Chris Barber

(1930 - 2021)

Donald Christopher 'Chris' Barber (born 17 April 1930) is a British jazz musician, best known as a bandleader andtrombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit, he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singerOttilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with Barber triggered the skiffle craze of the mid-1950s and who had his first transatlantic hit, "Rock Island Line", while with Chris Barber's band. His providing an audience for Donegan and, later, Alexis Korner makes Barber a significant figure in the British rhythm and blues and "beat boom" of the 1960s.