For the young generation that grew up in Britain in the 1940s and 50s, a country of grey skies and mostly grey music, to hear the voices of original African-American R&B artists such as Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley, Little Richard and James Brown was to be shown a land of gold. From Bolton to Bexhill-on-Sea, teenagers went prospecting for it: haunting specialist record shops, starting fanzines and creating fly-by-night record labels for illicit reissues.
That was exactly how the record producer and music executive Mike Vernon, who has died aged 81, began a lengthy career that helped to introduce the world to artists such as John Mayall, Eric Clapton and Fleetwood Mac.
