Lonnie Donegan MBE (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002[2]) was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s.[3][4] The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums states Donegan was "Britain's most successful and influential recording artist before The Beatles. He chalked up 24 successive Top 30 hits, and was the first UK male to score two U.S. Top 10s".[2]
Born as Anthony James Donegan in Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland, the son of a professional violinist who had played with the Scottish National Orchestra, he moved with his family in 1933 to East Ham, then in Essex, now part of Greater London.[5]
Donegan was evacuated to Cheshire to escape The Blitz in World War II, and he attended St. Ambrose College, initially at the school's original site in Dunham Road, Altrincham. "Rock Island Line" is an American blues/folk song performed and first recorded by Lead Belly in the 1930s. Versions have been recorded by other artists. The song is ostensibly about the Chicago, Rock Island and.