Skip McDonald (born Bernard Alexander, September 1949) is an American

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

who also performs under the stage name Little Axe.

Career

Early career

Grounded in

blues music Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

learned from his father, a steel worker who played blues guitar at weekends, McDonald spent his early days playing

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

, and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

, and eventually relocated to New York City as a teenager with his band of friends, called The Entertainers. McDonald formed the group Wood Brass & Steel in 1973 with

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

ist

Doug Wimbish Douglas Arthur Wimbish (born September 22, 1956) is an American bassist, primarily known for being a member of rock band Living Colour and funk/dub/hip hop collective Tackhead, and as a session musician with artists such as Sugarhill Gang, G ...

and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

Harold Sargent. The group recorded two albums before their 1979 breakup. He then became part of the house band for Sugarhill Records and appeared as a session player on many early

rap Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

recordings, including " The Message" by

Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop music, hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Kidd Creole (not to be confused with Kid Creole), Keef Cowboy, ...

Post-Sugarhill

After leaving Sugarhill, McDonald, Wimbish, and drummer

Keith LeBlanc Keith LeBlanc (November 10, 1954 – April 4, 2024) was an American drummer and record producer who was a member of the bands Little Axe and Tackhead. His record " No Sell Out" was one of the first sample-based releases. The song was a success, ...

began working with

Adrian Sherwood Adrian Maxwell Sherwood (born 20 January 1958) is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing techniques to other forms ...

, and eventually formed the trio into the industrial/dub group

Tackhead Tackhead (styled TACK>>HEAD, sometimes known as Fats Comet) is an industrial hip-hop group that was most active during the 1980s and early 1990s, and briefly reformed in 2004 for a tour. Their music occupies the territory where funk, dub, ind ...

, initially fronted by

Gary Clail Gary Clail (born 1959) is an English singer and record producer, and the founder of the Gary Clail Sound System. He was part of On-U Sound Records (and also the On-U Sound System) and led Gary Clail's Tackhead Sound System. They had a big hit ...

and later

Bernard Fowler Bernard Fowler (born January 2, 1960) is an American musician. He is known for a long association with The Rolling Stones, providing backing vocals since 1989 and on their studio recordings and live tours. Fowler has been a featured guest vocali ...

. McDonald also collaborated with Sherwood on other projects, including albums by African Head Charge and Mark Stewart. In the 1990s, McDonald assumed the

moniker A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

"Little Axe" and began moving from

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

to a form of blues that drew from an array of musical influences, including dub, R&B, gospel, and jazz. He has been working steadily as a

studio musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a record ...

, recording both his own blues albums, and continuing to appear as a guest act on other artists' albums. His most recent albums have been released on

Real World Records Real World Records is a British record label specializing in world music. It was founded in 1989 by English musician Peter Gabriel and original members of WOMAD. A majority of the works released on Real World Records feature music recorded at R ...

Alan Glen Alan Glen (born 21 December 1951) is a British blues harmonica player, best known for his work with The Yardbirds, Nine Below Zero, Little Axe, and his own bands, The Barcodes and The Incredible Blues Puppies. Career Glen started playing h ...

is often featured on

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

on these albums. In 2009, he collaborated with

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

n musician Daby Touré to produce an album, ''Call My Name''. As of 2016, he still tours and gigs regularly, has a loyal following and is in regular demand for session work as a guitarist.

Discography

* ''Never Turn Back'' (1993, Spin) * '' The Wolf that House Built'' (1994,

Okeh OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

/Wired) * '' Slow Fuse'' (1996, Wired) * '' Hard Grind'' (2002, On-U Sound) * '' Champagne & Grits'' (2004, Real World/

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

) * '' Stone Cold Ohio'' (2006, Real World/Virgin) * '' Bought for a Dollar, Sold for a Dime'' (2010, Real World) * '' If You Want Loyalty Buy a Dog'' (2011, On-U Sound) * ''Wanted - Live 1996'' (2012, Little Axe Recordings) * ''Return'' (2013, Echo Beach) * ''One Man - One Night'' (2016, 12:10 Records) * ''London Blues'' (2017, Echo Beach) With

Will Downing Wilfred "Will" Downing (born November 29, 1963) is an American R&B, soul, neo soul, and jazz singer and songwriter. He has released 22 studio albums. Biography Early life Downing was born and raised to a working-class family in Bedford-Stuy ...

* ''Will Downing'' (Island Records, 1988) * ''Come Together as One'' (Island Records, 1989) * ''A Dream Fulfilled'' (Island Records, 1991) With

Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes were an American soul and R&B vocal group. One of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s, the group's repertoire included soul, R&B, doo-wop, and disco. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in ...

* ''Talk It Up (Tell Everybody)'' (Philly World, 1984) With

Melba Moore Beatrice Melba Smith (born October 29, 1945) known by her stage name Melba Moore, is an American singer and actress. Biography Early life and education Moore was born Beatrice Melba Smith on October 29, 1945, in New York City to Gertrude Melba ...

* '' I'm in Love'' (Capitol Records, 1988) * '' Soul Exposed'' (Orpheus, 1990) With

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...

* '' Faith and Courage'' (Atlantic Records, 2000) * '' Sean-Nós Nua'' (Vanguard Records, 2002) With

The O'Jays The O'Jays are an American Rhythm and blues, R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in summer 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appea ...

* ''Love And More'' (Philadelphia Records, 1984) With Brenda K. Starr * '' I Want Your Love'' (Mirage, 1985) With

Candi Staton Canzetta Maria "Candi" Staton (, ) (born March 13, 1940) is an American singer–songwriter, best known in the United States for her 1970 cover of Tammy Wynette's " Stand by Your Man" and her 1976 disco chart-topper " Young Hearts Run Free". In E ...

* ''Nightlites'' (Sugar Hill Records, 1982) With

Donna Summer Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music ...

* ''

Mistaken Identity Mistaken identity is a defense in criminal law which claims the actual innocence of the criminal defendant, and attempts to undermine evidence of guilt by asserting that any eyewitness to the crime incorrectly thought that they saw the defend ...

'' (Atlantic Records, 1991)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Axe 1949 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American male singers American session musicians Songwriters from Ohio Record producers from Ohio Fat Possum Records artists Singers from Ohio Musicians from Dayton, Ohio Real World Records artists Tackhead members Guitarists from Ohio 20th-century American guitarists Fats Comet members 21st-century American guitarists