Midge Marsden - Biography

Biography

Marsden was born and brought up in New Plymouth, Taranaki, the son of Les and Elaine Marsden. His musical education started on the piano, and included singing in church, though his first musical love was rock and roll. As a teenager he took guitar lessons from a New Plymouth musician called Leo Davies, who also owned a recording studio in the town, and went on to further lessons with another musician, Johnny Williams.

Marsden's career spans four decades, and during that time he has played thousands of concerts in New Zealand and introduced several generations of New Zealanders to the blues. He was voted New Zealand Entertainer of the Year in 1990, and his 1991 album Burning Rain later went gold.

Marsden has toured the USA four times, and each time he has played with and befriended artists such as Willie Foster, Bobby Mack, Ronnie Taylor, Aussie Dave Boyle, and Julieann Banks. He has encouraged all these artists to tour New Zealand, and thus broadened New Zealanders' appreciation of blues music. Marsden was a student at the University of Mississippi in 1996, from where he graduated with a Diploma in Southern Studies, and more recently he has tutored at Waikato Institute of Technology in "Bluesology".

In 2006 Marsden was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music.

Marsden was a friend of Stevie Ray Vaughan; upon living in Texas at various times he would stay at Vaughan's house for months on end. He toured with Vaughan a few times, playing harmonica.