THE BIGGEST blues band in Britain tomorrow plays (April 10) the longest-running blues club in Keighley.

Keighley Blues Club celebrates its 10th birthday by hosting an appearance by the legendary Blues Band.

The appearance of the band – featuring top musician Paul Jones– has prompted a one-off move to a venue larger than the club’s usual home at Cougar Park.

The Blues Band was formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and vocalist/slide guitarist Dave Kelly, who had previously played with the John Dummer Blues Band, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker.

The band’s first release, The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album, was a mixture of blues standards and original songs.

The album initially attracted no interest from major record companies, so the band pressed a limited run of 3,000, hand-stamped their logo on the cardboard sleeve and signed them all.

The disc was subsequently endorsed by the likes of BBC Radio 1 presenter Simon Bates, and the ensuing media interest resulted in a recording contract with Arista Records.

The Blues Band then released the Ready, Itchy Feet and Brand Loyalty albums and regularly toured through Europe.

The band broke up briefly after recording a live album in 1983, but reformed soon afterwards.

By the noughties the band was recording albums such as Stepping Out and Thank You Brother Ray which paid tribute to Ray Charles, and now they are still performing across Europe.

Keighley Blues Club may not have such a long pedigree, but it has certainly been busy during its first 10 years, hosting 133 gigs and 175 acts.

A spokesman said: “We are the longest running club dedicated purely to blues music in Yorkshire.

“To celebrate reaching double figures and as a huge thank you everyone who’s supported us for so long, we’ve gone mad and booked arguably the best known blues band in the country of the last 35 years.”

Keighley Blues Club has moved to the Octagon club on Bradford Road, Sandbeds, for the Blues Band gig.

E-mail bbj21@btinternet.com or call 01535 600310 for more information about tickets, which cost £18.