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Here's Where The Boogie Began

Mr Riff purveyor of foot stompin’ rhythm ’n’ blues is….. In reality,
Baz Walton. A musician and show man. Born in the Isle of Man,
He is now Forty years young.

Beginning in his teens, he spent over a decade playing electric guitar and singing in rock bands. Until, in the mid nineties he stopped to concentrate on his building company.
That, as they say, should have been that. But in the year 2000 the plot took a twist when he was asked to fill a slot at the Laxey International Blues Festival.

Excited, but nervous about Playing his own tunes alone in front of so many people and armed with only an acoustic guitar,
he decided to “give the show a lift ” and strode out to play in his now familiar long coat and top hat. Mr Riff was born, and incredibly the show was a hit.

With the spark re-lit the following six years have seen Mr Riff go from strength to strength.
With concerts at all the major venues in the Isle of man, a record seven appearances at the Laxey International Blues festival and in Sept 05 an invitation to appear with Peter Green and the Blues allstars at the Orkney Blues Festival.

2004 saw the launch of the web site Mr Riff .com and in 2005
came Scruffy Dog Music, which was formed to oversee the production and sales of  Mr Riff’s music.

Following a fantastic response from the crowd at the 2005 Laxey Blues festival which "by chance"was captured on tape
the live bootleg cd "From The Heart Of The Crowd" was released.
Then after having filmed a lot of The escapades of Mr Riff, in 2006 the DVD "The Boogie Man" was also released.
In 2007 Mr Riff raised the stakes once more with the release of the cd "Let It Out".

Building on these solid foundations and with an ethos of "keep it real" Mr Riff is currently arranging
to bring his blend of foot stompin' R'n'B to a wider range of audiences in 2008.

The popularity of  Mr Riff with, not just the blues and festival fans,
but with rock and mixed audiences, is down to his simple philosophy :
“Entertain, or stay home.”

Piece taken from the Mr Riff Promotional pack.