The Blues Bloggers

Paul Butterfield (December 17, 1942 – May 4, 1987) was an American blues vocalist, harmonica player who gained international recognition in part, as one of the early acts performing during the Summer of Love, in Woodstock, New York. Having formed the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Butterfield and his band continued to perform with hit songs along with the release of their eponymous debut album, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, they released hit songs, as with "Born In Chicago".

The son of a lawyer, Paul Butterfield was born and raised in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. After studying classical flute as a teenager, he developed a love for the blues harmonica, and hooked up with white, blues-loving, University of Chicago physics student Elvin Bishop (later of "Fooled Around and Fell In Love" fame). The pair started hanging around black blues musicians such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Junior Wells. Butterfield and Bishop soon formed a band with Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay (both of Howlin' Wolf's band). In 1963, a watershed event in introducing blues to a white audience in Chicago occurred when this racially mixed ensemble was made the house band at Big John's, a folk music club in the Old Town district on Chicago's north side. Butterfield was still underage (as was guitarist Mike Bloomfield, who was already working there in his own band).
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was signed to Elektra Records after adding Bloomfield as lead guitarist. Their original debut album was scrapped, then re-recorded after the addition of organist Mark Naftalin. Some of the discarded tracks may have appeared on the "What's Shakin'" LP shared with the Lovin' Spoonful. Finally, their self-titled debut, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, was released in 1965. Paul Butterfield died in his home in North Hollywood, California, in May 1987 from a heart attack brought on by years of drug addiction and alcoholism, just one week after his final concert.

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