Sir Paul McCartney remembers John Mayall as ‘mentor’ and ‘great’ blues pioneer

Sir Paul McCartney has said John Mayall was a personal mentor and “great” blues pioneer who educated him on the music genre.

The musician died aged 90 at his home in California on Monday surrounded by his family, according to a statement on his Instagram page.

Beatles star Sir Paul said he received “a great education” from Mayall and found it easy to relate to him as they were both from the north of England.

In a post to Instagram, Sir Paul said: “John Mayall, the great British blues pioneer, has died aged 90 and I thought a couple of words from me would be appropriate.”

The 82-year-old said the pair would meet at music clubs in the 1960s before heading back to Mayall’s house “where he had a huge and glorious collection of records”.

“During these moments he became a mentor and would educate me on a lot of the blues guitarists playing at the time”, he said.

“I would lounge back in the armchair and he would play tracks by people like BB King, Buddy Guy, Albert King and many other great players.”

Mayall was apart of influential blues rock band The Bluesbreakers, which became a launching pad for stars including Eric Clapton and Mick Fleetwood.

Sir Paul added: “He would then play me tracks by Eric Clapton, who was later in his band The Bluesbreakers.

“The more he played, the more I could see the links between all these great guitarists.

“Besides being very entertaining, it was a great education noticing the similarities between these stunning players.

“John was a lovely, down-to-earth man from the north of England, so we found it easy to relate to each other and I will always thank him for his love of music, the blues and his willingness to turn others on to what he knew.

“Thanks John, love you!”

Following Mayall’s death, Sir Mick Jagger said in an Instagram post that Mayall had helped his band in “ushering in a new era for the Stones”, following the death of guitarist Brian Jones.

Elsewhere, rock and blues artist Clapton posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, thanking Mayall for “rescuing me from oblivion” when he wanted to quit music as teenager before joining his band.

Mayall is survived by his six children – Gaz, Jason, Red, Ben, Zak and Samson – seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.