LONNIE DONEGAN VINTAGE SIGNED PYE RECORDS PHOTO

Description

Offered here is a Pye photo signed by the late Lonnie Donegan.    The photo is 4 ½ by 5 ½ inches.
I am selling my collection of autographs that I have purchased several years ago from an array of sources – from eBay sellers, from dealers with professional credentials, and from the signers themselves via the mail.  Some came with COA’s; most did not.  When I obtained these signatures, I believed them to be genuine and I believed that they were genuine when I posted them on Ebay.
I have received opinions from others, including PSA/DNA whose opinion I sought, indicating that some of the signatures that I have posted were not likely to be genuine.  I have pulled those questionable signatures, and will not post them for sale again in the future.  It is not my intention to sell autographs that are not authentic, and I will continue do my best to try to ensure that the signatures that I am offering are genuine.
As indicated below, all signatures that I sell come with a money-back guarantee if they are judged to be of doubtful authenticity.
If the signature or signatures is/are determined to be inauthentic by a well-recognized autograph expert, this item may be returned for a full refund.
For those who'd prefer a different form of shipping, please contact me so that we can discuss what your shipping charges might be.
NOTE TO INTERNATIONAL BUYERS:
As of January 1, 2021, eBay collects a VAT (Value Added Tax) for the Customs bureau of that country.  Some countries charge an exorbitant 20% VAT.  Some countries make distinctions for historical documents such as autographs, and charge a more reasonable 5% VAT.  PLEASE CHECK WITH CUSTOMS IN THE COUNTRY YOU RESIDE IN REGARDING A VAT AND WHAT THAT TAX WILL BE FOR THE ITEM YOU WISH TO PURCHASE FROM ANY SELLER.
Short Bio:
To look at Lonnie Donegan today, in pictures taken 40 years ago when he was topping the British charts and hitting the Top Ten in America, dressed in a suit, his hair cut short and strumming an acoustic guitar, he looks like a musical non-entity. But in 1954, before anyone (especially anybody in England) knew what rock & roll was, Donegan was cool, and his music was hot. He's relatively little remembered outside of England, but Donegan shares an important professional attribute with Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, the Rolling Stones, and the Sex Pistols -- he invented a style of music, skiffle, that completely altered the pop culture landscape and the youth around him, and for a time, completely ruled popular music through that new form. What's more, his music, like that of Presley and Haley, was vital to the early musical careers and future histories of the Beatles, the Stones, and hundreds of other groups. And he did it in 1954, before Elvis was known anywhere outside of Memphis and before Bill Haley was perceived as anything but a Western swing novelty act.
He formed his own group, the Tony Donegan Jazz Band, in 1952. They were successful enough that the National Jazz Federation asked the band to play a show at Festival Hall with American ragtime pianist Ralph Sutton
and blues/jazz legend Lonnie Johnson. The Federation had brought the two over to England in defiance of a Musicians' Union ban on all foreign performers and needed a non-union band like
Donegan's to play support for the two guests. The master of ceremonies at the show made a mistake in his announcement, introducing the American guitarist as "Tony Johnson" and the British banjo man as "
Lonnie Donegan
." The name stuck.
Donegan
proved to be a popular performer in America, playing on bills with Chuck Berry,
While
Donegan
was racking up hits -- "Bring a Little Water, Sylvie" (number seven), "Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O" (number four), "Cumberland Gap (number six), and "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On the Bedpost Overnight?" (number three and number five in the U.S.) all in less than three years -- thousands of skiffle groups were springing up all over England. New artists, most notably Tommy
and, later, Cliff Richard, started out playing skiffle music and put their own stamp on the material before moving on to other sounds. Among the many tens of thousands of British teens he inspired were members of
the Beatles
, Gerry & the Pacemakers, and the Searchers.
Lonnie Donegan
remains a beloved pioneer of English rock & roll, and the king of skiffle. In the late '90s, his musical credibility came around again to perhaps the highest level of respect of his life, with several multi-disc hits and career-wide compilations available.
Donegan
passed away November 3, 2002, following heart problems. Unlike a lot of American rock & roll of the mid-'50s, and even more British attempts at the music from the same period and after,
Donegan
's music remains eminently enjoyable and enlivening.
by Bruce Eder