Eric Bibb

Eric Bibb is an American folk and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist who is based in London and has built much of his career in Europe. He is born in New York in 1951, into a musical family, and his work centres on acoustic guitar, blues and folk traditions.

Early life and family

Bibb grows up surrounded by music. His father, Leon Bibb, is a trained singer who works in musical theatre and becomes part of the 1960s New York folk scene. His uncle is the jazz pianist and composer John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Family friends include Pete Seeger, Odetta and Paul Robeson, who is his godfather.

He receives his first steel-string guitar at the age of seven. He later recalls a conversation with Bob Dylan, who tells him to keep his guitar playing simple. At sixteen, his father invites him to play guitar in the house band for the television talent show Someone New.

Education and early career

In 1969, Bibb plays guitar for the Negro Ensemble Company at St Mark’s Place in New York. He studies psychology and Russian at Columbia University, then leaves for Paris at the age of nineteen. There he meets guitarist Mickey Baker, an encounter that deepens his interest in blues guitar.

He later moves to Sweden and settles in Stockholm, where he writes and performs while immersing himself in pre-war blues. He has said that the environment there reminds him of Greenwich Village during the folk revival.

Recordings and labels

Bibb’s album Good Stuff is released in 1997 and leads to a deal with the British label Code Blue. His only release on that label is Me to You, which includes guest appearances by Pops Staples, Mavis Staples and Taj Mahal. Taj Mahal also works with him on the Grammy-nominated children’s record Shakin’ a Tailfeather.

Me to You helps establish his international reputation. He then tours in the UK, the USA, Canada, France, Sweden and Germany.

Manhaton Records and later work

In the late 1990s, Bibb and his then manager Alan Robinson form Manhaton Records in Britain. Releases on the label include Home to Me (1999), Roadworks (2000) and Painting Signs (2001). He also records Just Like Love for Opus 3, the label listed among his associated releases.