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Norman Beaker (born Norman Hume;It was Victor Brox who christened Norman “Beaker” after the Neolithic “Beaker folk” to whom Brox considered Norman bore a resemblance 21 June 1950, in Manchester, England) is a blues guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, band leader and record producer who has been involved in the British blues scene since the early 1970s.
The Norman Beaker Band has toured and recorded with many blues artists including Graham Bond, Jack Bruce, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Rogers, Alexis Korner, Buddy Guy, Lowell Fulson, Fenton Robinson and B. B. King. Beaker has toured regularly with Chris Farlowe, Larry Garner and Van Morrison. He has contributed as a session musician to many recordings including Jack Bruce, Lowell Fulson, James Booker and Van Morrison.
In January 2017, Beaker was inducted as a "Legendary Blues Artist from England" into a Blues Hall of Fame registered in San Diego, California.
After several years of gigging in the late sixties and early seventies, Beaker eventually joined Victor Brox's Blues Train, which meant appearing on ITV Granada in the show So It Goes.Much of the information on Beaker's biography comes from the interviews with blues.gr, earlyblues.com, and private email contact with Beaker in February 2016
In 1977, Beaker formed a new band called No Mystery named after the Chick Corea album and song No Mystery. The band members besides Beaker were Dave Lunt on bass, Tim Franks (drums) and John Dickinson on second guitar, later Balis Novak joined on keyboards, and Lenni 'Sax' Zaksen from Sad Café on sax. The idea was to play more experimental music. But soon the band returned to the blues, as they were asked to back Louisiana Red on the TV programme, The Old Grey Whistle Test. The band supported many artists guesting such as James Booker, Alexis Korner, Jack Bruce, Tommy Tucker and Zoot Money. In 1979, No Mystery with Victor Brox and harmonica player Johnny Mars became the first UK blues band to play in East Germany.
In 1985, after touring with former Cream member Jack Bruce and producing many albums for various other musicians, Beaker formed the Norman Beaker Band, which included Kevin Hill (bass), Lenni 'Sax' Zaksen (saxophone), Dave Bainbridge (keyboards), and Tim Franks (drums). The band released the live album Bought in the Act in 1986 and recorded "I Once Was a Gambler" with Phil Guy. Eventually, the band became the houseband for many visiting US artists.
In 1994, Beaker was the organiser of the Alexis KornerIn the blues.gr interview Beaker counts Korner among his best friends and the godfather and namesake of his eldest son Alexis. Memorial Concert, which was held annually for the next nine years at Buxton Opera House in Derbyshire. The 1994 Concert brought a reunion of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, and featured, among others, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Chris Barber. Later gigs at Buxton - all of them organized by Beaker - featured Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green, Chris Farlowe, Eric Burdon and many others.
In the 1990s, Beaker started producing albums for Del Taylor's Indigo label, amongst them Chris Farlowe's live album Lonesome Road (1995). Here former 10cc drummer Paul Burgess joined the band. In 1996, the Norman Beaker Band backed Ruby Turner for her album Guilty and Mick Abraham for his Mick's Back album with Tim Franks on drums and Sheila Gott (vocals). Touring all over Europe with Chris Farlowe continued for the next two decades. A live recording on the German TV series Rockpalast with Farlowe in 2006 appeared on CD and video.
The backing line-up of the Norman Beaker Band in 2016 was Nick Steed - keyboards, Kim Nishikawara - saxophone, John Price - bass guitar, Steve Gibson - drums. Occasional members are Tony Kelly, Dave Lewis and Damian Hand (all sax), with Steve Hallworth (trumpet).
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