1960s and 1970s At the age of seven Beaker taught himself playing the guitar when he was confined to bed for 18 months after a serious road accident. In a holiday camp competition, at the age of twelve, he won the first prize which was ten shillings and an appearance on the
Lonnie Donegan show. Taking part in a few more shows of the “skiffle king” was the beginning of Norman’s career on stage. Lonnie Donegan and
Hank Marvin were his first influences, but soon his elder brother Malcolm introduced him to the work of blues artists like
Howlin Wolf,
Jimmy Reed,
Muddy Waters and
Sonny Boy Williamson. In 1967 Beaker formed his first band, called Morning After, which included his brother Malcolm Hume on drums, John McCormick on rhythm guitar, Mike Corrigan on keyboard, and Ian Stocks on bass. The band recorded the album
Blue Blood in 1971. After several years of gigging in the late sixties and early seventies, Beaker eventually joined Victor Brox's Blues Train, which meant appearing on
Granada TV in the show
So It Goes. In 1977, Beaker formed a new band called No Mystery named after the
Chick Corea album and song
No Mystery. The band members besides Beaker were Dave Lunt on bass, Tim Franks (drums) and John Dickinson on second guitar, later Balis Novak joined on keyboards, and Lenni 'Sax' Zaksen from
Sad Café on sax. The idea was to play more experimental music. But soon the band returned to the blues, as they were asked to back
Louisiana Red on the TV programme,
The Old Grey Whistle Test. The band supported many artists guesting such as
James Booker, Alexis Korner, Jack Bruce,
Tommy Tucker and
Zoot Money. In 1979, No Mystery with Victor Brox and harmonica player
Johnny Mars became the first UK blues band to play in East Germany.
1980 to present In 1981, No Mystery released a single "Taxman's Wine" produced by
Ray Russell. In 1982, the band dissolved. In 1985, after touring with former
Cream member
Jack Bruce and producing many albums for various other musicians, Beaker formed the
Norman Beaker Band, which included Kevin Hill (bass), Lenni 'Sax' Zaksen (saxophone),
Dave Bainbridge (keyboards), and Tim Franks (drums). The band released the live album
Bought in the Act in 1986 and recorded "I Once Was a Gambler" with
Phil Guy. Eventually, the band became the houseband for many visiting US artists. In 1994, Beaker was the organiser of the
Alexis Korner Memorial Concert, which was held annually for the next nine years at
Buxton Opera House in
Derbyshire. The 1994 Concert brought a reunion of
Robert Plant and
Jimmy Page from
Led Zeppelin, and featured, among others,
Dick Heckstall-Smith and
Chris Barber. Later gigs at Buxton - all of them organized by Beaker - featured
Fleetwood Mac founder
Peter Green, Chris Farlowe,
Eric Burdon and many others. In the 1990s, Beaker started producing albums for Del Taylor's Indigo label, amongst them Chris Farlowe's live album
Lonesome Road (1995). Here former
10cc drummer
Paul Burgess joined the band. In 1996, the Norman Beaker Band backed
Ruby Turner for her album
Guilty and Mick Abraham for his ''Mick's Back
album with Tim Franks on drums and Sheila Gott (vocals). Touring all over Europe with Chris Farlowe continued for the next two decades. A live recording on the German TV series Rockpalast'' with Farlowe in 2006 appeared on CD and video. The backing line-up of the Norman Beaker Band in 2016 was Nick Steed - keyboards, Kim Nishikawara - saxophone, John Price - bass guitar, Steve Gibson - drums. Occasional members are Tony Kelly, Dave Lewis and Damian Hand (all sax), with Steve Hallworth (trumpet). ==Autobiography==