William Boazman, known as Sonny Black, is an acoustic guitarist based in the UK, who plays blues, rags and original compositions usually fingerstyle or slide. "Sonny Black" is a pseudonym adopted when he began the first Sonny Black's Blues Band. He previously became well known as Bill Boazman on the folk club circuit and at college gigs during the 1970s as a singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist. He has been credited with accompanying J. J. Cale, but this is a fallacy arising from a typographic error involving an American musician with a similar name, Bob Brozman. Biography First influences Bill Boazman's father, also named William, was an officer in the REME regiment of the British Army. William senior took an active part in army entertainment and on retirement became an actor, appearing in several West End shows. Bill travelled with his family to several overseas postings, and lived for a while in Singapore. He was later educated at Churchers College in Petersfield, while his family lived in Camberley, near Aldershot. Boazman's younger sister, Sally Boazman, is a traffic reporter with BBC Radio 2, popularly known as 'Sally Traffic'. Boazman left school in 1965, before sitting A levels, and moved to Hayling Island, where his girlfriend Jackie Blundell, now writer and traveller Jackie Cornwall, was a student. He was absorbed in music, admiring artists like Alan Price, Bob Dylan and The Animals, but when he heard Bert Jansch's first (1965) LP; he found his direction. He learned every song on this album, including the difficult track 'Angie'. At the age of seventeen Boazman first heard "San Francisco Bay Blues" by Jesse Fuller, which led to his enduring love of blues music. Boazman returned to Camberley in 1965, where he worked on the first edition of Yellow Pages, while establishing contacts in the world of folk and blues. In June 1966, Boazman and Blundell moved to London together, but their relationship ended shortly afterwards. Boazman performed in folk clubs, including the Hand and Flower in the Fulham Road, and began to make his name as a singer/guitarist. By the late 1960s he lived near Reading, Berkshire and made regular visits to London clubs such as Les Cousins in Soho, where he learnt from Roy Harper, Bert Jansch, Ralph McTell, The Incredible String Band, Davey Graham and many an American guitar picker. At this point he still did not own a guitar, relying