Lonnie Donegan MBE, the King Of Skiffle and 'first real British pop superstar' was born on 29 April 1931 and celebrated his 50th year in the music business in 2001. He shot to fame in 1956, when Rock Island Line sold an unprecedented 3 million copies, shooting into the British and American top ten. Britain had never heard anything like it and youngsters were hooked.

Launching a craze that was to lead to the creation of over 50,000 skifffle groups in the UK alone, Lonnie Donegan changed the face of popular music forever. Over six years, every single he released was a top-ten hit. He was the first artist to win a Gold Record with a debut release, the first to have an album and an EP in the singles chart. He popularised the guitar in pop music and is listed in the Guinness Book Of Records as one of the biggest hit-makers of all time.

Lonnie spend the late 60's and 70's touring the world circuit, starring in Las Vegas, Hollywood, New York, Canada, Bermuda, Australia and New Zealand, before severe heart problems led him to settle at Lake Tahoe, California. However, in 1978 he was lured back by Adam Faith to perform on Putting On The Style, a celebration of Lonnie by many of his disciples, including Elton John, Brian May, Ringo Starr, Ron Wood and ace guitarist, Albert Lee. A hectic period of touring and promotion followed, and Lonnie formed his own Skiffle group again.

In 1997 Lonnie received a lifetime achievement award at the Ivor Novella Awards. (Lonnie had written songs such as 'I'm Never Gonna Fall In Love Again', recorded by both Tom Jones and Elvis Presley) In 1999, a collaboration with long-time fan Van Morrison resulted in Lonnie's first album release in 20 years, Muleskinner Blues. Lonnie became a frequent guest and opening act for Van's shows and in June 1999 played at the Glastonbury Festival and the Fleadh Festival, followed by a tour that autumn.

On Jools Holland's 'Annual Hootenany', shown on New Year's Eve 1999, Van and Lonnie sang songs from the upcoming 'The Skiffle Sessions LP', recorded live at Belfast University, which subsequently entered the album charts at number 14. A series of celebrated US concerts followed, and in November 2000 Lonnie collected an MBE from Buckingham Palace in recognition of his musical contribution to his country. As Lonnie continues to tour, he has recently had a special edition Martin guitar (the make Lonnie has popularised the world over) created in his honour.

Extracts from the Lonnie Donegan Souvenir Brochure:

Skiffle
"LONNIE'S version of American Folk Music, christened 'Skiffle Music' because of its Jazz content swept aside the popularity of the 'Establishment' soporific crooners and paved the way for Britain's ecstatic embrace of Afro-American Rhythm!"

Making History
One of the most important events in musical history occured on July 13th 1954 at a coffee break during a recording of The Chris Barber Jazz Band. The A&R man reluctantly agreed to let Chris Barber and his banjo player Lonnie Donegan "record a couple of our 'SKIFFLE' songs". Very reluctantly, the A&R man agreed to allow them the freedom of the studio while he took a coffee break. "The result of this 'caffeine fix' was two tracks of music which were to change the musical & social face of the British Empire forever!"