(Modern Electric Blues | Soul-Blues) Robert Ward (and The Black Top All-Stars) - 4 albums - 1990 - 2000, MP3, 320 kbps

#777Ward was born in rural Georgia. At the age of 10 he began teaching himself the guitar, emulating what he heard on 78s of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Muddy Waters. After serving in the military, Ward formed his first band, the Brassettes, in Florida in 1959. They opened for James Brown and other rising stars, but saw little financial return for their efforts, so Ward sold his guitar and left for Dayton, Ohio, to live with his aunt.
There he acquired a Fender Telecaster guitar and Magnatone amplifier, and developed the distinctive vibrato-soaked sound that became his trademark. His new band, the Ohio Untouchables, developed a strong regional following, and, signed by Detroit producer Robert West to his LuPine label in 1962, they recorded several striking 45s.
West then paired the Untouchables with the gospel quartet the Falcons on I Found a Love, which was a huge US R&B hit, launching Falcons vocalist Wilson Pickett while gaining Ward's guitar-playing wide attention. Pickett left the Falcons for his solo soul singing career, but initially Ward continued to work with him while leading the Ohio Untouchables. In 1965 Ward left the Untouchables, who later developed into the 1970s funk band, the Ohio Players.
Ward recorded solo singles for tiny Detroit labels - none were hits, but they developed his reputation as an able and powerful guitarist. By 1970 he was earning steady wages as a Motown session guitarist, backing the Temptations and the Undisputed Truth.
Motown shifted its base to Los Angeles in 1973 and, with disco becoming the most popular black American music, Ward found himself a man out of time. In 1977 his wife and his mother died, sending him into a spiral of self-destructive behaviour that ended with a year's imprisonment. Once he was released, Ward remarried and did not consider returning to music. Rumours circulated that he was dead, and during the 1980s Hammond Scott, the owner of independent record label Black Top, spent two years searching fruitlessly for him.
In 1990 Ward wandered into Fretware Guitars in Dayton. Store owner Dave Hussong was familiar with Ward's playing and aware of Scott's search.
Scott recalled, "suddenly, in the summer of 1990, I was awakened by an unfamiliar voice in the very early morning hours. I was mildly annoyed until the voice on the other end said, 'this is Robert Ward and I hear you've been looking for me'. Needless to say, I popped straight up in bed with delight."
Ward's 1990 debut album Fear No Evil immediately won critical acclaim. His following Black Top albums, Rhythm of the People (1993) and Black Bottom (1995), failed to match his debut, yet he proved a popular live performer. The CD compilation Hot Stuff (1995) gathered all Ward's Ohio Untouchable and Falcons recordings. In 2000 the Chicago blues label Delmark Records issued Ward's New Role Soul to very positive reviews. Ward regularly performed in Britain in the 1990s, often with backing vocals from his second wife, Roberta.
In 2001 he suffered a stroke, and kidney failure led to his retirement to rural Georgia. He is survived by Roberta, his children, among them, the drummer Robert Ward Jr, and 68 grandchildren.

• Robert Ward, soul and blues guitarist, born 15 October 1938; died 25 December 2008