<back - RICHARD NEWELL aka KING BISCUIT BOY - Born in March of 1944, Richard Newell grew up in Hamilton Ontario, Canada, pasted on Jan.5/ 2003, listening to the Blues being broadcast out of Upper NY State on the radio. He began playing harmonica in his teens and between 1961/65 and worked with The Barons. They made one recording called Bottleneck. In the early 1960s, The Barons changed their name to Son Richard And The Chessmen. He also traveled and performed through Europe and the UK during this time period. By 1966 Richard had left the Chessmen for The Midknights. Two years later he joined Ronnie Hawkins, who nicknamed him 'King Biscuit Boy' because of Richard's uncanny ability to play like Sonny Boy Williamson.

In 1970 Daffodil Record's main man Frank Davies gave Richard Newell his first break and recorded his first solo album with the old Hawkins band named Crowbar. Entitled 'Official Music' was the product of those first sessions. The second Daffodil release was titled 'Gooduns'. King Biscuit Boy went solo after those first two Daffodil releases and recorded a few songs but the commercial success eluded him until 1974 when Epic records signed him and flew him to New Orleans where famed songwriter/record producer Alan Toussaint was hired along with The Meters to back up Richard in the studio. The product of those sessions was an album simply titled King Biscuit Boy but later became known as The Brown Derby Album. That album was the finest work to date. In 1980 the release of Mouth of Steel appeared on the Red Lightning record label out of England. This album was picked up by Stony Plain Records and released in 1982.Then in 1987 Richard and Andy Grigg went back into the studio to start work on the recording King Biscuit Boy AKA Richard Newell. The AKA album was superb, the singing, the choice of material, the harmonica playing. It was released on Stony Plain Records and was nominated for a Juno Award in the Best Roots/ Traditional category. In 1995 he was back into the studio and recorded an album of all new material for Blue Wave Records out of Syracuse, NY. This CD, titled Urban Blues Re:Newell was quickly snatched up in Canada by Stony Plain Records. This is probably his best work to date and it too was nominated for a Juno Award in Best Blues/ Gospel category. He brought the REAL BLUES to Canada in his recordings. -LivinBlues  Mp3- HOY HOY HOY | 29 WAYS | LORD PITY US |