The Epic of Black Music
Luther Allison… 25 years later!
Luther Allison in 1995 in Chicago.
Getty Images - Paul Natkin
By: Joe Farmer Follow
4 mins
In August, we offer you a summer series dedicated to the great figures of "The Epic of Black Music" who disappeared 25 years ago!
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Luther Allison deserved to be celebrated as an icon of the 20th century, but fate deprived him of the unanimous recognition to which he so longed.
Born in 1939 in Arkansas, Luther Allison will experience the humiliations and bullying of the black bluesman in segregationist America.
This is the reason why, all his life, he will seek to bring cultures together, to provoke meetings and to share his enthusiasm with his contemporaries.
While his fame seemed to raise him to the rank of the great figures of our time, illness was eating away at him from within.
On August 12, 1997, Luther Allison left us, broke in full glory by a sneaky and undetectable cancer.
A month earlier, he was still on stage, happy to be able to exchange and dialogue with an audience that acclaimed him with warmth and deep respect.
Bernard Allison in 2010 in Spain.
Redferns - Jordi Vidal
Luther Allison had a son, Bernard Allison, who had to fight hard to make a name for himself as his father's aura was so imposing.
He readily admits today that the father figure sometimes overshadowed him: "
Many
people
knew
my father before they knew me. There has always
been
this reflex of saying: "Bernard
Alison
, the son of L
Uther
Allison
"
_
think that today the name Bernard Al lison is better known, people do
more easily the difference between father and son in terms of voice
and
guitar
playing
.
I think it will pass but slowly.
There will always be someone to say "
the son of Luther"
, I understand that very well, you have to be patient
so that the public
recognizes you as an artist in its own right, comes to your concert or buys your CD and finally says to himself: "
I
have just seen Bernard
Alison
, he does
not
sound like his father"
.
This is the kind of reflection I expect, to be recognized in my own name"
.
(Bernard Allison at the microphone of Joe Farmer).
The disappearance of Luther Allison, a few days before his 58th birthday, was a brutal and violent psychological shock for many of his admirers and friends.
The late French guitarist and singer Patrick Verbeke had often spoken to us about his friend Luther Allison, and remembered this sad day in the summer of 1997 for a long time. Patrick Verbeke also left us in the middle of August, it was the 22 August 2021. The two big-hearted accomplices are now reunited beyond the skies…
Boney Fields on the microphone of Joe Farmer.
Christian Rose
Another talented musician often shared the stage with Luther Allison.
This is trumpeter Boney Fields.
He does not fail to regularly perform the title
Freedom
borrowed from his former stage partner.
This song, appeared on the album
Rich Man
in 1987, denounced the apartheid regime in South Africa and, more generally, all the racial discrimination observed on our planet.
Luther Allison was a man of peace who often questioned the daily manifestations of so-called "ordinary" racism.
He didn't understand that Chuck Berry had never been considered the creator of rock'n'roll.
He fumed when we celebrated Elvis Presley.
He did not hesitate to affirm that Chuck Berry had been deprived of the status of "King" because of the color of his skin.
Luther Allison was an altruistic artist often irritated by social injustices and inequalities.
25 years after his disappearance, his speech and his music are sadly still relevant!
⇒
Luther Allison 's website
⇒
Bernard Allison 's website
⇒ The
Boney Fields website.
Luther Allison in 1997 in California.
Getty Images - Tim Mosenfelder
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