Co-founder of the Ealing Club, Alexis Korner, is to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony in October in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Ealing Blues Club was opened by Alexis Korner & Cyril Davies and their band Blues Incorporated on 17 November 1961. Now it is widely regarded to have been the cradle of blues-based rock music in the UK.

The basement venue opposite Ealing Broadway now occupied by the Red Room club was frequented by many British musicians who went on to originate blues-based rock music in groups such as the Rolling Stones, Cream, The Who, Manfred Mann, The Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Downliners Sect, The Birds, The Pretty Things, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Animals.

The Ealing Club is considered to be the birth place of British rhythm and blues (credit: The Ealing Club).

Korner, who died in 1984 was brought up in a flat in Ealing Village, Hanger Lane. He appears in the documentary Suburban Steps to Rockland, the Story of the Ealing Club which is to be screened at the ActOne cinema this Sunday (12 May) and at the Ealing Project next month (1 June).

Korner's induction will be alongside that of blues pioneer John Mayall at a ceremony on Saturday, 19 October in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame citation for Alexis Korner says: "In the mid 1950s, he was at the forefront of the British blues scene, introducing audiences to the raw, emotive power of American blues.

"Korner and Davies formed Blues Incorporated and started a residency at both the Ealing Club and the Marquee Club.

Alexis Korner & Snape, Musikhalle Hamburg, November 1972 (credit: Heinrich Klaffs).

"These shows became the place to be, with Korner helping to shape the sound of the burgeoning British rock scene and serving as a mentor and guide to future rock legends including Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce."

Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones famously once said: "Without Alexis Korner there would have been no Rolling Stones."

The 1961 Blues Incorporated album, R&B from the Marquee, is considered one of the first British blues recordings, establishing the genre's presence in the UK, and learning Korner the moniker, "the founding father of British blues."

Written and directed by Giorgio Guernier, Suburban Steps to Rockland, the Story of the Ealing Club, includes interviews with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce (Cream); John Mayall; Eric Burdon (The Animals); Nick Simper (Deep Purple); Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness (Manfred Mann); Mitch Mitchell (The Jimi Hendrix Experience); Pete Townshend (The Who) and Geno Washington.

The Ealing Club Community Interest Company (ECCIC) was established in 2011 by Alistair Young and Bob Salmons to highlight the music heritage of Ealing, Acton, Hanwell and Southall and to inspire the musicians of the future.

In 2012 ECCIC commemorated the 50th anniversary of the opening on 17 March 1962 of the first R&B music night at the Ealing Club with the unveiling of a blue plaque on the Ealing Club premises opposite Ealing Broadway Station.

To find out more about the Ealing Club, click here.

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