Mike Vernon, who has died aged 81, was the ultimate schoolboy blues nut. First he published a blues fanzine, next he persuaded Decca Records to hire him to produce British blues bands, then he started his own indie label issuing 45s of African American blues artists, before CBS agreed to finance his Blue Horizon label. From the 1970s on, he would record and perform as a solo artist and band member; he was a producer for David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton and more. His was a life determined by his love for music, and he served his muse generously for more than 60 years.
Vernon’s upbringing in Surrey was typical of many children born in the mid-1940s: he sang in his church choir, listened to the jazz and show tune LPs his parents owned and was bowled over by the arrival of rock’n’roll, responding most strongly to the likes of Little Richard, Fats Domino and Larry Williams. Inquisitive and determined, he sought out records by older African American blues and R&B artists then, while studying at Croydon Art College, started following the fledgling British blues bands led by Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner.
He and his brother Richard started their fanzine R&B Monthly and its attention to detail – on artists and record releases – made it a must-read on the London scene. Most music fans would feel they had achieved an exalted status to be publishing a magazine that was voraciously consumed by their fellow aficionados but Vernon had greater dreams, writing to every British label requesting a job. Only Decca responded, hiring him in 1962 as an A&R assistant for £8 a week. The 18-year-old was determined to learn all he could regarding record production and, while still a teenager, his enthusiasm meant his boss Hugh Mendl let Vernon record visiting African American blues musicians and cut demos of British bands (however, Decca rejected his recordings of both the Yardbirds and the Spencer Davis Group).
In 1966 he convinced Decca to let him record John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and here his deep listening to Chicago blues saw him determine how to record the band so to capture their intensity and dynamic. The resulting album, Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, reached No 6 in the UK charts – much to Decca’s surprise – eventually going gold and ensured Eric Clapton was recognised as the foremost white blues rock guitarist of that era.
Vernon was now on a roll – he would go on to produce all of Mayall’s major albums – and, having already set up the Blue Horizon record label with Richard (issuing rare American blues 45s), made a deal with CBS in 1967 where the bigger label would licence and distribute Blue Horizon releases. He was working with a new band formed by Peter Green, who had previously replaced Clapton in Bluesbreakers. This was Fleetwood Mac, who quickly became the foremost British blues band of that era; Vernon produced Black Magic Woman and Albatross, a mournful instrumental that topped the British charts in December 1968.
Vernon rode the British blues boom, producing Chicken Shack (featuring future Mac member Christine McVie), Savoy Brown and Ten Years After while also ensuring his African American heroes were given studio time and releases – Champion Jack Dupree, Lightnin’ Slim, Otis Spann, Furry Lewis, Johnny Shines and Bukka White all received greater prestige via Blue Horizon than they had ever been accommodated in the US. He also produced David Bowie’s debut album in 1967; he once told me he always thought The Laughing Gnome, which he also produced, would be a hit.
As the 1970s began, the popularity of blues waned and CBS lost interest in Blue Horizon. The Vernon brothers pressed on regardless, opening Chipping Norton Recording Studios in 1971; Mike released two unsuccessful solo albums before singing as a member of (and producing) funk band the Olympic Runners and doo-wop revivalists Rocky Sharpe and the Replays (both enjoyed UK and international success). He continued producing artists, most notably jazz-funk band Level 42 and African American soul group Bloodstone – their biggest hit, 1973’s Natural High (from the album of the same name), was a Vernon production.
Vernon relocated to Spain at the start of the millennium, still occasionally producing young British blues artists and releasing his own albums. I corresponded with him via email on the great Jamaican British R&B pianist Errol Dixon (who Vernon produced for Decca) and the Northern Irish blues vocalist Ottilie Patterson, as well as the Camden record shop Blue Horizon ran as part of their label. He was always helpful and enthusiastic, a connoisseur through and through.
