Note: This is a guest post by Nathan Arizona.
Spencer Davis, who died this week at 81, was one of the most important pioneers of British electric blues-rock and the whole British Invasion. He’s not one of the most famous, but maybe he should be.
Davis led the Spencer Davis Group, formed in Birmingham in 1963. The group’s best-known hits were “I’m a Man” and “Gimme Some Lovin’,” which they wrote at a time when cover songs were the rule. Two other tunes, “Keep on Running” and “Somebody Help Me,” reached the top of the British charts. Later groups had successful covers of the band’s songs, including Chicago with “I’m a Man” and the Blues Brothers with “Gimme Some Lovin’.”
As with other early blues-rock and R&B-flavored bands like theYardbirds and the Animals, the Spencer Davis Group mixed some pop, soul and early rock ’n’ roll elements with an electric blues sound that had been kick-started in England by visits from Muddy Waters and other Chicago-style bluesmen. Like the Beatles, the Spencer Davis Group came from outside London. They and another Birmingham band, the Moody Blues (before they got fancy,) were the main groups in what was called Brum Beat. Davis was dating the future Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac around this time.
Guitarist Davis had no problem turning the vocals over to a teen-aged Stevie Winwood, who also played keyboards. Winwood, one of the best British Invasion singers even at that age, left the group after the four big hits, soon to start Traffic and then forming Blind Faith with Eric Clapton. Winwood’s brother Muff, the group’s bassist, went on to become a well-regarded producer.
The group broke up soon after Steve Winwood left. Davis revived it with different people a few times but became more important as a producer. He and Muff Winwood worked with Island Records, owned by former Spencer Davis Group manager Chris Blackwell. Davis played a role in crafting Bob Marley’s sound for Island. The band’s two earliest hits had been written by British ska musician Jackie Edwards, although there wasn’t much Jamaica left in its versions.
Some might say all this should add up to membership in the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame for Davis. Alas, it hasn’t happened, though the band regularly gets some votes from the nominating committee. The Hall’s anti-British bias might play a role in this.
The producers of the TV show “Mad Men” were happy to use “I’m a Man” for an extended scene of Don Draper arriving at the L.A. airport to be picked up by the fetching Megan, Don’s second wife on the show. The “Mad Men’ scene is posted below, after videos of the group’s two best-known songs (performed in Finland).
