Shaun Murphy
Livin' The Blues
Recommended if you like Deep Blues and Soul, like Koko Taylor, Big Mama Thornton and Etta James. Lot's of honkin' and shoutin'!!
Shaun found her way to the Blues stage in 1969 at the first Ann Arbor Blues Fest, and was completely smitten. Getting to play at such an important milestone festival must have had her head spinning. That was her awakening to the Blues, and she couldn’t have been among a better line-up: Son House, Muddy Waters, BB King, Freddy King, Lightin’ Hopkins, and the list went on and on….
Solidified into the Detroit music scene, she found her calling, but it was to be a bit illusive, while she continued her music ‘education’ over the years, starting with such notables as; Bob Seger, in ’73 with the Recording of Katmandu, under the pseudonym, Stoney. She worked with Bob and his band, The Borneo Band, along with some of the Silver Bullet boys, Chris Campbell, Alto Reed, and Drew Abbott, and throw in a couple of Tulsa boys, Jamie Oldaker and Dick Sims.
When Bob decided to take a different direction she was free to pursue another of her loves, acting, where she was able to snag two different life changing musical plays: Hair and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band On The Road. Appearing in both of the Broadway productions, as well as a number of other run of the play casts. Having been in Hair afforded her the opportunity to land a recording contract with Motown Records, along with Meatloaf, to record the album Stoney And Meatloaf.
Right after the recording of the record, Motown moved out to Los Angeles and Shaun went with them. After a short stay in LA, she then headed back to the music scene she was so familiar with, Detroit. She got back in touch with Seger’s manager, Punch Andrews, and it just so happened, Bob was, again, looking for a singer. She started working with Bob immediately on the road. By then, the Silver Bullet Band was pretty much intact and she’s been touring with Bob constantly since ’78.
Taking some time off the road, she was contacted by an old friend, Marcy Levy, (of Leon Russell and Eric Clapton fame) that Eric Clapton was doing a record with Phil Collins producing, and would she be interested in coming to Montserrat to record the BG’s on his Behind The Sun’s album. The experience was thrilling, to get back to her roots, and with the guitar god himself. She, of course, said yes! With the volcano steaming in the background, near the studio, worrisome to say the least, they recorded this great record, and after the second song, Eric asked her is she’d like to do the tour, well, you can only imagine the ‘walking on air’ feelings she must have had. One of her extreme idols was gong to be a band mate…too good to be true. To sit on and off stage for the next three tours and listen to the golden tones that came off his guitar was almost too much. Later there was even another, although short lived tour in Canada. She will always be thankful for the experience, and the grace of Mr. Clapton.
Back on the road with Seger, with hardly a couple of weeks off from Clapton, with his ’86 tour, she met up with Bill Payne and Fred Tackett, two of the members of the legendary band Little Feat. As tours go, making friends comes easy and when the tour was over, Bill Payne asked Shaun and Bob to sing some things on their new regrouped band’s CD, Let It Roll. As it happened, Shaun had moved back out to LA, and when Feat recorded their next CD, Representing The Mambo, she was asked to come in for more backgrounds, as well as the next, Shake Me Up.
She went on to tour with Seger to the present, with some other tours here and there along the way, with such notables as Bruce Hornsby, Joe Walsh and Glenn Frey with Television appearances with John Hiatt and Herbie Hancock.
She found herself back in Feat camp after that the singer, Craig Fuller, left the band, and they asked her to join as a full member, which she did without a bat of the eye. Seeing all of her favorite genres, wrapped into one with these boys, she couldn’t have been happier, and for the next 15 years, it was her home. Till recently parting with her long time cohorts, she then realized, she’d come full circle back to where she started, in the world of the Blues, wanting to take her place along side some of her favorite idols; Koko Taylor, Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, and Big Maybelle, paying special homage to Miss Taylor and Miss James on her new CD.
Blues: Classic Female Blues