November 4: Blues singer-songwriter Delbert McClinton - "Givin it up for Your Love," "Tell Me About It,” - is 73-years-old today.

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American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist Delbert McClinton was born November 4, 1940 was born in Lubbock, Texas, and moved with his family to Fort Worth, Texas when he was 11.

Active as a side-man since 1962 and as a band leader since 1972, he has recorded several major record label albums, and charted singles on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Rock Tracks, and Hot Country Songs charts. His highest-peaking single was "Tell Me About It,” a 1992 duet with Tanya Tucker which reached No. 4 on the Country chart.

Delbert has also had four albums that made it to No. 1 on the U.S. Blues chart, and another that reached No. 2. He was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame, in March 2011, along with Lee Roy Parnell, Bruce Channel, Gary Nicholson, and Cindy Walker.

At the beginning of his career, he worked in a bar band, The Straitjackets, who played backing to Sonny Boy Williamson II, Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Jimmy Reed. McClinton recorded several regional singles before hitting the national chart in 1962, playing harmonica on Bruce Channel's "Hey! Baby." On a tour to the United Kingdom, McClinton instructed John Lennon on the finer points of blues harmonica playing.

Relocating to Los Angeles in 1972, McClinton partnered with fellow Texan, Glen Clark, to perform a combination of country and soul music. They achieved a degree of artistic success, releasing two albums before splitting and McClinton embarked on a solo career. Emmylou Harris had a No. 1 hit in 1978 with McClinton's composition "Two More Bottles of Wine," and his "B Movie Boxcar Blues" was covered on the first The Blues Brothers album, Briefcase Full of Blues.

McClinton's 1980 album, The Jealous Kind, contained his only Top 40 hit single, "Givin' It Up for Your Love,” which peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. After an inactive period during much of the 1980s, McClinton made a return in 1989 with the Grammy nominated Live From Austin album, recorded during an Austin City Limits appearance and co-produced by saxophonist Don Wise.

Delbert won a 1991 Grammy Award for his duet with Bonnie Raitt, "Good Man, Good Woman,” and reached the Top 5 of the Country chart with the Tanya Tucker duet, "Tell Me About It."

McClinton recorded the opening title song "Weatherman" for the Bill Murray film Groundhog Day. The fledgling label Rising Tide released One of the Fortunate Few in 1997, before the label went out of business.

In addition to releasing two new studio albums in the early 2000s, New West Records issued Delbert McClinton Live in 2003, a compilation album of songs from throughout his career. In 2006, McClinton won a Grammy Award for his album The Cost of Living in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category.

McClinton is the feature of the musical documentary, Rocking the Boat: A Musical Conversation and Journey, by the film maker Jay Curlee.

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For more about Delbert, visit his Website at –

http://www.delbert.com/

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