Lonnie Donegan

From Wikipedia:

Anthony James “Lonnie” Donegan MBE (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002) was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the “King of Skiffle”, who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scotland and brought up in England, Donegan began his career in the British trad jazz revival but transitioned to skiffle in the mid-1950s, rising to prominence with a hit recording of the American folk song “Rock Island Line” which helped spur the broader UK skiffle movement.

Donegan had 31 UK top 30 hit singles, 24 were successive hits and three were number one. He was the first British male singer with two US top 10 hits. Donegan received an Ivor Novello lifetime achievement award in 1995 and in 2000 he was made an MBE. Donegan was a pivotal figure in the British Invasion due to his influence in the US in the late 1950s. […]

In England, Lonnie Donegan released a version of Leadbelly’s “Rock Island Line.” It flew up the English charts. Donegan had synthesized American Southern Blues with simple acoustic instruments: acoustic guitar, washtub bass and washboard rhythm. The new style was called ‘Skiffle.’ The term came from America in the late 1920s, and referred to music from people with little money for instruments. The new style captivated an entire generation of post-war youth in England.

From Timeline of Musical Styles & Guitar History 1911 to Present – Acoustic Music

From Wikipedia:

The skiffle style encouraged amateurs and one of many groups that followed was the Quarrymen, formed in March 1957 by John Lennon. Donegan’s “Gamblin’ Man”/”Puttin’ On the Style” single was number one in the UK in July 1957, when Lennon first met Paul McCartney. His Skiffle rendition of Hank Snow’s Country song “Nobody’s Child” was also the inspiration for Tony Sheridan’s blues version which he recorded with the Beatles as his backing band.

Donegan went on to successes such as “Cumberland Gap” and “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)”, his biggest hit in the US, on Dot. He turned to music hall style with “My Old Man’s a Dustman” which was not well received by skiffle fans and unsuccessful in America on Atlantic in 1960, but it reached number one in the UK. Donegan’s group had a flexible line-up, but was generally Denny Wright or Les Bennetts, playing lead guitar and singing harmony, Micky Ashman or Pete Huggett—later Steve Jones—on upright bass, Nick Nichols—later Pete Appleby, Mark Goodwin, and Ken Rodway on drums or percussion, and Donegan playing acoustic guitar or banjo and singing the lead.

His last hit single on the UK chart was his cover version of “Pick a Bale of Cotton.” His fall from the chart coincided with the rise of The Beatles and the other beat music performers whom he inspired.

Songs written or co-written by Lonnie Donegan

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