caption associated_acts death_date years_active alias label name background birth_date instrument genre image article_title birth_name occupation
lonnie donegan in the 1970s tony lonnie donegan 's skiffle group donegan jazz band chris barber 's jazz band 3 november 2002 1949 -- 2002 the king of skiffle pye records decca records united artists records virgin records lonnie donegan mbe solo_singer 29 april 1931 guitar , vocals , banjo skiffle , country , traditional pop music , blues , folk lonnie donegan.jpg lonnie donegan
 anthony james donegan musician , singer , songwriter
lonnie donegan

anthony james donegan -lrb- 29 april 1931 -- 3 november 2002 -rrb- , better known as lonnie donegan , was a scottish singer , songwriter and musician , referred to as the king of skiffle , who influenced 1960s british pop musicians .
the `` guinness book of british hit singles & albums '' lists him as `` britain 's most successful and influential recording artist before the beatles '' .
he had 31 uk top 30 single hits , 24 being successive and three at number one .
he was the first british male singer with two us top 10 hits .
donegan received an ivor novello lifetime achievement award in 1997 and in 2000 he was made an mbe .
