John Campbell
b. 1952, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA, d. 13 June 1993, New York. Campbell, a white man, became an authentic sounding blues singer/guitarist after a serious drag racing accident in 1967, which left him without one of his eyes and a mass of stitches in his face, which became permantly scarred. Prior to this crash, he had been curious about music — his grandmother played lap steel guitar — but he was more interested in becoming a tearaway. During his lengthy period of recuperation, much of it spent in solitude, he taught himself to play guitar and became devoted to the work of the black bluesmen who had recorded for the local Jewel label in Shreveport; in particular John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins, who became his major influence. Leaving school in the late '60s, he became a travelling troubadour, working as the opening act for ‘Gatemouth’ Brown and Hubert Smith, ultimately relocating to New York where he played local clubs for many years. His recording debut came in 1988, when guitarist Ronnie Earl sent a tape of Campbell to the specialist Crosscut label in Germany. Earl produced his first album A MAN AND HIS BLUES, but it was hardly distributed in the USA, and he remained an obscure cult figure until he began working with guitarist Alexander Kennedy. He and Kennedy were opening for Albert King in New York when he was signed by Elektra, and in 1991 released ONE BELIEVER, produced by Dennis Walker (also Robert Gray's producer) backed by members of both Gray's band and Joe Ely's group. Campbell played solely amplified acoustic guitar, and his songwriting partnership with Walker and Kennedy produced several modern blues classics like Devil In My Closet, Tiny Coffin and Take Me Down. HOWLIN' MERCY consolidated his standing as an important (although cult) figure in the recent blues boom. He died on June 13 1993 prior to undertaking a European tour.