My friend Brian Smith, who has died aged 82, played a role in the British blues boom of the 1960s. His photographs of American artists appeared on album sleeves and magazines, and later on CDs and box sets. He created defining images of Howlin’ Wolf, T Bone Walker, Sonny Boy Williamson, Chuck Berry and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.
While he was still at school Brian had seen Lonnie Donegan’s skiffle group play as an interval act at a Chris Barber gig at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1954. Thereafter he became a huge Donegan fan, learning about the blues from seeing him perform on many occasions.
Using an Ilford Sportsman camera to take photos at the 1962 American Folk Blues festival at the Free Trade Hall (a concert that Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Jimmy Page travelled up to see) he photographed T Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee.
During the 60s Brian also took photos of many visiting blues, R&B and rock’n’roll artists, including Little Richard, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Muddy Waters, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Berry, Carl Perkins and Duane Eddy.
At the Twisted Wheel club in Manchester he became the unofficial in-house photographer, and in 1964 he helped to set up R&B Scene magazine. He cultivated promoters and club owners, requesting – in advance – artist interviews and back stage passes. “It saved me a fortune in tickets,” he recalled.
In the late 70s and 80s, US and UK record companies mined the back catalogues of American blues and R&B artists and the vaults of US record companies. Brian supplied photos to MCA for their US reissue programme of Chess recordings. In the UK, labels such as Ace and JSP Records used his photos for their reissues and releases. The 16-disc Berry box set issued by Germany’s Bear Family records in 2014 contains about 50 of Brian’s photos of Berry in the UK.
This was also golden era for UK and European blues festivals and tours by lesser known and rediscovered US blues artists. Brian was ever present, festooned with cameras. His book, Boom Boom, Boom, Boom – American Rhythm & Blues In England 1962–1966, with 176 pages of photos and stories, was published early last year.
Born in Prestbury, Cheshire, to Albert, a railway clerk, and his wife, Irene (nee Jackson), a seamstress, Brian grew up in Wythenshawe, Manchester, and attended Chorlton grammar school. He left at 17 and went straight into the Inland Revenue, working for the service from 1960 to 2007, when he retired.
Brian was also a key part of the team at Blues & Rhythm magazine, which I edit, writing reviews and providing archive photos. We also shared a love of Manchester United.
Brian is survived by his wife, Shirley (nee Harper), whom he married in 1968, their children, Gabrielle, Angela, Anthony and Peter, and his sister, Val.
