PHOTOS OF STUDEBAKER JOHN BY KURT SWANSON
E-MAIL: kurtswanson@juno.com

Studebaker John Grimaldi was born in 1952 in an Italian-American section of Chicago known as "The Patch". He started playing harmonica at age 7, but spurred by the propulsive backbeat of a favorite rockabilly song, Pink Cadillac, he switched to drums, the instrument he would play in his first few bands. Early on, he was he was not even aware of a distinct music called the blues, preferring to cover popular music like that of The Ventures, but new musical horizons would soon open for him.

Raised in a working-class family with a strong work ethic, Grimaldi was expected to carry his load at a young age. In his early teens, he began working weekends, cleaning catch basins and sewers around the city. Unglamorous work, but one of the fringe benefits was lunch on the boss, who had taste for the corned beef sandwiches available only on Maxwell Street.

It was there that he first experienced blues music, and his interest in playing harmonica was rekindled "I got to see Big John Wrencher, the one-armed harp player who was a Maxwell Street regular and played with just a guitarist and drummer. I was spellbound. His music was simple yet so powerful".

Grimaldi's first car, a Studebaker Lark, not only gave him the mobility to seek out the music that was to become his life's work, but provided the stage name he would use when he got his chance to perform. He would visit blues clubs on the South and West Side - such as the Checkerboard, Theresa's, Mother's - to see Chicago's blues legends perform. Like Paul Butterfield and Charlie Musselwhite before him, Grimaldi began to sit in with the cream of Chicago blues players, including Lefty Dizz, Big Walter, Jimmy Johnson, Buddy and Phil Guy, James Cotton, Junior Wells and Hound Dog Taylor. ~studebakerjohn.com

Studebaker website: http://www.studebakerjohn.com

11/02/04 HARLEM AVE. LOUNGE BERWYN, IL

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