Mike Bloomfield

• Genre: Blues & Boogie Rock

About

One of the first instrumentalists of the 1960s and '70s rock era to became a bona fide star, Michael Bloomfield is the classic tragic music business figure. Growing up in Chicago in the late '50s, he haunted the city's Southside blues clubs as a teen, befriending and sitting in with giants such as Howlin' Wolf and Big Joe Williams. He became an expert guitarist and a virtual walking encyclopedia of all blues idioms, electric and acoustic, standard and slide. He found acclaim as a founder and guitarist in the Butterfield Blues Band, and was a featured player on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. After leaving Butterfield, he helped form the influential, horn-laden Blues Rock band Electric Flag, as well as appearing on the chart-topping Super Session record with Al Kooper and Stephen Stills. Despite the fact that he influenced a generation of guitarists and was a revered player, his output from the latter part of his career is spotty at best. He spent most of his time at home shooting heroin and occasionally writing scores for porn films. He died of an overdose at 38.

- Tom Heyman