Steptoe and Son inspired Rag'n'Bone Man
Blues is infectious.
Once Graham starting writing his own material, his love of Blues took over.
He said: “I’d found my voice through that style of music, so instantly when I started trying to write my own music, it all sounded very like Muddy Waters, because that’s the stuff I’d grown up with.
“Blues is infectious. No-one’s ever listened to blues, and gone, ‘Nah, don’t like that’, know what I mean? Nobody’s ever listened to BB King and gone, ‘That’s sh**’. They haven’t – and if you did, you’re a mug!”
Rag'n'Bone Man is tipped for the top in 2017
Record companies come knocking:
After years of gigging and early demos, doors opened when he started working with producer Mark Crew who was working on Bastille’s debut album Bad Blood. Crew landed Graham a publishing deal with Warner Chappell which lead to the nine-track EP, Wolves in 2014. This, in turn, led to a record deal with Colombia Records and the 2015 EP, Disfigured.
Graham formed the Rag‘n’Bone Man live band, touring the UK and Europe’s festival circuit, including Glastonbury, Eurosonic and Loveboxx.
No genre required:
Graham said: “I remember thinking, ‘I can just do what I want now, so if I just do something that sounds good, I’m not gonna worry about what genre it is."
Human by Rag'n'Bone Man is out now.
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