Artists:Bernard Allison

Born in Chicago on November 26, 1965, the youngest of nine children, Bernard Allison was first introduced to the roots of black music and the art of the electric guitar by his father, the late great Luther Allison. Bernard made his first appearance on record at age 13 when he played on a live LP his father recorded in Peoria, Illinois.

"I didn't start to play 'til I was maybe 10 years of age," Bernard recalled. "I picked up the guitar, listened to records. I was in grade school and I played with the high school jazz band. They thought I was reading the sheet music, but actually I was making up everything I could play."

Soon after graduating from high school, he began a three-year guitar apprenticeship in Koko Taylor's high-flying Blues Machine. He also played in the late Willie Dixon's Blues All-Stars and performed with his dad at the 1983 Blues Festival--one of the event's highlights. Along the way, Bernard picked up slide guitar tips from Johnny Winter and in the '80s also learned from the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.

With those experiences under his belt, Bernard moved to Paris in 1989 to live and play the blues with his father. He joined the tour band of Luther Allison after a furious collaboration of "Father & Son" at the '89 Chicago Blues Festival. A recording of this formation is to be heard on the Luther Allison album Let's Try It again (RUF Records). Bernard released his first solo album in 1990 with the significant title The Next Generation. In 1999, two years after Luther died, Bernard decided to move back to the states to go back to his roots and push his career in his native country. (read more).