that operated from 1957 to 1964. Best known for its recordings of Chicago blues artists Elmore James, Junior Wells, Magic Sam, and Earl Hooker, the lab ...

(and its Profile Records and Age Records subsidiaries). In 1954, Mel London wrote the first of several hit songs for the blues and R&B markets. His "Poison Ivy" was recorded by

Willie Mabon Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...

and reached number seven in the

Billboard R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

in 1954. In 1955, three hits written by London followed: "Who Will Be Next" by Howlin' Wolf and two by Muddy Waters - "Sugar Sweet" and " Manish Boy.""Manish Boy" cowriters:

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 ...

and Muddy Waters Not content with just songwriting, in 1957 he started his own record label, Chief Records. Chief's first single, the London-penned "Man from the Island," featured London's solo outing as a lead vocalist. Subsequent Chief releases were produced (and sometimes written) by London and featured Chicago blues artists, such as Elmore James, Junior Wells,

Magic Sam Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

Earl Hooker Earl Zebedee Hooker (January 15, 1930 – April 21, 1970) was a Chicago blues guitarist known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", he performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and ...

, and

A.C. Reed Aaron Corthen, better known as A.C. Reed (May 9, 1926 – February 24, 2004) was an American blues saxophonist, closely associated with the Chicago blues scene from the 1940s into the 2000s. Biography Reed was born in Wardell, Missouri, ...

. London's "Little by Little" was a hit for Junior Wells in 1960, reaching number 23 in the Billboard R&B chart. London also wrote several R&B songs that were recorded by Chief artists, including "Cut You A-Loose" by

Ricky Allen Richard A. Allen (January 6, 1935 – May 29, 2005)''Juke Blues'' no.59, 2005, Obituaries, p.68 was an American blues singer from Chicago. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and began his singing career as a member of a church choir in his h ...

, which reached number 20 in 1963. Chief/Profile/Age experienced financial difficulties in the early 1960s and went out of business in 1964. Later, Mel London was associated with a number of small record labels, including All-Points, Mel/Mel-Lon, Bright Star, and Starville, but none had the impact of his earlier labels. In 1975, London died at age forty-three. During his career, he wrote or co-wrote 48 songs and produced about eighty singles by approximately thirty-seven artists.

Partial discography

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:London, Mel 1932 births 1975 deaths Songwriters from Mississippi Record producers from Mississippi American music industry executives 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American businesspeople