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Chris Barber OBE [17/03/1930 – 02/03/2021]

Donald Christopher "Chris" Barber was born in Welwyn Garden City on
17 April 1930. By his twenties he was an accomplished trombone
player, following his love of New Orleans based 'Dixieland' jazz.

Barber also doubled on string bass. For all of his professional
life Chris sought to promote not only his jazz, but also blues
and gospel music both of which he saw as an integral part of
the American jazz tradition. As well as scoring a UK top twenty
jazz hit, he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues

singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife (0ne of
four) and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose
appearances with Barber triggered the skiffle craze of the
mid-1950s. The group had a transatlantic hit
with a tune based on a Lead Belly song, ‘Rock Island
Line’, with Beryl Bryden on washboard..

Barber played bass (which he had studied alongside
the trombone at the Guildhall School of Music) in the
skiffle group, which was fronted by Donegan. The
group started a movement which took hundreds
of thousands of young people by
the ears and saw hundreds of
skiffle groups spring up all over

the nation, performing blues
songs by artists such as Lead
Belly, Leroy Carr, and Josh White,
gospel songs by the likes of
Rosetta Tharpe and Thomas A

Dorsey (Georgia
Tom) and blues tinged
country music.
The movement was
largely amateur, but
did see
a number of

professional bands
such as The Chas
McDevitt Skiffle Group, Johnny Duncan
and the Bluegrass Boys and The Vipers with
Wally Whyton.

Many British musicians began their careers playing skiffle

in this period, and some became leading figures in their respective fields. These included leading
Northern Irish musician Van Morrison and British blues pioneer Alexis Korner, as well as Ronnie
Wood, Alex Harvey, and Mick Jagger; folk musicians Martin Carthy, John Renbourn, and Ashley
Hutchings; rock musicians Roger Daltrey, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Robin Trower, and