Song:Fooled Around and Fell In Love
Album:20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Elvin Bishop
For the most part, guitarist Elvin Bishop has toured the blues circuit since the late 60s. Except when he scored a top five pop hit with Fooled Around and Fell In Love in 1976. He was born Oct. 21, 1942 in Glendale, CA but he grew up on farms in Iowa and Oklahoma. He attended the University of Chicago on a full scholarship and he majored in physics. But he started hanging around blues clubs and learned to play the guitar. He met Paul Butterfield in 1963 and Bishop was lead guitarist for the Paul Butterfield Blues Band until 1968. Bishop signed with Bill Graham's Fillmore label. When the label closed, Bishop signed with Phil Walden's Capricorn label. So he's doing fine and then Fooled Around and Fell In Love reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. Bishop does sing but he decided that for this song he needed a more polished voice. So he had backup singer Mickey Thomas sing lead. Of course Thomas went on to have a lot of success with Starship. But he was unknown when Fooled Around and Fell In Love became a hit. This budget comp covers Bishop's Capricorn years. Bishop has never had another hit single. But he continues to tour and record for labels like Alligator, Blind Pig and Delta Groove. His latest CD Can't Even Do Wrong Right was released in 2014. He is currently on tour. Elvin Bishop was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 as a member of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Here's the video for Fooled Around and Fell In Love by Elvin Bishop featuring Mickey Thomas.
I had no idea he was a Blues player and singer. I am going to look into his work more closely. He did guitar for the Paul Butterfield Blues band? Nice. Thank-you for the information Frank. For the record I heard that song on the Fm radio in the late 70's for a while it was popular and had a good run.
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