Gerry Lockran (19 July 1942 – 17 November 1987) was a British blues singer, songwriter, poet and guitarist.

Biography

Early years

Gerald Cranston Frederick Loughran was born in the Yeotmal province of the central plains of India. He was the youngest of eight children, having three brothers and four sisters. His forefathers emigrated from Ireland to India around 1800, while his paternal grandmother was of Russian descent. His father Albert Loughran (known as Locky) was a Chief Inspector of Police in the Central Province of India. His mother, Lizzie Cranston, was born of a British father and an Indian mother. He spent the earliest years of his life growing up on the family farm just outside the town of Damoh, and attended Wynberg Allen Memorial School in Mussoorie, a small village in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

Personal life

After the death of Gerry's father in 1949, the Loughran family emigrated to south London, England in 1953, following the sale of the family farm. He took up an apprenticeship at Kingston power station, qualifying after five years as an instrument engineer. 1963 saw the death of Gerry's mother, and also his marriage to Bobbi, whom he had first met in 1959. They had two sons, Jason and Jethro. At the end of 1981 he suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

and

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

after which he lost the use of his left hand. He died on 17 November 1987, after another heart attack.

Musical career

Lockran discovered

skiffle Skiffle is a music genre, genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, Country music, country, Bluegrass music, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. ...

music and for three years played in skiffle group 'The Hornets', at well known venues such as the Skiffle Cellar. Lockran also appeared at the Finsbury Park Empire, London with Wally Whyton and The Vipers. Towards the end of the 1950s, Lockran met and become lifelong friends with two other young blues musicians: Cliff Aungier, another singer/guitarist and Royd Rivers, who played blues harmonica and 12-string guitar. Lockran and Rivers worked as a duo until 1963, playing live in pubs and clubs throughout Southern England, including the Red Lion in Sutton, Surrey which was one of England's first folk clubs. In 1961, Lockran acquired the guitar he was most associated with: a Martin D-28 as played by his biggest influence,

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1893 or 1903August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African-American audiences. In the 19 ...

. Lockran continued to perform solo throughout the early 1960s, and his live work included tours of France, Germany, Italy and Sicily. Fellow guitarist John Renbourn has cited Lockran as a key influence on his career: "He was a great player and a great guy who took me under his wing and gave me a platform" In 1964, he also began an association with Jersey in the Channel Islands, performing extensively on television and radio there. Around April 1965, he changed the spelling of his surname from Loughran to Lockran for stage purposes. His British live schedule at this time included a package tour called 'Kings of the Blues' with

Long John Baldry John William "Long John" Baldry (12 January 1941 – 21 July 2005) was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including ...

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and

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. On 6 August 1965, Lockran, together with Aungier and Rivers, founded 'Folksville', a folk and blues club at the Half Moon, Putney in west London which remains a thriving music venue. In 1966, Lockran secured a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

which resulted in the release of his first album ''Hold On - I'm Coming!'', featuring

Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Ma ...

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and

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. He followed this release with ''Blues Vendetta'' in 1967, featuring "Jason's Blues", written for his three-year-old son. In 1969, ''The Essential Gerry Lockran'' was released, and he also featured on the ''Blues at Sunrise''

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

with Redd Sullivan, and Dave Travis. In the early 1970s, his career was managed by Nigel Thomas, who also represented

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances featuring expressive body movements. Most of his best-known singles, such as "Feelin' Alright ...

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and Juicy Lucy. During 1972 and 1973, Lockran toured the U.S., Canada and Europe as part of package of tours featuring these artists. The U.S. and Canadian tour headlined by Joe Cocker lasted three months, and involved 40 concerts at venues including

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and The Forum in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. This was followed by a two-month European tour through France, Holland, Italy, Germany and England. Lockran recorded further albums during this period, ''Wun'' (released in 1972),''Pinup'' (released 1973) with Henry McCulloch,

Neil Hubbard Neil Terrence Hubbard (born 24 February 1948) is a British guitarist who has performed with Juicy Lucy, The Grease Band, Bluesology, Joe Cocker, Roxy Music, Kokomo, Alvin Lee, B.B. King, Kevin Rowland, Dexys Midnight Runners, Bryan Ferry ...

and others, then ''Rags to Gladrags'' (released in 1976) with musicians including

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, Henry McCulloch,

Alan Spenner Alan Henry Spenner (7 May 1948 – 11 August 1991) was an English bass player who performed with Wynder K. Frog, the Grease Band, Spooky Tooth, ABC, David Coverdale, David Soul, Joe Cocker, Kenny Loggins, Lynda Carter, Peter Frampton, Ted Nuge ...

, Philip Chen,

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and Cliff Aungier. He then concentrated on touring in Europe, performing in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, France and Italy, working with blues harmonica players Matt Walsh and Walter Liniger, Hans Theessink and Ian Hunt, with whom he recorded ''The Shattered Eye'' (1979) and ''Total'' (1980). Around this time he also started to use the relatively new Ovation Legend guitar. During a tour of Belgium and Holland in 1981, he started suffering heart problems, which culminated in a heart attack and stroke, depriving him of the use of his left hand and effectively ending his career as a professional musician. Lockran never played guitar again, but turned to photography and poetry. He took promotional portraits of other musicians including

Ralph McTell Ralph McTell (born Ralph May; 3 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song " Streets of London" (1969), which ...

, Cliff Aungier and the psychedelic indie-group

Ozric Tentacles Ozric Tentacles are an English instrumental rock band, whose music incorporates elements from a diverse range of genres, including psychedelic rock, progressive rock, space rock, jazz fusion, electronic music, dub music, world music, and ambie ...

which featured Gerry's nephew, Paul Hankin on percussion. In 1983, a private collection of his poems, ''Smiles and Tears'' was privately published by Waddling Duck Press.

Discography

*''Hold On - I'm Coming!'' (1966) *''Blues Vendetta'' (1967) *''The Essential Gerry Lockran'' (1969) *''Blues at Sunrise'' - with Redd Sullivan and Dave Travis (1969) *''Wun'' (1972) *''Pinup'' ( Bellaphon Ear 5008 1973 ) *''Blues Blast Off!'' (1976) *''Rags to Gladrags'' (1976) *''No more cane on the brazos''(1976) (munich records)- with Dave Travis, Ted Hatton, Jeff Whittington and Lloyd Ryan *''Rally Round the Flag'' - Live in Germany, featuring Matt Walsh (1976) *''The Shattered Eye'' - with Ian Hunt (1979) *''Total'' - with Ian Hunt (1979) *''Across the Tracks'' (1982) *''Cushioned for a Soft Ride Inside'' - with Hans Theesink (1982)

References

Bibliography

The Conscience of the Folk Revival: The Writings of Israel “Izzy” YoungMore Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Artists from the Later 20th Century By David Dicaire “Gerry Lockran”
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Volume 5''.
''Folk Directory''The Guinness Encyclopedia Of Popular Music “Gerry Lockran”
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Volume 6
''English Dance & Song''
*

External links

Official website

John Renbourn website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockran, Gerry 1942 births 1987 deaths Blues singer-songwriters British blues guitarists 20th-century British poets 20th-century British male singers 20th-century British guitarists