2018 Canned Heat - Dale Spalding - by 2eight - DSC5632

Dale Spalding is an American singer, harmonicist, guitarist and bassist, best known for his works with Poncho Sanchez and

Canned Heat Canned Heat is an American blues rock band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1965. The group has been noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists. It was launched by two blues enthusiasts, Alan Wilson and ...

Biography

Dale Spalding grew up in Downey,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, in a family of four children. As a teenager, he became interested in harmonica after listening to an album by

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer, and bandleader. After early training as a Western concert flute, classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored ...

. He also started playing the guitar. He is fascinated by

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

from

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Big Band Swing and

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when Rock music, rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of Culture of the United Kingdom, British culture became popular in the United States with sign ...

. He is also interested in blues legends like

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

, B. B. King,

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

, and

. Spalding also followed several musicians playing in Los Angeles, such as the Ashgrove and the Golden Bear. In 1969, Spalding moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, where he played in clubs and studied harmonica with bluesman

Sonny Terry Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and occas ...

. Terry introduced Spalding to his friends, among them

Brownie McGhee Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. Life and career McGhee was bor ...

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

Johnny Shines John Ned Shines (April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was an American blues singer and guitarist. Biography Shines was born in Frayser, Tennessee, today a neighborhood of Memphis. He was taught to play the guitar by his mother and spent m ...

, Lafayette Leake and Big Walter "Shakey" Horton. Spalding later formed a duet with Duke Burrell, the pianist of

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the King ...

. Duke discovered Spalding's talent as a vocalist and encouraged him to sing more. The duet played together for ten years, during which Duke taught him a variety of jazz classics and ballads. After the death of Burrell in the early 1990s, Spalding went back to Los Angeles, where he formed the Dale Spalding Band with bassist Tom Gargano, his long-time friend. The Dale Spalding Band regularly performs in Los Angeles, and has played with various musicians, including drummer

James Gadson James Edward Gadson (born June 17, 1939) is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B. He is also a singer and songwriter. ...

, saxophonist Lon Price and pianist Bruce "Funky Mal" Malament. In 2000, Mexican conguero Poncho Sanchez discovered the Dale Spalding Band, and Spalding and Sanchez started working together. Spalding toured several times with Sanchez in the US and Japan. He also worked with Sanchez on ''Latin Spirits'', and played the harmonica on the 2003 song '"MaryAnn", with Ray Charles on vocal. In 2005, Spalding moved to New Orleans, and started working with roots rock band The Iguanas.

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

forced him to move once more, this time to

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

, Texas, where he was a founding member of Little Elmore Reed Blues Band ame of band, not a person with a band In 2007, his career took a new turn when he met Canned Heat drummer Fito de la Parra. After performing several times together, Fito invited him to join Canned Heat. In 2015, he released a live album with the band, entitled ''Songs from the Road''. Spalding is still touring the world performing as front man for Canned Heat, solo, and occasionally with Poncho Sanchez. Dale Spalding married actress Loretta Morrison on April 15, 2017, in New Orleans, LA They maintain their home in New Orleans, as well as Indianapolis. Dale Spalding has also played and/or recorded with Dave Alvin,

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

Marcia Ball Marcia Ball (born March 20, 1949) is an American blues singer and pianist raised in Vinton, Louisiana. Ball was described in ''USA Today'' as "a sensation, saucy singer and superb pianist... where Texas stomp-rock and Louisiana blues-swamp me ...

Ruthie Foster Ruthie Cecelia Foster (born February 10, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter of blues and Folk music, folk music. She mixes a wide palette of American song forms, from gospel and blues to jazz, folk and soul. She has often been compared to Bo ...

, Papa Mali,

Otis Rush Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter who has been long revered as one of the creators of modern Chicago blues; though he was respected and praised, the success he sought e ...

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Lifet ...

, Redd Volkaert and Amos Garrett among many others.

Discography

* Solo work: ''One by one'' (2008) * With Poncho Sanchez: ''Latin Spirits'' (2001) * With Ruthie Foster: ''The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster'' (2007) * With Robert Kyle: ''Blue Winds'' (2000) * With Canned Heat: ''Songs From The Road'' (2015)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spalding, Dale Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male singers American harmonica players People from Downey, California