Taj Mahal (musician)

Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr. (born May 17, 1942), better known by his stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician.

He plays the guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and many other instruments, often incorporating elements of world music into his work.

Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Hawaii, and the South Pacific.

Mahal was born Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr. on May 17, 1942, in Harlem, New York City.

Growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts, he was raised in a musical environment: his mother was a member of a local gospel choir and his father, Henry Saint Claire Fredericks Sr., was an Afro-Caribbean jazz arranger and piano player.

His family owned a shortwave radio which received music broadcasts from around the world, exposing him at an early age to world music.

Early in childhood he recognized the stark differences between the popular music of his day and the music that was played in his home.

He also became interested in jazz, enjoying the works of musicians such as Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk and Milt Jackson.

His parents came of age during the Harlem Renaissance, instilling in their son a sense of pride in his Caribbean and African ancestry through their stories.

Because his father was a musician, his home frequently hosted other musicians from the Caribbean, Africa, and the US.

His father was called "The Genius" by Ella Fitzgerald before starting his family.

Early on, Henry Jr. developed an interest in African music, which he studied assiduously as a young man.

His parents encouraged him to pursue music, starting him out with classical piano lessons.

He also studied the clarinet, trombone and harmonica.

When Henry Jr. was eleven years old, his father was killed in an accident at his construction company, crushed by a tractor when it flipped over.

It was an extremely traumatic experience for the boy.

Mahal's mother later remarried.

His stepfather owned a guitar which Henry Jr. began using at age 13 or 14, receiving his first lessons from a new neighbor from North Carolina of his own age who played acoustic blues guitar.

His name was Lynwood Perry, the nephew of the famous bluesman Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup.

In high school Henry Jr. sang in a doo-wop group.

For some time he thought of pursuing farming over music.

His passion began on a dairy farm in Palmer, Massachusetts, not far from Springfield, at age 16.

By 19, he had become farm foreman.

"I milked anywhere between thirty-five and seventy cows a day. I clipped udders. I grew corn. I grew Tennessee redtop clover. Alfalfa."

Mahal believes in growing one's own food, saying, "You have a whole generation of kids who think everything comes out of a box and a can, and they don't know you can grow most of your food."

Because of his personal support of the family farm, Mahal regularly performs at Farm Aid concerts.

Henry chose his stage name, Taj Mahal, from dreams he had about Mahatma Gandhi, India, and social tolerance.

He started using the stage name in 1959 or 1961 —around the same time he began attending the University of Massachusetts.

Despite having attended a vocational agriculture school, becoming a member of the National FFA Organization, and majoring in animal husbandry and minoring in veterinary science and agronomy, Mahal decided to pursue music instead of farming.

In college he led a rhythm and blues band called Taj Mahal & The Elektras.

Before heading for the U.S. West Coast, he was also part of a duo with Jessie Lee Kincaid.

Mahal moved to Santa Monica, California, in 1964 and formed Rising Sons with fellow blues rock musicians Ry Cooder and Jessie Lee Kincaid, landing a record deal with Columbia Records soon after.

After the Rising Sons disbanded, Jesse Ed Davis, a Kiowa native from Oklahoma, joined Taj Mahal and played guitar and piano on Mahal's first four albums.

The group was one of the first interracial bands of the period, which may have hampered their commercial viability.

However, Rising Sons bassist Gary Marker later recalled the band's members had come to a creative impasse and were unable to reconcile their musical and personal differences even with the guidance of veteran producer Terry Melcher.

They recorded enough songs for a full-length album, but released only a single and the band soon broke up.

Mahal stayed with Columbia for his solo career, releasing the self-titled Taj Mahal and The Natch'l Blues in 1968.

His track "Statesboro Blues" was featured on side 2 of the very successful Columbia/CBS sampler album, The Rock Machine Turns You On, giving a huge early impetus to his career.

Legacy Records did release The Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder in 1992 with material from that period.

During this time Mahal was also working with other musicians like Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Muddy Waters.