Marshall Lawrence (born 1956) is a Canadian musician. Lawrence is often referred to as the "Doctor of the Blues", as he also works as a psychologist.North, Peter (October 21, 2008). "Sunny attitude gives rise to Morning After: 'It was about hooking up and having fun,' says blues veteran Marshall Lawrence", ''

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...

'', p. D4.

Early years

Lawrence was born in

Flin Flon, Manitoba Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line The Dominion Land Survey (DLS; french: links=no, arpentage des terres fédérales, ATF) is the method used to divid ...

. After the age of 10 he moved to and grew up in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...

.Levesque, Roger (June 11, 2010).
Blues doctor strums healing tunes
", ''

''. Retrieved December 29, 2012. At the same time he became interested in

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

and asked his father for a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

. Lawrence enjoyed his Echo semi-acoustic guitar and inspired by Jimi Hendrix was determined to learn how to play it. Lawrence played his first gig in 1969 in

, with a band named The Peanut Gallery, playing a 1969

Gibson SG The Gibson SG is a solid-body electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1961 as the Gibson Les Paul SG. It remains in production today in many variations of the initial design. The SG (where "SG" refers to Solid-Body Guitar) Standard is G ...

through a Fender Dual Showman. He blew an amp playing "

Johnny B. Goode "Johnny B. Goode" is a 1958 rock song written and first recorded by Chuck Berry. Released as a single, it peaked at number two on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot R&B Sides chart and number eight on its pre- Hot 100 chart. "Johnny B. Goode" is c ...

." As a

teen Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

, he spent most of the 1970s and 80s exploring guitar rock styles, while being employed at a car factory in Windsor. Later on in his life, Lawrence moved east to

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

to pursue a Ph.D in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

Start and growth

Lawrence followed the techniques of his famous idols, the 1970s all-star power guitarists,

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined a ...

and

Johnny Winter John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer and guitarist. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s. He also produced three Grammy Award-win ...

by buying their albums. He then found himself coming home to the blues of

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

. Next, Lawrence discovered

Eddie Hazel Edward Earl Hazel (April 10, 1950 – December 23, 1992) was an American guitarist and singer in early funk music who played lead guitar with Parliament-Funkadelic. Hazel was a posthumous inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1 ...

from

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, Bush. Funkade ...

, a Jimi-inspired guitarist whose style at that time was considered popular who blended funky James Brown. Lawrence began to play 1970s funk,

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station * ...

and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

with the groups Masala and Shock Walter. Simultaneously, Lawrence began experimenting with

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, an ...

technology, by playing

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the ...

-style horn lines, a solo flute and digital FX on his Roland-equipped Strat.

Life without music

By 1996, Lawrence started to feel that he had matured well enough in blues music so he returned singing blues with the Marshall Lawrence Band. His work took him to Northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

where he could'n find any blues scenes to play, mostly because of his not being familiar with the area. Without any blues music there for him, he purchased and learned how to play the

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

. He then joined a local bluegrass band, playing mandolin, by the name of the Tubtones. According to Lawrence, this taught him a great deal about rhythm and contributed to his current sound.

Return to Canada

Lawrence returned to Canada in 1997 and having heard of an active and talented blues community in

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anch ...

, he moved there. In less than two weeks after relocating, he formed a R&B group. named it Rhythm Chil'un, and secured a house gig at Brandy's Blues Bar.

Awards

* Inducted into the Blues of Hall of Fame as a Great Blues Artist from Canada(July 1, 2011). "Concerts", ''

'', p. C11. * Received the Blues Underground Network Ambassador Of The Blues Award 2010 * Maple Blues Award Nominee – New Artist/Group Of The Year * Canadian Independent Music Award Nominee – Favourite Blues Artist Group or Duo of the Year * Toronto Exclusive Magazine Award Winner – Best Provincial Male Blues Artist * Toronto Blues Society "Blues Summit IV" Selected Showcase Artist * Toronto Exclusive Magazine Award Nominee – Best Provincial Blues CD Album "The Morning After" * Toronto Exclusive Magazine Award Nominee – Provincial Artist of the Year

Early years

Start and growth

Life without music

Return to Canada

Awards

References

External links