Duffy Power

Duffy Power (1941-2014) was among Britain’s first wave of late 50s rock’n’rollers, a protégé of impresario Larry Parnes alongside Billy Fury, Marty Wilde and Georgie Fame. In 1963, a musical epiphany saw him become one of Britain’s greatest bluesmen – an intensely soulful singer, songwriter and harmonica virtuoso whose career thereafter would be a rollercoaster of amazing recordings, off/on record deals, and periods of withdrawal before bowing out of music-making in 1973. In the mid-60s, Duffy recorded with future members of Cream, Pentangle and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. He never had any problem impressing fellow musicians, but a wider appreciation of his work would only come in the CD era.

Despite a string of lavishly produced singles for Parlophone and an attempted comeback on CBS with the single ‘Hell Hound’ / ‘Hummingbird’ in 1970, Duffy’s first real success since the Larry Parnes era was the result of an ‘archive trawl’ LP in 1971 – among the first of its kind for a living artist. Entitled Innovations, the album brought together a dozen unreleased recordings made between 1965-67 for his publisher, Marquis Music, including several co-writes between Power and guitar hero and Melody Maker poll-winner John McLaughlin, who had revolutionised Miles Davis’ sound in the intervening years. Other musicians on the album – Jack Bruce, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox – had since found the sweet spot between commercial success and acclaimed progressive music, while drummers Phil Seamen and Red Reece were legends of British jazz.