Like a lot of people growing up in Memphis, singer/guitarist James Bonnerwas born to play the blues.  As a child he grew up near the legendary Club Paradise where he could sit on his front porch and hear the sounds of Bobby Bland and Albert and B.B. Kingperforming in the club.  In high school, his band director Charles Keeltaught James and the other students rhythm & blues rather thantraditional band music.  Playing at talent shows and rehearsals atGaston Community Center, James' guitar playing caught the ear of BarKays mentor Harry Winfield.  This led to backing up Stax performers such as the Temprees and the Newcomers as well as opening for the venerable blues band The Fieldstones.  James' life came full circle when he became part of the house band at Club Paradise backing the likes of Shirley Brown, Johnnie Taylor, and others.  Eventually he joined the Fieldstones and played with them until the mid-1990s when another member of that group, Mack Orr formed his own band.  Today, James Bonner and his brother Harold are still prominent members of the Daddy Mack Blues Band letting people around the world know that the sound of authentic urban blues is alive and well in Memphis.
http://www.backroadsofamericanmusic.com/archive/2007/08/22/james-bonner.aspx