* En anglais uniquement
The husband-and-wife duo of
Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett created some of the most distinctive and unique music of the early '70s, but their alchemical sound -- equal parts blue-eyed soul, blues, country, and gospel -- was often marginalized by the attention instead paid to the contributions of their famous "friends," including rock icons like
Eric Clapton,
Duane Allman and
George Harrison.
Delaney Bramlett was born July 1, 1939 in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, later befriending fellow aspiring musicians
Leon Russell and
J.J. Cale. On their recommendation he relocated to Los Angeles, briefly landing with
the Champs before he was hired to play guitar with the Shindogs, the house band on the popular ABC television variety series Shindig.
Bonnie Lynn O'Farrell, meanwhile, was born November 8, 1944 in Alton, Illinois and raised in nearby East St. Louis; as a teen she backed blues acts including
Albert King and
Little Milton, before signing on as the first-ever white Ikette behind
Ike & Tina Turner. She eventually migrated to Los Angeles as well, and met Delaney while the Shindogs were moonlighting at a local bowling alley. Within a week, the couple were married.
After signing to the famed Memphis soul label, Stax,
Delaney & Bonnie recorded their debut LP, 1969's
Home. Though cut with the aid of Stax linchpins like
Booker T. & the MG's,
William Bell, and
Isaac Hayes, the record went virtually unnoticed and the duo were released from their contract. They landed with Elektra to release the follow-up,
Accept No Substitute -- recorded with a superb backing band including keyboardist
Bobby Whitlock, bassist
Carl Radle, and drummer
Jim Keltner, the album was another commercial failure, but the couple's gritty, soulful vocals and earthy sound earned the appreciation of fellow musicians at home and abroad, not to mention an invitation to serve as the opening act on British supergroup
Blind Faith's 1969 U.S. tour.
Blind Faith's superstar guitarist
Clapton was soon a fixture aboard
Delaney & Bonnie's tour bus, regularly jamming with
the Bramletts and their band. When
Blind Faith disbanded after the tour ended,
Clapton joined
Delaney & Bonnie full-time, assuming a sideman role and actively avoiding the spotlight on-stage and off. The group eventually toured the U.K., where
Clapton friends like
Harrison and
Dave Mason occasionally popped up on-stage -- a late 1969 show in Croydon was released the following year as
On Tour with Eric Clapton, becoming the duo's best-selling LP when it cracked the American Top 30.
Now dubbed Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, the group briefly joined up with
John Lennon's
Plastic Ono Band and toured Europe before returning stateside in 1970. When
Clapton dropped out to begin working on his debut solo album -- a record that introduced a bluesy, raw vocal style clearly indebted to Delaney -- audience interest began to dissipate. Worse,
Leon Russell lured away
Radle and
Keltner to join
Joe Cocker's
Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour, forcing the couple to cancel a planned tour of their own. Nevertheless, the backing band assembled for 1970's
Tom Dowd-produced
To Bonnie from Delaney was first-rate, including guitarist
Duane Allman, bassist
Jerry Scheff, pianist
Jim Dickinson, and saxophonist
King Curtis. 1971's
Motel Shot was another all-star affair, highlighted by
Delaney & Bonnie's biggest U.S. pop hit, "Never Ending Song of Love." The following year's D & B Together yielded another Top 20 hit, a reading of
Dave Mason's "Only You Know and I Know." However, the LP was
Delaney & Bonnie's last -- when their marriage fell apart, so did their musical collaboration.
After the couple's divorce, Delaney recorded a pair of solo albums, 1972's
Something's Coming, and 1973's
Mobius Strip, to fulfill their contract with Columbia Records; after 1978's Delaney Bramlett with Steve Cropper, a collaboration with the legendary Stax house guitarist recorded for Motown's Prodigal subsidiary, he largely disappeared from sight, overcoming a battle with alcoholism to become a born-again Christian and making a living by writing commercial jingles. In 2000, he returned with a new solo album, Sounds from Home, with
Sweet Inspiration following in late 2003.
Bonnie, meanwhile, made her solo debut with 1973's Sweet Bonnie Bramlett, recorded with the
Average White Band. She then cut three little-noticed albums for Capricorn, and while touring with
Stephen Stills in 1979, made headlines when she punched out
Elvis Costello in a Columbus, Ohio bar after the British upstart reputedly called
Ray Charles a "blind, ignorant n*****." She later changed her professional surname to
Sheridan, found Jesus, and was, for a short time, a supporting cast member on the hit 1990s sitcom Roseanne.
Bonnie returned to recording with
I'm Still the Same. In 1993,
Bekka Bramlett, Delaney and
Bonnie's daughter, joined
Fleetwood Mac, replacing
Stevie Nicks. ~ Jason Ankeny