Eric was born In New York
into a musical family. Eric's father, Leon Bibb, is a trained
singer who sang in musical theatre and made a name for himself
as part of the 1960's New York folk scene. His uncle was the
world famous jazz pianist and composer John
Lewis, of the Modern
Jazz Quartet. Family friends included Pete
Seeger, Odetta and
actor/singer/activist Paul Robeson, Eric's godfather.
Eric was given his first steel-string guitar aged seven. By Junior High School,
Eric was consumed by music. "I would cut
school and claim I was sick" said Bibb. "When
everyone would leave the house I would whip out all the records
and do my own personal DJ thing all day long, playing Odetta,
Joan Baez, The New Lost City Ramblers, Josh White."
At 16 years old, Eric's father invited him to play guitar in the house band for his TV talent show "Someone
New". Eric's early musical heroes were from his father's band, and included Bill Lee, (father of director Spike) who appeared on Eric's album Me
To You, years later.
In 1969, Bibb played guitar for the Negro
Ensemble Company at St. Mark's place
in New York and went on to study Psychology and Russian at
Colombia University. "After a while it
just didn't make much sense at all. I didn't understand why
I was at this Ivy League School with all these kids who didn't
know anything about what I knew about."
Aged 19, Eric left for Paris, where a meeting with guitarist Mickey
Baker focused his interest in blues guitar.
When he later moved to Sweden, Bibb found a creative environment which took him back to Greenwich Village during the heyday of the folk revival.
Settling in Stockholm, Bibb immersed himself in pre-war blues and continued to write and perform. "I
began meeting and playing with local musicians as well as newcomers from all
over the world. There was a budding world Music scene going on before it became
a market concept."
The album Good Stuff was released in 1997 on Opus
3 and American label Earthbeat! and led to Eric signing to the British based
Code Blue label.
Eric's only release on Code Blue was Me to You,
featuring appearances from some of Bibb's personal heroes in Pops and Mavis
Staples,
and Taj Mahal (who also worked with Bibb on the Grammy-nominated children's record,
Shakin' A Tailfeather). The album furthered Bibb's international reputation
and was followed by tours of the UK, USA, Canada, France, Sweden and Germany.
In the late 90's Eric joined forces with his then manager Alan
Robinson, to form Manhaton Records, in Britain. The
albums Home
to Me (1999), Roadworks (2000)
and Painting Signs (2001)
followed, as did another Opus 3 release, Just
Like Love.
A Family Affair -
The first ever album recorded together by father and son - Leon & Eric Bibb. Natural
Light followed
then Friends -
15 tracks featuring Eric duetting with friends and musicians he has met on his
travels such as Taj
Mahal, Odetta, Charlie Musselwhite, Guy Davis, Mamadou Diabate and Djelimady
Toukara.
Eric has appeared on major TV and radio shows including Later with
Jools Holland and The Late Late Show.
Eric and his band have played at most of the world's
major festivals including Glastonbury (4 times this year) and
the Cambridge
Folk Festival in the UK.
He joined Robert Cray on two U.S. tour stints in 2001 and
2002 and opened for Ray Charles in the summer of 2002.
Eric's talent for both performing and songwriting has been recognised with a
Grammy Nomination (for Shakin' a Tailfeather) and 4
W.C.Handy nominations (for
the albums Spirit and the Blues, Home To Me and A
Ship Called Love; for 'Kokomo'
as Best Acoustic Blues Song of the Year, and for Best Acoustic Blues Artist of
the Year). His songs have featured on TV shows such as BBC TV's
'Eastenders' and 'Casualty', and 'The
District' in the USA.
Eric's version of "I Heard the
Angels Singin" was included in the feature
film "The Burial Society" and Eric
appears on Jools Holland's double platinum-selling album Small
World, Big Band,
singing his own composition "All That You Are".
In recent years, the international troubadour has definitely not been travelling
on the 'Slow Train'.
In 2005 Eric released A Ship Called Love and
toured the world as ever, including a major US tour with John
Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
and Robben Ford. A Ship Called Love was nominated for Acoustic
Album of the Year
in the 2006 Blues Music Awards.
Diamond Days was
released in 2006 and has become the biggest selling album of the Eric's lengthy
career, receiving universal critical acclaim. The album entered both Australian
(National) and US charts (Blues). Eric has been nominated for
Acoustic Artist of the Year in the 2008 Blues Music
Awards.
Since the release of Diamond Days there have been appearances on national TV
in Australia (including a one hour live concert broadcast), France, Finland,
Sweden and the UK (including Later with Jools Holland). The track "Shine
On" garnered
strong airplay in the US on Triple A format stations. "Shine On" has also been
used as the opening theme for the BBC drama series Sea
Of Souls. BBC Radio 2,
the UK's largest radio station, supported Eric with several prime-time interviews
and extensive airplay.
In this same 12-month period Eric performed over 130 shows across 3 continents.
Some of the highlights included show-stopping performances at legendary venues/festivals
such as Glastonbury Festival (UK); BB Kings, New
York (USA); The
Bluebird Café, Nashville (USA); Port Fairy Folk
Festival (Australia); Nice Jazz Festival (France);
Edmonton Folk Festival (Canada) and, Sommarscen,
Malmo (Sweden).
2008 saw the release of Eric's latest album, Get
Onboard.
Eric and producer, Glen Scott, produced an album which, those
who have heard it feel, is his finest set of recordings to date.
The album was recorded in Nashville
and completed in Stockholm. Bonnie Raitt and Ruthie Foster are featured guest
performers.
The album features a stellar line-up of musicians - the
Nashville band included
producer Glen Scott on keyboards and backing vocals, Tommy
Sims (Bruce Springsteen,
Kelly Clarkson, Eric Clapton) on guitar, bass and backing vocals, Lemar
Carter on drums (Carrie Underwood, Joss Stone, India.Arie) and other Nashville musical
luminaries.
Producer Glen Scott then took the tracks back to Stockholm to complete
with his own "house" musicians - many of whom appeared on Diamond Days.
Eric describes his latest creation as follows "My new album
Get Onboard is, without a doubt one of the most exciting projects of my career.
It's a further exploration
into the place where blues meets gospel and soul."
A performance by Eric Bibb is an enriching
experience - both musically
and spiritually. Purveying a beautifully realised and deftly accomplished, soulful
and gospel infused, folk- blues, Eric has no problem melding a traditional rootsy
American style with a subtle contemporary sensibility.
As
one critic wrote "Eric's singing
and versatile guitar playing fuses a variety of genres to become a New World
Blues".
"Eric is one of the new, young singers that has appeared
on the scene that, much to my delight, has a great voice, is an excellent performer
and has a great knowledge about the roots of this music"
Taj Mahal
