Leigh Blond
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Leigh Blond | |
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Birth name | Bert de Ruijter |
Born | 1952 Hardinxveld |
Genres | Blues, Ballads and Rock & Roll |
Instrument(s) | Guitars, piano, drums, harmonica |
Years active | 1970–present |
Website | leighblond |
Bert de Ruijter (born 1952), known as Leigh Blond, is a Dutch composer, singer and songwriter.
Career
Born to musically gifted parents in a shipyard town called Hardinxveld. At young age exposed to the jukebox music of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and the Shadows. A little later there were John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Champion Jack Dupree, Otis Spann, Cuby + Blizzards and other first hour pioneering musicians who influenced teenagers in that era. So, the drum kit, guitar, piano and harmonica came around. The first bands were composed and his first self-written songs on his 17th.
1969 took him to London to breathe the original sounds of the blues in the Marquee. Met with Long John Baldry, Christine Perfect, Chris Farlowe and several other British musicians and played with them randomly for a while as a guest guitarist and pianist.
Writing his own songs he started to record them in the late 70's and 80's. Two EP/LP's came out under his own label, i.e. KEYS and RIVER OF TEARS.
In 1990 a project was initiated that included the making of a CD together with famous sixties idols as Eelco Gelling, Kaz Lux, Herman Deinum, Hans laFaille. The first Leigh Blond CD was released named BLUESNESS on the Munich Record label.
The second CD SEE ME THRU (1996/1999) was recorded in England with Gerry Rafferty producer Hugh Murphy. Chris Farlowe, Pavel Rosak and Bryn Haworth contributed on the record. The title song became a top ten hit in several countries in the world with the aid of Sony Music.
A Tour was organized to back up the SEE ME THRU record with a band lining up Chris Farlowe, Eelco Gelling, Herman Deinum, Hans laFaille, Pavel Rosak, Kim Snelten, Arjan de Swart and Leigh Blond.
In 2004 the album TRIBUTE TO PCL came out. Next in 2006, BLUESIDE OF THE ROAD, in 2012 SUBTLE WAYS, in 2017 DIGNITY.
All released LB records contain songs written by himself only. DIGNITY, SUBTLE WAYS and BLUESNESS have been produced by Leigh Blond as well.
Chris Farlowe and a dozen other musicians recorded Leigh Blond songs between 1985 and today. Half of these covered songs have been copyrighted under other aliases of LB.
Involved record companies throughout the LB oeuvre are Sony Music, RM Records, Munich Records, Delicious Records, DMI Music, Texas Publishing and Polydor.
Discography
- River of Tears (1982)
- Bluesness (1992)
- See Me Thru (1999)
- Tribute To PCL (2004)
- Blueside of the Road (2006)
- Subtle Ways of Blues (2012)
- Dignity (2017)
External links
- Living people
- 1952 births
- Dutch composers
- Dutch singer-songwriters
- Dutch guitarists
- Dutch male guitarists
- Dutch pianists
- Dutch drummers
- Male drummers
- Harmonica players
- Blues drummers
- Blues pianists
- Blues guitarists
- Blues harmonica players
- Blues singers
- Male pianists
- 21st-century pianists
- 21st-century male musicians
- People from Hardinxveld-Giessendam