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TONY McPHEE

Tony (Anthony Charles) McPhee

23 March 1944—6 June 2023

Singer and guitarist Tony McPhee, who fronted British
blues and rock group The Groundhogs across six
decades, has died aged 79.

The band confirmed McPhee’s death in a statement
on their Facebook page, which read: “We are
deeply saddened to announce that 79-year-old
guitar and blues legend Tony McPhee, died
peacefully at home today 6th June, from
complications following a fall last year.”

Born on March 22, 1944, in
Humberston, Lincolnshire, McPhee
began listening to imported blues
albums that his brother would bring
home. He told Classic Rock in 2007
that “it was then that I first heard this
raw stuff and my ears pricked up.
There was some good pop music at
the time but nothing that really
stirred you. Then I went to see Cyril
Davies at the Marquee in 1963, heard
proper R&B and thought: ‘this’ll do’”.

Tony’s band named themselves The
Groundhogs after John Lee Hooker’s
song Ground Hog Blues. In 1964 they
temporarily renamed themselves
John Lee’s Groundhogs when they
backed Hooker on a UK tour and later
he recruited them to play on his
album “… And Seven Nights” (1966,
later reissued as Hooker and the
Hogs) and teamed up with them
again for his 1965 British tour.

As the band veered towards the
experimental, freewheeling music
typified by Ten Years After and Led
Zeppelin, McPhee said that the band
was "progressive" in the sense that
they were "progressing" away from
the blues. The stage was set for their
breakthrough with “Thank Christ for
the Bomb”. Sadly missed.