Nick Gravenites

Guitarist and vocalist Nick Gravenites – born in Chicago, Illinois on October 2, 1938 – was best known as rhythm guitarist and vocalist for blues rock band The Electric Flag and for working with other iconic rockers including Big Brother and the Holding Company, Janis Joplin, John Cipollina (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Brewer & Shipley, and others. He began his musical journey while attending the University of Chicago, where he met blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield and blues harpist Paul Butterfield. Nick Gravenites interest in the blues led him to learn to play guitar while also attending local gigs by Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf and others. He came to the attention of the record buying public when he cowrote “Born in Chicago” and “East-West,” both of which became blues rock classic when recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Nick Gravenites relocated to San Francisco, California in the mid-1960 and joined his friend Mike Bloomfield in his new band The Electric Flag in 1967. The group performed the soundtrack music for the 1967 film The Trip before releasing their debut album, A Long Time Comin’, in 1968. Mike Bloomfield left the group, and they issued one more album – An American Music Band (1968) – before splitting up. Nick Gravenites then released his solo debut album, My Labors, in 1969. He worked with several artists including Quicksilver Messenger Service and Janis Joplin’s Kozmic Blues Band. He also joined Janis Joplin’s previous band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, singing lead and playing guitar with them between 1969 and 1972. Nick Gravenites reunited with Mike Bloomfield and recorded the soundtrack to the 1973 film Steel Yard Blues (1973). As a producer, he twiddled the knobs for Brewer & Shipley’s 1971 hit single “One Toke Over the Line” and Otis Rush’s 1976 album Right Place, Wrong Time, which earned him a Grammy Award nomination. By the 1980s, he was performing with a San Francisco-based blues music collective named The Usual Suspects, who released their debut album in 1981. He also began performing with John Cipollina in the Nick Gravenites – John Cipollina Band and released the album Monkey Medicine in 1981. He continued to perform and releasee albums including Kill My Brain (1999) and Rogue Blues (2024). Nick Gravenites died on September 18, 2024, at the age of 85.

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