John Pearse was a British guitarist, folk singer and music educator, who came to prominence in the 1960s presenting the popular BBC2 television guitar tuition series, Hold Down a Chord.
Life and career
He was born in Hook in Yorkshire, but grew up in Prestatyn in north Wales where his father ran a hotel. In his teens he played the guitar and banjo in a Jazz band, then moved to London in the 1950s where he made a living as a guitar teacher and musician. He learnt to play Piedmont style guitar after hearing Big Bill Broonzy, who toured Europe in 1957. Pearse went on to write his first guitar tutor, "Teach Yourself Folk Guitar" at the age of 19. While playing in the clubs he was spotted by a BBC television producer who invited him to write and present a guitar tuition series for the newly created BBC TV channel BBC2. This became "Hold Down a Chord", a ten-part course for beginners, first broadcast in 1965, with accompanying instructional book and LP. It was shown in many countries and taught viewers the rudiments of fingerstyle guitar as played by guitarists such as Mississippi John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy and Reverend Gary Davis. This was a timely series, because of the ongoing British folk revival and the popularity of singer-songwriters and guitarists like Bob Dylan. Amongst the many inspired by Pearse was a young Martin Carthy who went on to become a major figure in the UK Folk scene. During the 1960s and 1970s, Pearse was much in demand as a studio session musician and record producer for several companies. He continued to write tuition books for the guitar and other stringed instruments. He became well known in Germany, headlining folk festivals and described by the weekly magazine Stern as "the nation's guitar teacher". In 1978 he moved to the USA, where he designed products for the Martin Guitar Company. After leaving Martin he founded Breezy Ridge Instruments, along with Mary Faith Rhoads, to market his line of guitar strings and other guitar accessories. In 1983, a medical error during a myelogram procedure left him paralysed from the neck down and threatened to finish his career. Astonishingly, after years of intensive physical therapy, he was able to walk again and relearnt how to play the guitar. In 1986 he presented the series Cooking with Wine for American television and in 1987 another guitar tuition series, "String Along". In 2002 he settled with his family in Besigheim, Germany, drawn there by the surrounding wine-growing region. He lived there until his death in 2008 following some years of ill-health. He was survived by his wife Linda, his adopted son, and his former wife and longtime business partner Mary Faith Rhoads. His track "Basic Plucking of the Ballad Lick" is used as a sample in Lemon Jelly's song "The Staunton Lick" from the albumLemonjelly.ky.
