Chalmers Alford

Chalmers "Spanky" Alford
Birth name	Chalmers Edward Alford
Also known as	Spanky
Born	May 22, 1955
Died	March 24, 2008
Genre(s)	Jazz, Blues, Neo-soul, Gospel
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1960's-2008
Associated acts	John Mayer, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Joss Stone, Bee Gees, Raphael Saadiq, Mary J Blige, Roy Hargrove, D'Angelo, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, The RH Factor, 2Pac

Chalmers "Spanky" Alford (b. May 22, 1955 - d. March 24, 2008^[1]) was a three time Grammy winning American jazz guitarist^[2]. He was well known for his playing style and use of arpeggiations. He had a illustrious career as a gospel quartet guitar player in the 1960s, 70's, and 80's with groups such as the Mighty Clouds of Joy among others. Later in life he found a new career in the neo-soul movement of the 90's and 2000's, most notably contributing to the sounds of D'Angelo and Tony Toni Toné. Spanky played guitar as as part of The Soultronics, (D'angelo's highly regarded band for his 2000 "Voodoo" tour), alongside ?uestlove, James Poyser, Pino Palladino and Anthony Hamilton among many others. He was an amazing teacher and is credited with teaching Raphael Saadiq among many others to play guitar. He played on several albums with artists such as Joss Stone, John Mayer, Mary J Blige, Raphael Saadiq, D'Angelo and Roy Hargrove^[3]^[4]

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