John "Broadway" Tucker sings in the great tradition of southern soul and blues of the 1960s. The son of a sharecropper, he grew up on a Natchez plantation and spent his childhood on the Mississippi Delta. In his teens he moved to Memphis, Tennessee as rhythm & Blue and soul music exploded in that city in the early 1960s. He spent time at Stax Records and was mentored by Sam Cooke during this time.

The Mississippi and Memphis influences, along with his gospel roots, make Tucker’s style an appealing mix of soul and blues. His impassioned singing is often compared to Bobby Blue Bland, O.V. Wright & Otis Redding.

 

A soldier in the mid-1960s, he went to singing soul and blues with the USO (US Military) and performed throughout Germany. He was transferred to Fort Ord in Monterey, California. He quickly became a strong member of the west-coast blues scene (After Jimi Hendrix's appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, he came down to the club where John sang 6 night a week to finish out the night by playing with Tucker).

 

He was then sent to Vietnam and, after, returned to California and has matured into a sophisticated and impassioned singer and performer and has become a California legend.

 

He has performed on concert programs with many famous stars of the blue and soul including James Brown, Bobby Blue Bland, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and many others. He has performed at Monterey's famed international Jazz and Blues festivals and the San Francisco Blues Festival. He has produced a number of critically acclaimed recordings and has had radio play around the world.

 

John "Broadway" Tucker is the proud recipient of the Monterey Bay

Blues Festival's 2006 "Mobay" Artist of the Year award. Joining the company of legends such as Bobby "Blue" Bland, Etta James, Charles Brown, Charlie Musselwhite, and others.