Biography

Lurrie Bell Biography


“An incendiary fusion of Chicago Blues boilerplate and his own mercurial imagination, hyperkinetic energy, and dazzling technical dexterity.”

David Whiteis – Chicago Reader

“If there is a Chicago blues child who perhaps epitomizes the blues life, it’s Lurrie Bell…the premier guitarist in the Windy City.”
Boston Blues News

Born in 1958, the son of famed blues harmonica player Carey Bell, Lurrie Bell picked up his father’s guitar at age of five and taught himself to play. He was clearly gifted. In addition, he grew up with many of the Chicago blues legends around him. Eddie Taylor, Big Walter Horton, Eddie C. Campbell, Eddie Clearwater, Lovie Lee, Sunnyland Slim, Jimmy Dawkins and many more were frequent visitors to his house. They all helped to shape and school him in the blues, but none as much as his father’s long-time employer Muddy Waters.

At seven years old, Bell left Chicago to live in Mississippi and Alabama with his grandparents. During this time he played mostly in the church, immersing himself in the passionate expressiveness of the gospel tradition. At fourteen he moved back to Chicago and continued to play in church as well as forming his first blues band while attending high school.

By seventeen Lurrie Bell was playing on stage with Willie Dixon. In 1977 he was a founding member of The Sons of Blues with Freddie Dixon (son of Willie) and Billy Branch. The band recorded three standout tracks for Alligator Records’ Grammy nominated Living Chicago Blues series. In 1978 Bell joined Koko Taylor’s band and stayed for several years, honing his chops and learning the ropes of being a traveling musician. He continued to work with his dad as well, recording the 1984 Rooster Blues album Son Of a Gun and several other titles for UK’s JSP Records. Not only was Bell recognized as an exceptionally talented guitarist and musician, his knowledge of different blues styles, his soulfulness and his musical maturity delivered write-ups in publications such as Rolling Stone and The New York Times.

Battling and defeating a series of personal demons kept him out of the studio and off the road for a long spell in the late 1980’s, but Bell persevered and re-surfaced in the mid-1990’s with a succession of four highly acclaimed records for Chicago’s Delmark label.

Since the onset of the new millennium, Bell’s profile has been steadily rising. 2002 saw the release of the CD Cutting Heads and in 2004 Alligator Records released Second Nature an acoustic duet record with his father Carey Bell that was nominated for a WC Handy Award Acoustic Record of the Year by the Blues Foundation in Memphis.

In 2007 Bell started his own label Aria B.G. Records and released Let’s Talk About Love, which has been called his most accomplished, deeply heartfelt album yet. On the strength of this record, he was voted Most Outstanding Guitar Player in the 2007 Living Blues Magazine’s Critic's Poll, and in 2008 and 2011 he was named the magazine’s Artist of the Year. Since 2007 he has received multiple Blues Music Award nominations as Best Guitarist and Best Traditional Male Blues Artist by the Blues Foundation.

2009 found him pairing up with Billy Boy Arnold, John Primer, Billy Branch on the recording Chicago Blues: A Living History which garnered him his first official Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues Recording. In 2011 a follow-up was released; Chicago Blues: A Living History (The Revolution Continues) featuring Buddy Guy, Magic Slim, and Ronnie Baker Brooks.

And now in 2012 comes the arrival of his second CD on Aria BG Records The Devil Ain’t Got No Music, a collection of acoustic blues and gospel songs that recollect the music he often played with his dad and at church in Mississippi and Alabama as a child. At last count Lurrie Bell has now appeared on over 50+ recordings either as leader or featured sideman.

Lurrie Bell’s elegant and intense guitar playing and passionate vocals have made him a favorite at clubs and festivals around the world and have earned him a reputation as one of the “leading lights” in the future of the blues.

Lurrie Bell Website: www.lurrie.com

Management &
Booking: Rick Bates/Nancy Meyer – Bates Meyer Inc. - Tel: (909) 547-0504
www.batesmeyer.com - e-mail: rick@batesmeyer.com

Record Label: Aria B.G. Records c/o Bates Meyer Inc. - Tel: (909) 547-0504
www.batesmeyer.com - e-mail: rick@batesmeyer.com

Selected Discography:

2012: “The Devil Ain’t Got No Music” – Aria BG Records

2011: Chicago Blues: A Living History (The Revolution Continues) – Raisin’ Music
w/Buddy Guy, Magic Slim, Billy Boy Arnold, Ronnie Baker Brooks, and Billy Branch

2009: Chicago Blues: A Living History - Raisin’ Music
w/Billy Boy Arnold, John Primer and Billy Branch (Grammy Nominated)

2007: Gettin' Up: Live at Buddy Guy's Legends & Rosa's Lounge - Delmark w/Carey Bell

2007: “Let’s Talk About Love” – Aria B.G. Records

2004: “Second Nature” - Carey Bell and Lurrie Bell - Alligator Records

2002: “Cutting Heads” - Vyper Records & Isabel Records/France in 2004

1999: “Blues Had A Baby” – Delmark

1998: “Kiss Of Sweet Blues” - Delmark

Selected Discography (continued)

1997: “700 Blues” - Delmark

1996: “Dynasty” – Carey Bell and Lurrie Bell – JSP Records/UK

1995: “Mercurial Son” – Delmark

1994: “The Chief” – w/Eddie Clearwater – Rooster Blues

1992: “Good Candy” – w/Lovie Lee – Earwig Records

1989: “Everybody Wants to Win” – JSP Records/UK

1984: “Son Of A Gun” Carey Bell and Lurrie Bell – Rooster Blues

1982: “Chicago’s Young Blues Generation – Evidence
w/Billy Branch and Sons of Blues

1980” “Living Chicago Blues Vol. 3” – Alligator Records
w/Sons of Blues and w/Lovie Lee

1978: “Living Chicago Blues Vol. 1” w/Carey Bell– Alligator Records

1977: “King Of The Jungle” w/Eddie C. Campbell – Rooster Records

1977: “ Heartaches and Pain” – Carey Bell – Delmark

Recent Awards and Nominations

NARAS: Grammy Awards:

2010 Best Traditional Blues Album (Nominee)
(For Chicago Blues: A Living History The (R)evolution Continues CD)

National Blues Music Awards – The Blues Foundation:

2011 Album of the Year (Nominee)
(For Chicago Blues: A Living History CD)

2010-11 Best Traditional Blues Album (Nominee)
(For Chicago Blues: A Living History CD)

2007-8-9-10-11 Best Blues Guitarist – Nominee

2008-9 Best Traditional Male Blues Artist – Nominee

2008 Best Blues DVD - Nominee
(Carey & Lurrie Bell – “Getting Up”)

Living Blues Awards:

2008 & 2011 Blues Artist of the Year (Male) – Critics Poll

2007-8-9-11 Most Outstanding Musician (Guitar) – Critics Poll

2008 Blues Artist of the Year (Male) – Reader’s Poll

Chicago Reader:

2008 Best Chicago Blues Musician – Readers Choice

Blues Blast Awards: – Blues Blast Magazine (Illinois)

2008-9 Best Male Blues Artist (Nominee)

2008 Best Traditional Blues Recording (Winner)
(Let’s Talk About Love)