Everything wonderful about old-time blues music may have been partially lost if it weren't for the work of legendary bluesman Taj Mahal. It was American blues that first made Taj Mahal famous, but he would later include genres from all over the world to his sounds that gave his music a global feel. Mahal was born Henry St. Claire Fredericks in 1942 in Harlem, New York but was raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. He came from a musical family with his Caribbean father working as a jazz pianist, arranger and composer and his mother, although a teacher from South Carolina, singing gospel music on the side.

Throughout his childhood, Mahal learned to play a variety of instruments ranging from piano to trombone. He picked up the guitar while in his teens and started learning blues songs soon after. Mahal also developed an interest in traditional African American music. After high school, Mahal went to the University of Massachusetts, where he started a band called the Elektras. He moved to Los Angeles in the mid 1960s after graduation and formed another band, the Rising Sons. The Rising Sons were soon opening for top acts of the ‘60s and allowing Mahal to pick the brains of the blues greats he came into contact with.

He released his first, self-titled solo album in 1967 and followed it with The Natch'l Blues in 1968 and Giant Step in 1969. The albums put his name on the map and allowed Mahal to start experimenting with his sounds more in the 1970s. He was nominated for a Grammy for 1993's Sounder. He focused more on touring than releasing albums in the 1980s, but still managed to put out an album in 1987 along with a children's album. He went back to recording more music in the 1990s, and by this time he was a legend in the genre. More world music started appearing on his albums during this time, which he continued into the 2000s.