Posted in: Guitar by cancreate on April 22nd, 2012 | 0 Comments
Following the sad death of Herbert Maurice William Bert Weedon, coming from a background where my father was a phenonemel violinist, something that I was immensly proud of. So I wanted in this profile to cite his lifespan and get a clearer understanding of why "Bert" stood out from the crowd in the music industry.
Family
Herbert Maurice William Bert Weedon, was born on 10th May 1920. His mother gave birth to him at home at Burgess Road, East Ham, he was an English Guitarist. Bert was at his most influencial in the 1950-60’s.
Bert is survived by Maggie Weedon & their two sons.
Early Career
He led the 1930’s “Blue Cumberland Rhythym Boys Band” and also “Bert Weedon & His Harlem Hotshots.” However, by 1939 he was appearing solo at the EastHam Town Hall.
He has spoken transparently on what lead him to play the guitar and he recalls the endless trips to Petticoat Lane Market in London, where he peruse the guitars for sale and he would be tole”clear off” by the stall holder. However, by the time he was aged 12 Bert had saved up enough money to by his first guitar.
He describes the excitement when after nearly getting a flee in his ear for the umpteenth time, but when the stall-holder realised he was buying this time, his item was placed in two bags, I suppose it is the equivalent of a young lad saving for his first smart phone or X Box. Bert was as proud as he strode off down the road, pass the assortment of brightly colured stalls & then someone says in passing, “What’s That?” and Bert saya “A guitar” and the boy shouts “what’s a guitar?.
1950’s Onwards
So the concept of guitar playing was a somewhat new music phase being experienced in the early days. So Bert had his own guitar and by the time of his death he is thought to have had 10 guitars and another special guitar which was made to specification directly for him. He joined the BBC Showband, directed by Cyril Stapleton in 1950, where he also played “solo.”
In 1959 he became the first British guitarist to get into the singles charts with a guitar and the hit was “Boogie Shuffle.” Now in 1959 I had just started school aged around five years old and I should imagine most of us that have attended school now or in the past,can recall how the teacher would “do the register” first before classes began.
Howeveer, I now want to take you to the “Bert Weedon School” and for a liitle bit of fun, Bert asked the children to answer their names, when he called them out. So it began;
Eric Clapton, Yes Sir
Paul McCartney
