King Biscuit Boy

Biography

King Biscuit Boy or Son Richard (9 March 1944-5 January 2003) was a Canadian blues and rhythm & blues singer, guitarist, harmonica player, and songwriter. Born Richard Alfred Newell in Hamilton, Ontario, he first heard the blues on U.S. radio. At the age of seventeen he started playing the harmonica, playing with local blues and rock bands. In 1966 he joined the Toronto band, the Mid-Knights, leaving them to go on tour singing and playing harmonica from 1968 to 1970 with Ronnie Hawkins (who n...

King Biscuit Boy or Son Richard (9 March 1944-5 January 2003) was a Canadian blues and rhythm & blues singer, guitarist, harmonica player, and songwriter.

Born Richard Alfred Newell in Hamilton, Ontario, he first heard the blues on U.S. radio. At the age of seventeen he started playing the harmonica, playing with local blues and rock bands. In 1966 he joined the Toronto band, the Mid-Knights, leaving them to go on tour singing and playing harmonica from 1968 to 1970 with Ronnie Hawkins (who named him "King Biscuit Boy" after the Arkansas blues programme, King Biscuit Time).

"Biscuit", who also played guitar, made his first LP, Official Music in 1970 with Hawkin's old backing band, now called Crowbar. His first solo album was the 1974 King Biscuit Boy, followed by many others.

He continued to perform intermittently in Canada and the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s. He received two nominations for the Juno award, and in 1995 was presented with the Great Canadian Blues Award.
Due to his heavy drinking, Newell's health deteriorated as he aged, which led to performance problems and cancelled shows. He died at his home in Hamilton, Ontario, in 2003, two months short of his fifty-ninth birthday.
A couple of months after his death, friends of Newell held a benefit show at a downtown Hamilton, Ontario, club, to create a trust fund in his name. More than 100 musicians from across the country showed up to play at Club 77 at the first annual "Blues with a Feeling" benefit show. The show was successful and "The Friends of Richard Newell" have held one every year since, with the money raised going to a music scholarship fund at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology in Hamilton, Ontario.
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