Delaney & Bonnie were the American musical duo, singers and songwriters Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. In 1969 and 1970 they fronted a rock/soul ensemble, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, whose members at different times included Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, George Harrison, Leon Russell, Bobby Whitlock, Dave Mason, Rita Coolidge, King Curtis, and Eric Clapton. (More from Wikipedia)
Shortly after Blind Faith broke up, Eric Clapton began playing as a sideman with a completely different group, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, a rock/soul collaboration of Delaney Bramlett and his wife Bonnie Bramlett with a whole parade of musicians: Besides Clapton, Wikipedia lists Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, George Harrison, Leon Russell, Bobby Whitlock, Dave Mason, Rita Coolidge, and King Curtis. In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton: The Autobiography, Eric Clapton claimed that Delaney & Bonnie and Friends was the first white group to sign with Stax Records. Delaney & Bonnie and Friends was the opening act for Blind Faith at many of their concert appearances; about this, Eric Clapton stated: “For me, going on [with Blind Faith] after Delaney & Bonnie was really, really tough, because I thought they were miles better than us.” The group recorded a total of six albums between 1969 and 1971, though none were big sellers.
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Eric Clapton continued to keep a relatively low profile in order to counter the star worship that he was attracting. In 1970, Eric Clapton assembled another band consisting of the rhythm section from Delaney & Bonnie and Friends – Bobby Whitlock (keyboardist and vocals), Carl Radle (bass) and Jim Gordon (drums) – plus Dave Mason on guitar. This quintet backed George Harrison on his monumental solo album, All Things Must Pass.
Eric Clapton was then interested in turning them into a proper band; he first suggested the name Eric Clapton and Friends, but that seemed too much like Delaney & Bonnie and Friends to suit others in the group. There are several stories as to how they took the name Derek and the Dominos, but “Derek” seems clearly derived from “Eric”, and Fats Domino might have inspired the band name. As it happened, Dave Mason was present only at their first concert in June 1970, before they even took that name.
(May 2014)
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Items: Delaney & Bonnie and Friends
