"Ellen McIlwaine" has been added to your list of bookmarked artists
close
Ellen McIlwaine
Biography
Guitarist, singer and songwriter Ellen McIlwaine is a gutsy, spirited performer who plays and sings a fiery brand of blues like few other female blues singers. Why she's not more widely known is one of the mysteries of the record business, as she's been on the scene a long time.

Adopted and raised by missionaries, McIlwaine spent her first 15 years in Japan. She began playing piano at five and began singing in the church choir. She began listening to U.S. Armed Forces Radio in junior high school, becoming enamored with singers like Fats Domino, Ray Charles and Professor Longhair. McIlwaine returned to the U.S. with her parents when she was 17 and attended King College in Bristol, Tenn. and DeKalb College in Atlanta. She left college after two years and began her professional performing career in Atlanta in 1966.

Shortly after she began playing out professionally, folk singer Patrick Sky heard her and encouraged her to come to New York City. Sky's manager secured her some bookings at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, and there, she shared bills with Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf. Richie Havens and Randy California taught her a few things about slide guitar, and she took it from there.
Selected Discography
report abuse