British rhythm and blues British rhythm and blues British rhythm and blues (or R&B) was a musical movement that developed in the United Kingdom between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, and reached a peak in the mid-1960s. It overlapped with, but was distinct from, the broader British beat and more purist British blues scenes, attempting to emulate the music of African American blues and rock and roll pioneers, such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. It often placed greater emphasis on guitars and was often played with greater energy. The origins of the movement were in the
British rhythm and blues both chronologically and in terms of personnel, with the later and more narrowly focused British blues boom. The blues boom began to come to prominence in the mid-1960s as the rhythm and blues movement began to peter out leaving a nucleus of instrumentalists with a wide knowledge of blues forms and techniques. Central to the blues boom were John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, who began to gain national and international attention after the release of "Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton" ("Beano") album (1966), considered one of the seminal British blues recordings. Peter Green started a "second great epoch of British