Ron Thompson, one of the most accomplished guitarists in Bay Area blues history, died Feb. 15 in Hayward. He was 66.
The cause of death was not reported, although Thompson’s press website said he had been in a coma since suffering a hypoglycemic seizure about a month ago. The musician had been suffering from diabetes-related illnesses in recent years; complications from the disease led to Thompson having a leg amputated in 2017.
Thompson’s prowess on the guitar won him fans and admirers the world over. Although he was arguably best known for playing in blues legend John Lee Hooker’s band in the 1970s, he worked with many other all-time greats, including Lowell Fulson, Jimmy McCracklin, James Cotton, Hubert Sumlin, Big Mama Thornton and B.B. King.
He was also an in-demand sideman for such stars as Tina Turner, Chris Isaak, Carlos Santana, Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, Elvin Bishop and Mick Fleetwood, a close friend who once called Thompson “my favorite guitarist.”
Thompson was born July 5, 1953, in Oakland and raised in Newark. He is said to have gotten hooked on blues and R&B music as a youth listening to Oakland-based radio station KDIA. Among his early idols was the guitarist Jimmy Reed, who died in Oakland in 1976.
In addition to his work with other artists, Thompson led his own band, the Resistors, and forged a successful solo recording career, beginning with the release of the album “Treat Her Like Gold” in 1983.
His sophomore outing, “Resistor Twister,” released on San Francisco’s famed Blind Pig blues label, earned a Grammy nomination.
Thompson formed his blues sound playing at such local joints as the Playboy Club in North Richmond, and the Deluxe Inn and Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland.
Thompson played a number of different instruments, including mandolin, harmonica and piano, and was also an accomplished singer. Yet, he was at his best on the guitar, whether it was picking an acoustic Delta blues song or plugged in and delivering his trademark slide guitar licks.
“He played a long time with John Lee Hooker, and really got the Hooker style down,” said San Francisco Blues Festival producer Tom Mazzolini. “When I heard him play slide (guitar), I thought he was the reincarnation of Elmore James.”
In 2015 Jimmy Pugh’s Little Village Foundation record label released Thompson’s final album, “Son of Boogie Woogie.” Push, a longtime Bay Area keyboardist, was a huge fan of Thompson.
“Not only can he play the blues, he can sing it in a way that’s more convincing than practically anyone these days,” Pugh told the Marin Independent Journal in 2018. “He grew up in tough circumstances in East Oakland, and I don’t think you can find a better example of someone who’s that believable, that authentic. He’s the real deal.”
In recent years, fans of the guitarist could catch him regularly at Hayward’s Poor House Bistro, as well as such clubs as the Mojo Lounge in Fremont, JJ’s Blues Club in San Jose and San Francisco’s storied Biscuits and Blues.
Bay Area blues harmonica great Mark Hummel, a longtime friend and collaborator of Thompson’s recalls that the guitarist was part of Hummel’s 2013 touring tribute to Jimmy Reed, along with Leslie Johnson (aka Lazy Lester), Joe Louis Walker, Kim Wilson, Kenny Neal, Rick Estrin, Little Charlie Baty, Wes Starr, and others.
“Ron stole the show!” Hummel said via email.
Although Thompson never achieved the global fame that many of his collaborators did, he was revered within the blues community and among Bay Area musicians and music fans. Then-Mayor Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed Sept. 5, 2007, as Ron Thompson Day in San Francisco.
“Blues is like a medicine, or religion to me,” Thompson told a Bay Area News Group reporter in 2005. “It’ll cleanse your soul.”
A memorial for Thompson is in the plans for April, said Hummel. For more information on Thompson, visit his website rtblues.com.