Connor is one of the brightest talents on the UK blues scene. He has been voted “Young Artist of the Year” at the UK Blues Awards for the last three consecutive years (2020, 2021, 2022). He has an impressive venue checklist, including Wembley Stadium, where he opened for The Who in July 2019 and has since gone on to play Hyde Park, London, on a bill with Pearl Jam, Stereophonics and Johnny Marr in the summer of 2022.

Raised in an Essex village, he has trodden a path less travelled. From early years in Connecticut, USA as a young child to Dubai, UAE aged ten to fourteen and Essex either side, with young eyes he soaked up the travels and the changes passing him by.

One thing that kept with him was his burgeoning love of American roots music. “I got interested in not just the music itself but the history and everything around it,” he says. “I love the directness, the simplicity and earthiness of it,” he adds. “I love really how down-to-earth it is both lyrically and musically. I think with the blues, it’s fundamentally about very basic human emotions. Things like sorrow and pride and exploring the way we deal with everyday situations and problems.”

As a teenager, he devoured the music of Eric Clapton and Ray Charles; “Ray completely reshaped me as a person and the way I thought about music.” But Conor also draws influence from old Delta records to soul artists like Sam Cooke, Bill Withers and the Stax sound to Jazz singers such as Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra as well as singer-songwriters like Van Morrison, Townes van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Nick Drake and contemporary artists such as Ray LaMontagne, Norah Jones and Foy Vance.