Phil Guy, 68, Chicago blues man, brother of Buddy Guy
ZapRatz
Chicago blues man, brother of Buddy Guy
By Trevor Jensen | Chicago Tribune reporter
August 22, 2008
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/chi-hed_philguyaug22,0,1828479.story
Phil Guy wasn't as flashy or famous as his older brother, Buddy, but
made his own mark on stages around the world as both a rhythm
guitarist and band leader.
Mr. Guy, 68, of Park Forest died of cancer on Wednesday, Aug. 20, in
hospice care at St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights, said his wife,
Jeniece.
Playing for the last decade with Phil Guy and the Chicago Machine, Mr.
Guy sang growling blues and recorded albums that were a mix of blues,
soul, rock and occasional hip-hop.
His albums include "Funky Booty," "Say What You Mean" and "He's My
Blues Brother," the title track of which features a duet with Buddy.
Mr. Guy lacked his brother's flamboyance on stage but won wide respect
from blues fans for his tasteful and understated playing.
"He had a really good, straight-ahead Chicago style," said blues
historian David Whiteis. "He played with a maximum of taste and a
minimum of needless flash."
The son of sharecroppers, Mr. Guy learned to play on his brother's old
guitar when Buddy left their hometown of Lettsworth, La., for Baton
Rouge. Not long after he began playing the acoustic instrument, he saw
Lightnin' Slim with an amplified guitar at a club. Slim let the
youngster play a lick.
"It was like a bomb went off for me," he said in a 2004 Chicago
Tribune interview.
In the late 1950s, Buddy Guy left the South for Chicago and his
younger brother took over his spot in harp player Raful Neal's band
out of Baton Rouge.
For the next 10 years he played with Neal and others, shined shoes,
bused tables and worked as a messenger in a law office.
Buddy Guy enlisted his brother to join his band for a tour of Africa
in 1969, and Mr. Guy moved to Chicago. From then on, he was a
full-time musician, with no more day jobs, his wife said.
The Guy brothers toured over the next 10 years, including a swing
through Europe with the Rolling Stones and a spot on 1970's Festival
Express Tour across Canada with Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead and
The Band.
Mr. Guy also played with Son Seals, Koko Taylor and John Lee Hooker.
In the early 1980s, Mr. Guy signed his own record contract and began
touring as a front man.
"I always wanted to be a sideman, not a leader," he told the Tribune
in 2004. "But when you make a recording you have to step out."
"Music was his life," and he was very contented with his own career
and proud of his brother, his wife said. His only gripe about touring
was the food, as he never developed much of a liking for anything but
the Southern fare he grew up on, she said.
In addition to his wife and brother, Mr. Guy is also survived by three
sons, Donald Ray, Ray and Maceo; a daughter, Nona Brown; another
brother, Sam; sisters Annie Mae Holmes and Fannie Mae Guy; and three
grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 4 to 10 p.m. Monday at Gatling's Chapel,
10133 S. Halsted St. in Chicago. A service will be held at 11 a.m.
Tuesday at Gatling's.
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ZapRatz
1940-2008 | Brother of blues legend carved his own niche in genre
August 22, 2008
BY JEFF JOHNSON
http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries/1121026,CST-NWS-xguy22.article
Often obscured by the giant shadow cast by his older brother, Chicago
blues king Buddy Guy, guitarist-vocalist Phil Guy was a talented
bluesman in his own right with a tough, muscular sound.
Mr. Guy died Wednesday at St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights after
battling prostate cancer, which had spread to other areas. He was 68.
A left-hander, Mr. Guy learned to play a conventional right-handed
guitar that Buddy left hanging on the wall of their Lettsworth, La.,
home when he moved out. He'd practice by taking the guitar down to the
levee, where he enjoyed the natural echo effect. Mr. Guy told the
Sun-Times in a 2006 interview how these early experiences affected his
playing style.
"People tell me I have a wicked sound, like a spitting sound, and I
kind of pick with my thumbs," he said.
He began playing professionally at age 15, summoned by Raful Neal
(bluesman Kenny Neal's father) to Baton Rouge, La., to replace Buddy.
Mr. Guy eventually followed his brother to Chicago, arriving in April
1969.
He played backup for Buddy and in Chicago-based bands fronted by Koko
Taylor, Son Seals, Jimmy Dawkins, Byther Smith and Junior Wells before
going on to form his own group, Phil Guy and the Chicago Machine.
Mr. Guy cultivated a wild afro in the '70s. He said the look appealed
to the women. How many? "As many as you wanted," he said. "There was
free love. People was more happy back then. I never saw any fights."
He toured the world before his illness limited his performing
schedule. He made eight albums, including 2006's "He's My Blues
Brother," for labels such as London's JSP, Wolf, Isabel and Red
Lightning.
"He's My Blues Brother" features the song "Last of the Blues Singers,"
on which Mr. Guy expressed the need to pass the torch to a new
generation of blues artists.
"That song came when all these musicians started passing," he said.
"One day I'd gone to Jimmy Rogers' funeral, then went directly to
visit Junior Wells in the hospital. Junior died pretty soon after
that, then [Lefty] Dizz and Albert Collins. It just started coming in
my mind that with all this rap out there, I'm one of the last guys
around who's still singing the blues."
Buddy Guy has been on tour. He reportedly was flying home Thursday
night to be with family members.
Services for Mr. Guy are pending.
Related Blog Posts
Blues Guitarist Phil Guy, Buddy's Brother, Dead At 68
From Nightwatcher's House Of Rock
Goodbye Phil Guy
From Dust my Broom
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La N
"ZapRatz" <zapratzR...@newsguy.com> wrote in message
news:crj1b4ph9oevne0ja...@4ax.com...
> Phil Guy: Blues guitarist known for his wicked sound
>
> 1940-2008 | Brother of blues legend carved his own niche in genre
>
> August 22, 2008
> BY JEFF JOHNSON
> http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries/1121026,CST-NWS-xguy22.article
>
> Often obscured by the giant shadow cast by his older brother, Chicago
> blues king Buddy Guy, guitarist-vocalist Phil Guy was a talented
> bluesman in his own right with a tough, muscular sound.
>
>
Well, there you go. Count me among those who didn't know Buddy had a
musician brother. I'll have to look into this.
- nilita, who has some Buddy Guy music ....
ZapRatz
Blues Guitarist Phil Guy, Buddy's Brother, Dead At 68
Thursday, August 21, 2008
http://www.suntimes.com/news/blogentries/
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9qGE3OfMNkQ/SKz5MDNe59I/AAAAAAAAAaQ/zEDUy7whU6E/s1600/Phil%2BGuy.jpg
Blues guitarist Phil Guy passed away August 20th at the age of 68.
He was the brother of legendary bluesman Buddy Guy and an acclaimed
performer in his own right.
Guy died Wednesday morning at Saint James Hospital in Chicago Heights
of complications from prostate cancer. He played backup for his
brother Buddy and also fronted his own band, Phil Guy and the Chicago
Machine.
Born on April 28, 1940, Phil Guy was the fifth child and third son of
his sharecropping parents, Sam and Isabell Guy. Phil, the younger
brother of Buddy Guy, learned to play guitar as a child. He followed
in Buddy's footsteps, playing after him with local artists Big Poppa
and Raful Neal. He recorded as accompanist for his brother in 1957,
for Neal around 1958, and for Slim Harpo (James Moore) in the mid-60s.
He joined his brother's band in Chicago in 1969, and was based there
ever since. He worked and recorded with many of the city's leading
artists, such as his brother, Junior Wells, Byther Smith, and Jimmy
Dawkins. Guy spent most of the 80s consolidating his own musical
career, showing himself to be a tough electric Chicago bluesman, with
a raw guitar style influenced by artists including Guitar Slim.
Buddy Guy has been on tour in support of his brand new release, 'Skin
Deep'. He is flying home tonight to be with family members.
http://www.philguynothrmule.com/
The views expressed in these blog posts are those of the author and
not of the Chicago Sun-Times.
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Bill Schenley
>
> Chicago blues man, brother of Buddy Guy
> "He's My Blues Brother" features the song
> "Last of the Blues Singers," on which Mr. Guy
> expressed the need to pass the torch to a new
> generation of blues artists.
Last of the Blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbZSHfFUpWg&feature=related
> "That song came when all these musicians started
> passing," he said. "One day I'd gone to Jimmy
> Rogers' funeral, then went directly to visit Junior
> Wells in the hospital. Junior died pretty soon after
> that, then [Lefty] Dizz and Albert Collins. It just
> started coming in my mind that with all this rap out
> there, I'm one of the last guys around who's still
> singing the blues."
Not to worry, Phil, there is a whole new generation of Blues singers
out there.
Not that I want to knock him ... but the best part of just about any
band he was working with was better than he was. And he wasn't bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAey4j1D2wY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAey4j1D2wY&feature=related
His brother, Buddy ... One of my favorite guitarists ...
Sweet Home Chicago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuRhaDrnlWo&feature=related
ZapRatz
Blues guitarist who cheerfully performed in the shadow of his more
celebrated brother.
11:00PM BST 27 Aug 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2634153/Phil-Guy.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00796/Phil-Guy-220_796996f.jpg
Phil Guy playing in Chicago
Phil Guy , who has died aged 68, spent his career in the shadow of his
elder brother, Buddy Guy, but was an outstanding blues guitarist and
singer in his own right, playing alongside his sibling for many years
and touring the world with his own band, the Chicago Machine. "Buddy
and I were the original Blues Brothers," he liked to say.
On what turned out to be Phil Guy's final album, He's My Blues Brother
(2006), Buddy joined him on vocals and guitar on the title track.
Although Buddy, now 72, has won five Grammys and has influenced
artists such as Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, it was his younger
brother who was named Blues Entertainer of the Year in 2007 at the
27th annual Chicago Music Awards.
Phil Guy realised early on that he would remain firmly in his
brother's shadow. "There's two Guys and one's on top," he said. "If
the labels can't get the Big Man, they don't want to mess with me."
Nevertheless, Phil became well known in Europe. In the United States
he was particularly popular in his adopted hometown of Chicago, where
he performed for 40 years, often at his brother's renowned club Buddy
Guy's Legends.
Most of his albums were recorded by JSP Records, based in London.
Among them was Say What You Mean (2000), which features what is
perhaps his best-known song, (I'm the) Last of the Blues Singers,
mourning the loss of such greats as Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf.
According to John Stedman, founder of JSP Records, Phil Guy was "one
of the most impressive 'live' acts I've worked with in 30 years of
legendary Americans".
Four years younger than Buddy, Phil Guy created his own style,
mingling the Cajun music of his native Louisiana with Mississippi
Delta blues, jazz and soul to produce his own brand of blues; this was
understated and unflashy, in contrast to the elder brother's
flamboyant style.
To underline his own identity, Phil, who looked like a chubbier
version of the late comedian Richard Pryor, became known for a wild
Afro hairstyle as well as for the beloved Fender Telecaster he called
"Ludella".
Philip Guy was born on April 28 1940 at Lettsworth, near Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, the youngest of five children of sharecroppers.
As a boy he picked cotton and pecan nuts and helped raise pigs and
chickens around the family's shack, which was fitted with electricity
only when he was nine. When Buddy moved to Baton Rouge to attend high
school, he left his battered Harmony f-hole guitar hanging from a
nail, ordering his younger brother never to touch it – an injunction
which Phil was unable to respect.
A natural left-hander, he initially played the instrument upside down,
but later taught himself to play right-handed.
Thanks to the arrival of electricity, his parents had been able to
install an old phonograph, and he began mimicking the music of
bluesmen such as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf.
Phil Guy would eventually join his brother in Chicago, initially
playing with Junior Wells. The three of them also went on
international tours, on one occasion supporting the Rolling Stones on
one of their early tours in Europe.
Until cancer slowed him down, Phil Guy and the Chicago Machine toured
extensively around the world, returning to Chicago for gigs in
between. His favourite British venues were the 100 Club on London's
Oxford Street, the Leadmill in Sheffield, and Band on the Wall in
Manchester.
Last August Guy and his band sold out venues in Ireland and Northern
Ireland, including the Bleu Note in Dublin and the Big River Jazz and
Blues Festival in Belfast. He had first played Belfast during "the
Troubles" and said he found it "helluva safe compared with some of the
neighbourhoods back home".
Phil Guy died from cancer in Chicago on August 20. He is survived by
his wife, Jeniece, and by three sons and a daughter.
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