Bert Weedon OBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 10 May 1920,
East HamEast Ham is a place in the London Borough of Newham. It is a built-up district located 8 miles east north-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
,
EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
, now
Greater LondonGreater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. The administrative area was officially created in 1965 and covers the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and thirty two London boroughs...
) was an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
guitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as acoustic guitars, electric guitars, classical guitars and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :...
and
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
during the 1950s and 1960s.
Weedon began learning the guitar at twelve. The first
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
guitarist in the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
, with "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" in 1959, he was an influence on many
starsA celebrity is a person who is famously recognized in a society or culture.Generally speaking, a celebrity is someone who gets media attention and most frequently has an extroverted personality. The desire to be notable is implied by some to be a part of Western culture and more specifically the...
, including
Eric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream, and as a solo performer, being the only person ever to be inducted three times...
,
Brian MayBrian Harold May, CBE, is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. As a guitarist he uses his home built guitar, "Red Special", and has composed hits such as "Tie Your Mother Down", "We Will Rock You", "Who Wants to Live Forever",...
,
Mike OldfieldMichael Gordon "Mike" Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age and more recently dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
,
The ShadowsThe Shadows are Britain's most successful instrumental and vocal group with a grand total of 69 UK hit singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and The Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s...
and
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
.
As well as his hits and
TVTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
appearances at a crucial time in modern British
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
history, his best-known contribution to British guitar style is his tutorial guide
Play in a Day, which many stars claim was a major influence on their learning and playing.
His playing style focuses on both
rhythmRhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events.-Rhythm in linguistics:...
and
melodyA melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, and is itself influenced by the
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
guitarists of the 1950s, notably
Les PaulLester William Polsfuss — known as Les Paul — was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which "made the sound of rock and roll possible"...
.
Bert Weedon OBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 10 May 1920,
East HamEast Ham is a place in the London Borough of Newham. It is a built-up district located 8 miles east north-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
,
EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
, now
Greater LondonGreater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London, England. The administrative area was officially created in 1965 and covers the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and thirty two London boroughs...
) was an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
guitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as acoustic guitars, electric guitars, classical guitars and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :...
and
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
during the 1950s and 1960s.
Biography
Weedon began learning the guitar at twelve. The first
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
guitarist in the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
, with "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" in 1959, he was an influence on many
starsA celebrity is a person who is famously recognized in a society or culture.Generally speaking, a celebrity is someone who gets media attention and most frequently has an extroverted personality. The desire to be notable is implied by some to be a part of Western culture and more specifically the...
, including
Eric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream, and as a solo performer, being the only person ever to be inducted three times...
,
Brian MayBrian Harold May, CBE, is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. As a guitarist he uses his home built guitar, "Red Special", and has composed hits such as "Tie Your Mother Down", "We Will Rock You", "Who Wants to Live Forever",...
,
Mike OldfieldMichael Gordon "Mike" Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age and more recently dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
,
The ShadowsThe Shadows are Britain's most successful instrumental and vocal group with a grand total of 69 UK hit singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and The Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s...
and
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
.
As well as his hits and
TVTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
appearances at a crucial time in modern British
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
history, his best-known contribution to British guitar style is his tutorial guide
Play in a Day, which many stars claim was a major influence on their learning and playing.
His playing style focuses on both
rhythmRhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events.-Rhythm in linguistics:...
and
melodyA melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, and is itself influenced by the
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
guitarists of the 1950s, notably
Les PaulLester William Polsfuss — known as Les Paul — was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which "made the sound of rock and roll possible"...
. Weedon placed a lot of emphasis on control of
toneNot to be confused with timber.In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that mediate the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope...
, and wanted to make the guitar the star of his music. He won, and his name was synonymous with the guitar for a generation of young music
fansA fan, aficionado, or supporter is someone who has an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking and enthusiasm for a sporting club, person , group of persons, company, product, activity, work of art, idea, or trend. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
.
Modest, gentle and unassuming, he is a far cry from the modern guitar hero. The later 1960s generation of underground
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music....
performers satirised him as too mainstream, the Bonzo Dog Band singing the line "We are normal and we dig Bert Weedon" in 1968.
Married to Maggie Weedon, he has two sons, Lionel and Geoffrey, and nine grandchildren.
A
Water RatThe Grand Order of Water Rats is an entertainment industry charity, and brotherhood, based in London. The Water Rats were founded in 1889 by comedian Joe Elvin. The first King Rat, as the head of the charity is termed, was music hall singer Harry Freeman...
, he is highly active in charity work and
fundraisingFundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...
, especially for children and the disabled, and was elected
King RatKing Rat may mean:* Uromys rex, a species of rat* King Rat , by James Clavell set in World War II* King Rat , released in 1965, based on the James Clavell novel* King Rat , an urban fantasy novel by China Miéville...
in 1992. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001 for his services to entertainment and charities.
His playing style is best known nowadays through the music of
The ShadowsThe Shadows are Britain's most successful instrumental and vocal group with a grand total of 69 UK hit singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and The Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s...
, especially
Hank MarvinHank Brian Marvin is an English guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows. The group, which primarily performed instrumentals, was formed as a backing band for vocalist Cliff Richard...
.
Singles
- JAR117 "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" / "Bert's Boogie" 7"/78
- JAR121 "Sing Little Birdie-Quickstep" / "The Lady is a Tramp-Quickstep" 7"/78
- JAR122 "Petite Fleur-Slow Foxtrot" / "My Happiness-Slow Foxtrot" 7"/78
- JAR123 "Charmaine-Waltz" / "It's Time to Say Goodnight-Waltz" 7"/78
- JAR136 "Teenage Guitar" / "Blue Guitar" 7"/78
- JAR210 "Jealousy-Tango / "Tango Tango" 7"/78
- JAR211 "Stardust-Slow Foxtrot" / "Summertime-Slow Foxtrot" 7"/78
- JAR221 "Nashville Boogie" / "King Size Guitar" 7"/78
- JAR300 "Big Beat Boogie" / "Theme from a Summer Place" 7"
- JAR360 "Twelfth Street Rag
"Twelfth Street Rag" was composed by Euday L. Bowman in 1914. It is one of the most famous and best-selling rags of the ragtime era. It has been recorded by many artists, ranging from Louis Armstrong to Lester Young....
" / "Querida" 7" (As Bert Weedon & His Honky Tonk Guitar)
- JAR415 "Apache" / "Lonely Guitar" 7"
- JAR517 "Sorry Robbie" / "Easy Beat" 7"
- JAR537 "Ginchy" / "Yearning" 7"
- JAR559 "Mr Guitar" / "Eclipse" 7"
- JAR582 "Ghost Train" / "Fury" 7"
- JKP3008 Weedon Winners EP
External links