Steve "Big Man" Clayton


Steve "Big Man" Clayton, is a British Blues and Boogie-Woogie piano player, singer and songwriter.

Awards

He was awarded the :de:Ravensburger Kupferle|oberschwaebischer Kleinkunstpreis presented by the Zehntscheuer, Ravensburg, Germany.

Background

Steve Clayton was born in Birmingham, England. He began to show an interest in music at the age of 10. This prompted his parents to buy an old upright piano and they promptly shipped him off for weekly piano lessons, which he would keep up for the next five years. Towards the end of his music lessons, his music teacher composed a blues for him to learn. The different tones and rhythms were something totally new to somebody learning the classics. This new found music had an enormous effect on him; the record collection mounted, spending his weekly pocket money on records by Cow Cow Davenport, Albert Ammons and Memphis Slim, among others. His time was spent at the piano, trying to reproduce the sounds he was hearing.
It did not take long for Clayton to find his way into his first blues band after leaving school, and he would spend the next few years learning his craft in numerous local bands, being hailed as "The Ivory Maradona" and "The Big Man of Boogie Woogie". The "Big Man" was requested to back visiting U.S. artists including Louisiana Red, Shuggy Otis and Carey Bell, he toured Europe with them, he learnt from them.
Clayton played the piano on the W.C. Handy nominated "He Knows the Blues", by Otis Grand
Learning to sing was a real turning point, it led him to song writing. The results of which can be heard on his debut album Can't Stop the Boogie, which he recorded in 1991 with his long time band "The 44’s". This prompted the German record label Hot Fox, to send him to Chicago to record his second album I Got A Right, which featured S. P. Leary and Lester Davenport. Nine more recordings would follow.
The "Big Man" was honoured as best piano player by the British Blues Connection in 1995, 1997 and 1998 before leaving for Germany, where he now resides. It did not take long for him to make his mark here, winning a south German prize as best artist for 2001. He was also awarded the "Pinetop" prize for Best Boogie Entertainer 2015. Steve Clayton is currently living in Lüchow, Germany, where he continues to compose and perform.

Recordings

Clayton has recorded with Jean Vincent, The Mighty Houserockers, Richard Ray Farrell, Otis Grand, Rudy Rotta, Dana Gillespie, and many others.
His own recordings are: