Buddy Guy

Year:
2005
Inducted by:
B.B. King & Eric Clapton (Cream, The Yardbirds)
Category:
Performers

Introduction

If you cut Buddy Guy open he would bleed blue.

His guitar-playing style was so visceral, so ferocious, that the blues had to be running through his veins. Guitarist giants such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan cite him as an influence.

Eric Clapton and B.B. King Induct Buddy Guy

Eric Clapton and B.B. King Induct Buddy Guy at the 2005 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Eric Clapton and B.B. King Induct Buddy Guy

00:07:49
Buddy Guy Acceptance Speech

00:02:39
"Let Me Love You Baby"

00:06:30

Hall of Fame Essay

2005

Rob Bowman

In 1986 Eric Clapton emphatically declared that "[Buddy Guy is] without a doubt the best guitar player alive."

Over the years, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn and numerous lesser lights have similarly sung Buddy Guy's praises. The Rolling Stones requested Guy and his erstwhile partner, harmonica wizard Junior Wells, to open for them on their 1970 European tour, while everyone from Mark Knopfler to Bonnie Raitt and Johnny Lang has lined up for guest slots on Guy's string of incendiary Silvertone albums from 1991 to the present.