Finis tasby biography

I can remember standing off to the side of the stage at the 2006 Doheny Blues Festival during a performance of what was billed as The Mannish Boys Revue. Out front was the original Mannish Boy, Finis Tasby. It was a stage full of blues stars, but the great singer was the man in charge. Part way through the performance someone out in the audience yelled out a request. Tasby turned his back to the huge crowd. He walked towards me and said, “I know so many damn songs, it isn’t even funny.”

At that very moment it occurred to me that I may have heard him sing so many damn songs, that maybe I took his talent for granted a little; I don’t know. What I do know is that it was one of the great joys to have heard Tasby sing every one of them. It seemed he could nail it every time and under any circumstances. If I took Tasby and his talent for granted, I think it was a byproduct of his ability to make what he did seem effortless. He made it look easy. He never made the performance about himself. It was as if he was just the medium through which a great song passed and was made better by being filtered through his pipes and uncanny musical sensibilities.

Finis Tasby was the man who could make any day of the week feel like Saturday night when he stepped behind a mic. He would wrap his buttery smooth vocals, with just the right amount of grease, around a tune and take the audience someplace very special. He put a little uptown and a little down home in everything he sang. It was who he was.  

Tasby made his living in the nightclubs of L.A., but preferred living as far away from the bright lights as possible. California’s high desert suited him just fine. I asked him one time, “Doesn’t it get awfully hot up there?” He reminded me of where he came from. He went on to say “Hot don’t bother me.” In other words, Finis was cool.    

Born in Dallas, Texas, in 1940, Tasby grew up surrounded by the rich music scene in the North Texas area. By 1962 he was playing bass and singing background in the Dallas based band, The Thunderbirds. The band’s principal singer and primary songwriter was Z.Z. Hill who would soon embark on a successful solo career. By the mid 60’s, Tasby was fronting The Thunderbirds as their singer, while maintaining his duties as the group’s bass player.

The Thunderbirds also served as the backup unit for Freddy King, Clarence Carter and Lowell Fulson. Finis and company backed up these stars on the chitlin’ circuit as they barnstormed Texas, as well as Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Of all the musicians Tasby worked with, it was Lowell Fulson who became his biggest influence and mentor. You can hear this in the mellow laid back singing style that Tasby adopted from the man who was twenty years his senior.

Like Fulson, Tasby’s greatest recordings were made in Los Angeles. In 1973 he moved to L.A. and resumed his career. He recorded a series of singles including Get Drunk and Be Somebody, It Took a Long Time, Walk On, Find Something Else to Do and Just a Kiss which featured guitarist Hollywood Fats. Finely, Tasby made his debut album, People Don’t Care which was released in 1995. Most people didn’t care, as the album was not very well received by critics or fans.  

Tasby rebounded in a big way when on September 15, 1998, his album Jump Children was released. After all these years a star was born. The album featured the right songs with the right musicians. Tunes written by Jimmy McCracklin, Amos Milburn, B.B. King and of course Lowell Fulson, along with the Dave Barthomew/Fats Domino penned title track and others were the perfect fit for Tasby’s musical sensibilities. The players included drummer Richard Innes, bassist Larry Taylor, guitarists Kid Ramos and Rick Holmstrom and many others. Tasby was now off to the races.

In 2000, Tasby appeared along with Joe Houston, Johnny Dyer and young guitarist Kirk Fletcher on Cannonball Records’ Blues Across America: The Los Angeles Scene. In 2003, Finis Tasby sang on Italian guitarist, Enrico Crivellaro’s album, Key to My Kingdom on Electro–Fi Records. In 2004, Tasby sang on the simply stunning record entitled, Think About It by Alex Shultz where Tasby shared vocal duties with Lynwood Slim and Tad Robinson. He recorded four tracks with Kirk Fletcher for his outstanding 2004 debut album entitled, Shades of Blue. His own album,the 2005 Electro-Fi release entitled, What My Blues is All About, saw Crivellaro return the favor and play guitar on this fine recording. It was clear that Tasby was now on a roll.

It was in 2004 that Finis Tasby would embark on what would turn out to be his most consistent recording and live performance vehicle, The L.A. based “super group” The Mannish Boys. Starting with the band’s debut release, That Represent Man, Tasby served as principal vocalist for this ensemble. He recorded six albums over the next eight years with what could be referred to as the Delta Groove Music record label’s “house band.” Tasby and this band of blues all-stars headlined blues festivals all over the world.  

No one could have guessed that right around the corner would be the greatest triumph of his career, followed by the greatest tragedy of his life.

In the fall of 2012, Finis Tasby went north and made a career defining masterpiece, an album entitled Snap Your Fingers. He along with guitarist, producer and owner of Greaseland studios in San Jose, California, Kid Andersen made a record that reminded everyone just how wonderful the marriage of soul and blues could sound when sung by a master.

This Bluebeat Music release summons up the sounds of late 60’s/early 70’s era recordings of B.B. King, Bobby “Blue” Bland and others. He even recorded a wonderful version of Lloyd Glenn’s BlueShadows which Lowell Fulson made famous. It is a wonderful document which had me revisiting those soul-blues recordings in my library from that period. Snap Your Fingers stands side by side with those masterpieces. It is the best album of his career. It would also be his last.

On December 6, 2012, Tasby suffered a massive stroke from which he would never recover. He passed away on November 2, 2014.

The presence of Finis Tasby in the studio or on the bandstand was always a blessing. Whether it was a dark, smokey lounge with a tiny corner stage in South Central Los Angeles or on a huge festival bandstand, Finis Tasby could coax a smile out of anyone lucky enough to hear him sing.  

At home listening to a recording on which the voice of Finis Tasby can be heard or enjoying one of his live performances was a soothing balm that would invariably bring me and Lord knows how many others some peace, a little comfort and a lot of joy. Thank you Finis...   

-  David Mac