The Groundhogs frontman Tony McPhee dies aged 79

nme.com:

Tony McPhee, who fronted British blues and rock group The Groundhogs across six decades, has died aged 79.The band confirmed McPhee’s death in a statement on their Facebook page, which read: “We are deeply saddened to announce that 79-year-old guitar and blues legend Tony (TS) McPhee, died peacefully at home today 6th June, from complications following a fall last year.”Born on March 22, 1944, in Humberston, Lincolnshire, McPhee began listening to imported blues albums that his brother would bring home.

He told Classic Rock in 2007 that “it was then that I first heard this raw stuff and my ears pricked up. There was some good pop music at the time but nothing that really stirred you.

Then I went to see Cyril Davies at the Marquee in 1963, heard proper R&B and thought: ‘this’ll do’”.Music mourns the passing of Tony McPhee – Groundhogs founder, British R&B boom pioneer, and an underground hero.https://t.co/7wAUhhxvak pic.twitter.com/lfX9rE75vc— CLASH (@ClashMagazine) June 7, 2023RIP Tony McPhee; leader of the great Groundhogs, and creator of this off-kilter wtf-was-that classic pic.twitter.com/Nm1C9vLRKb— South Records (@southrecordshop) June 6, 2023Remembering Tony McPhee with my favourite Groundhogs album on the turntable. #Groundhogs #TonyMcPhee #bluesrock pic.twitter.com/1VeNVEowaz— Vinyl Revival Store (@VinylRevivalUK) June 6, 2023He joined a south London group, the Dollar Bills, in 1962 and renamed them the Groundhogs after the John Lee Hooker song ‘Groundhog Blues’.

The band stuck to their blues roots while their peers strayed away leaning into pop as a way to attract more of a mainstream audience.The Groundhogs would get the chance to work with Hooker himself, backing him on his 1965 LP ‘Hooker And The Hogs’ and.