Harvey Mandel

American blues rock guitarist known for his innovative approach to electric guitar playing. A professional at twenty, he played with Charlie Musselwhite, Canned Heat, The Rolling Stones, and John Mayall before starting a solo career.

Mandel was one of a group of prominent 1960s midwestern Jewish bluesmen, including Michael Bloomfield, Corky Siegel, Barry Goldberg, and Bob Margolin, along with New York City-bred Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt) and Philadelphia’s David Bromberg. A number of these musicians wound up crossing musical paths at some point with fellow Jewish-American midwesterner Bob Dylan.

Mandel was valued so highly by his peers for his innovative guitar work that he came within inches of joining the Rolling Stones as a replacement guitarist after Mick Taylor quit in 1974. He auditioned for the band, and his guitar work can be heard on two songs from the Stones’s 1976 album “Black and Blue”: “Hot Stuff” and “Memory Motel.” (Some English guy named Ronnie Wood, formerly of Rod Stewart’s band, got the full-time gig.) Mandel also played with bluesman Charlie Musselwhite and for English guitarist John Mayall’s legendary band, the Bluesbreakers.

Mandel, who was born in 1945, still performs and records.

Born March 11, 1945, in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.