Blues purists naturally didn't have much use for 's music, and according to some of his other detractors, his multi-ethnic fusions sometimes came off as indulgent, or overly self-conscious and academic. Still, 's concept was vindicated in the '90s, when a cadre of young bluesmen began to follow his lead -- both acoustic revivalists (, ) and eclectic bohemians (, ).
Was born in New York on May 17, 1942. His parents -- his father a jazz pianist/composer/arranger of Jamaican descent, his mother a schoolteacher from South Carolina who sang gospel -- moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, when he was quite young, and while growing up there, he often listened to music from around the world on his father's short-wave radio. He particularly loved the blues -- both acoustic and electric -- and early rock & rollers like. While studying agriculture and animal husbandry at the University of Massachusetts, he adopted the musical alias (an idea that came to him in a dream) and formed, who played around the area during the early '60s.
After graduating, moved to Los Angeles in 1964 and, after making his name on the local folk-blues scene, formed with guitarist. The group signed to Columbia and released one single, but the label didn't quite know what to make of their forward-looking blend of Americana, which anticipated a number of roots rock fusions that would take shape in the next few years; as such, the album they recorded sat on the shelves, unreleased until 1992. Frustrated, left the group and wound up staying with Columbia as a solo artist. His self-titled debut was released in early 1968 and its stripped-down approach to vintage blues sounds made it unlike virtually anything else on the blues scene at the time.
It came to be regarded as a classic of the '60s blues revival, as did its follow-up,. The half-electric, half-acoustic double-LP set followed in 1969, and taken together, those three records built 's reputation as an authentic yet unique modern-day bluesman, gaining wide exposure and leading to collaborations or tours with a wide variety of prominent rockers and bluesmen. During the early '70s, 's musical adventurousness began to take hold; 1971's heralded his fascination with Caribbean rhythms, and the following year's double-live set,, added a New Orleans-flavored tuba section to several tunes.
In 1973, branched out into movie soundtrack work with his compositions for, and the following year he recorded his most reggae-heavy outing,. Continued to record for Columbia through 1976, when he switched to Warner Bros.; he recorded three albums for that label, all in 1977 (including a soundtrack for the film ). Changing musical climates, however, were decreasing interest in 's work and he spent much of the '80s off record, eventually moving to Hawaii to immerse himself in another musical tradition.