6. Walter Trout
Walter Trout was born in Ocean City, New Jersey in 1951. Some of his early influences were the Butterfield Blues Band with Mike Bloomfield and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton along with the songwriting of the Beatles and Bob Dylan. He played in local bands around New Jersey during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He made a make it or break it move to Los Angeles, California in 1973. While in L.A. he played with Blues luminaries like John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton among others. This led to a three year stint with Canned Heat as their lead guitarist. Throughout this period, Trout was a hard partier and was severely involved in substance abuse. However, it didn’t affect his performance ability and he was hired by John Mayall as the lead guitarist for the Bluesbreakers. By the end of his four years with the “Bluesbreaker’s” he got clean of all drugs and alcohol and quit the band to form his own solo act. He launched a successful solo career that catapulted him to international fame and produced a couple dozen albums.