Lonnie Donegan

To look at photographs of Lonnie Donegan from four decades earlier, when he dominated the British hit parade and reached the American Top Ten, one sees a neatly suited figure with close-cropped hair strumming an acoustic guitar—an image that suggests a musical nonentity. Yet in 1954, long before rock & roll had registered with the public, especially in England, Donegan projected unmistakable cool and generated genuine excitement. Though largely overlooked beyond Britain, he shares a defining achievement with Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Sex Pistols: he created skiffle, a style that reshaped youth culture and briefly dominated popular music. His recordings proved equally catalytic for the Beatles, the Stones, and countless other ensembles. He accomplished all of this before Presley’s name extended past Memphis and while Haley was still regarded as a Western swing curiosity.

Anthony James Donegan entered the world in Glasgow, Scotland, on April 29, 1931, as the child of a classical violinist who had performed with the Scottish National Orchestra. His father, scarred by repeated unemployment during the Depression, offered no support for a musical career. After the family relocated to East London in 1933, they discouraged any pursuit of an uncertain livelihood. At nine the boy developed an interest in the guitar, yet five more years passed before he purchased his first instrument for £12.50. During the early 1940s his listening centered on swing and vocal groups including Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, the Ink Spots, and the Andrews Sisters; he also encountered Indian music on the BBC and African songs adapted for films. Jazz tastes leaned toward Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa, but country and blues discs by Frank Crumit and Josh White ultimately seized his attention. Around 1946 BBC broadcasts introduced him to “Frankie and Johnny,” “Putting on the Style,” and “House of the Rising Sun.” He soon traced the lineage backward through Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bessie Smith, and Leadbelly, acquiring by decade’s end a command of American blues unmatched among English-born musicians. He began performing in London’s emerging jazz clubs.

One evening on a train, Chris Barber, an aspiring jazz musician, invited the nineteen-year-old to audition for a new band on the strength of a rumored talent for banjo. Donegan had never touched the instrument yet agreed, purchased one, and bluffed his way through the try-out. The personalities meshed despite the ruse, and he joined Barber’s inaugural group. Mastery came only through repeated listening to old records and slow reconstruction of the music.

Drafted into the British Army in 1949, Donegan was posted to Vienna for a year. There he gained direct exposure to American servicemen and the American Forces Radio Network, along with an expanded supply of records obtained from U.S. soldiers. Discharged in 1951, he discovered further blues and folk material at the American Embassy library in London, where he listened exhaustively and, by his own account, removed a few discs permanently.

In 1952 he assembled the Tony Donegan Jazz Band. The National Jazz Federation invited the group to support American ragtime pianist Ralph Sutton and blues and jazz figure Lonnie Johnson at Festival Hall. Because a Musicians’ Union ban prevented foreign artists from performing, a non-union ensemble was required. During announcements the master of ceremonies inadvertently swapped the names, presenting the American guitarist as “Tony Johnson” and the British banjoist as “Lonnie Donegan.” The latter name endured.

Donegan rejoined Barber and, together with Ken Colyer, formed the Ken Colyer Jazzmen, a Dixieland unit that attracted large audiences. Between full-band sets, Donegan, accompanied by Barber on bass and Beryl Bryden on washboard, performed American blues, country, and folk numbers with added rhythmic drive. The term “skiffle” was borrowed from the Dan Burley Skiffle Group of 1940s Chicago and affixed to these interludes. Colyer departed early in 1954; Barber assumed leadership of what became the Chris Barber Jazz Band.

Decca Records recorded the ensemble’s album New Orleans Joy, which incorporated several Donegan skiffle selections. Despite producer objections favoring instrumentals, the trio cut vocal tracks during his absence, among them “Rock Island Line.” The album sold 60,000 copies in its first month. Decca then issued tracks as singles, and “Rock Island Line” eventually appeared on 45 rpm. It spent twenty-two weeks on the British charts, peaking at number eight, and reached the American Top 20—an uncommon accomplishment for a British artist. Within six months the single had sold three million copies. Its infectious rhythm captivated English teenagers, who recognized that the style could be replicated with minimal resources: guitars, banjo, tea-chest bass, and washboard.

Donegan received only a few pounds for the session and no royalties, yet the release carried the credit “The Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group,” instantly establishing him as a star. His next Decca single, “Diggin’ My Potatoes,” recorded at a Royal Festival Hall concert on October 30, 1954, was banned by the BBC for suggestive lyrics, an outcome that enhanced his rebellious aura among young listeners. Decca soon dropped him, viewing skiffle as ephemeral. The following month he recorded for EMI’s Columbia label at Abbey Road. Having left the Barber band—though Barber continued to appear on his records until mid-1955—he signed with Pye Records in spring 1955. “Lost John” climbed to number two in Britain.

American television appearances on the Perry Como Show and the Paul Winchell Show followed. Offers reached $1,500 weekly for U.S. concerts at a time when £800 represented an annual wage in England. Donegan shared bills with Chuck Berry but curtailed touring after his wife and newborn arrived and “Lost John” maintained its British momentum. He assembled a band that included jazz guitarist Denny Wright, bassist Micky Ashman, and drummer Nick Nichols. Wright proved one of England’s strongest blues players; Ashman and Nichols formed a precise rhythm section. The summer 1956 album Showcase drew on Leadbelly, Leroy Carr, and traditional pieces such as “I’m a Ramblin’ Man” and A.P. Carter’s “Wabash Cannonball,” selling hundreds of thousands of copies.

Live performances expanded the sound with the addition of guitarist Dick Bishop and, later, Jimmy Currie, formerly of Tony Crombie’s Rockets. Currie contributed songwriting and a folk sensibility. A January 25, 1957, concert at Conway Hall, later issued by Pye, captured the group’s vitality, as did Donegan’s appearance in the 1957 film The Six-Five Special, where he performed “Jack ’O Diamonds” and Woody Guthrie’s “The Grand Coulee Dam.”

Between 1955 and 1958 Donegan placed “Bring a Little Water, Sylvie” (number seven), “Don’t You Rock Me, Daddy-O” (number four), “Cumberland Gap” (number six), and “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?” (number three in Britain, number five in America) on the charts. Thousands of skiffle groups formed across England; Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard began in the idiom before shifting direction. Future members of the Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers, and the Searchers counted themselves among the inspired. Although skiffle’s commercial peak passed by mid-1958, Donegan remained on the charts until 1962.

He recorded sporadically in the 1960s, including Nashville sessions at Hickory Records with Charlie McCoy, Floyd Cramer, and the Jordanaires, yet devoted most of the decade to production at Pye, working with artists such as Justin Hayward. A late-1960s comeback attempt failed, but a 1974 skiffle revival in Germany prompted new tours and recordings. In 1975 he and Barber released The Great Re-Union Album. Heart problems in 1976 forced a temporary retirement and a move to California for recovery.

He returned to the studio in 1978 for Putting on the Style, his first chart album in fifteen years, an all-star project featuring Ringo Starr, Elton John, Brian May, and Peter Banks—artists who traced their entry into music to “Rock Island Line.” A subsequent country-oriented album paired him with Albert Lee. Regular touring resumed by 1980, and another album with Barber appeared. In 1983 he toured Britain with Billy Joe Spears; the following year he made his stage debut in a revival of the 1920 musical Mr. Cinders. Further tours and a relocation from Florida to Spain followed. Heart surgery in 1992 again interrupted activity, yet by year’s end he was performing once more with Barber.

Donegan endures as a foundational figure in British rock & roll and the acknowledged king of skiffle. In the late 1990s his catalog experienced renewed critical regard through multi-disc anthologies. He died on November 3, 2002, after further heart complications. Unlike much mid-1950s American rock & roll or contemporaneous British efforts, his recordings retain their freshness and vitality.