They were also musically closer together than one might initially imagine. In the mid-1950s, Buddy Holly was influenced by, and indeed recorded songs by, some of the very same artists that Buddy Guy would have been listening to – people like Chuck Berry, the Clovers and Bo Diddley. Buddy and the Crickets

clocked up four Top 20 rhythm and blues hits in 1957 and 1958, including ‘That’ll Be the Day’ and ‘Peggy Sue’, which both reached number two (in the case of ‘Peggy Sue’, that was one place higher than its position in the pop chart). The first of those hits earned them a week-long gig at the famous Apollo Theatre in

Harlem in August 1957, where an initially sceptical audience was won over by their performance of ‘Bo Diddley’.

It’s unlikely that all of this could have escaped the attention of Buddy Guy, who has always given credit where it’s due; he is quite a modest person, in spite of his illustrious position in the pantheon of blues greats of the last six or seven decades. It is fair to say that he also takes inspiration from outside the usual

list of blues elders – from jazz, rock, soul and even, more recently, electronica. Having absorbed into his music such a broad range of influences may well have helped put him in the vanguard of younger bluesmen who created the new ‘West Side’ version of Chicago blues in the late 1950s.

I had the honour and pleasure of interviewing Buddy Guy more than once on my various radio shows. On one of those occasions he talked to me in his private apartment at his blues club in Chicago; he greatly enjoyed being the proprietor of a place where blues was played week in, week out.

Whenever I think of Buddy Guy now, I’m seeing him with the polka dot guitar which has become a sort of trademark. I’ve witnessed his extraordinary, and widely influential, intensity, both vocally and instrumentally, in many different locations and been bowled over by it – and also by his ability to relax totally and

enjoy an intimate relationship with an audience. Enthralling music and supreme showmanship. I find it irresistible.

Paul Jones