Boney was born in the Northern district of Chicago in 1958. His family moved to the West Side where he grew up among eight brothers and sisters in a strong musical environment. Both his father and uncle played guitar and sang gospel, while his mother was the local church choir leader.

© Daniel-Maignan

It was when watching artists such as Louis Armstrong or James Brown on television that young Boney decided he too wanted to be a musician. At age 12, he asked to play drums in his school band. But his music teacher had another plan for him : as trumpet players were lacking and very needed in his college band, Boney had to play trumpet !!

He started playing professionally in 1979, working with different local both funk and jazz bands. His main influences at the time included the James Brown and the JB’s, Earth Wind & Fire and Bootsy Collins on the funk side as well as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis or Clifford Brown on the jazz end.
He also hung out in many blues clubs in Chicago, listening to some of the most influential blues musicians such as Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Johnny Dollar or Albert King...

He got his first major break in the blues circuit two years later when Jimmy Johnson hired him for his US tour.

Then, Boney Fields left Chicago for LA in 1983 where he played with Smokey WILSON and Albert Collins.

He returned to Chicago the following year to join Little Milton’s band for one year.

In 1985, he joined The James Cotton Blues Band. He quickly became the horn section leader before being appointed musical director and bandleader. James Cotton was a turning point in Boney’s career: Not only did he record two albums with Cotton but he also started touring internationally and played with major artists such as Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, AC Reed, Eddie Clearwater, Valerie Wellington and others...
Boney still never misses an opportunity to say how impressed he was by James Cotton’s sense of performance, by his aura and energy on stage and the way he captured the audience’s attention.

After a few years though, Boney began to feel it was time to move on: he was getting bored with Chicago and didn’t want to play in the same clubs he had known for years.
In 1990, he moved down to Louisiana to join the Kenny Neal Blues Band. He recorded 2 albums with them, with a prestigious horn section line-up including Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley.

After another brief return to Chicago where he played with the band Burning Chicago, Boney moved South once again: this time it was Texas, where Lucky Peterson – with whom he already played in ’91 - called him to be his musical director and band leader.
He toured in Europe, Africa, North America and Japan for the following two years, including gigs and TV shows with major guests such as Georges Clinton and Bootsy Collins. The album “Lifetime” ensued in 1995.

© Klaus-Dieter HOCH

It was during one of these European tours that he caught up with his childhood friend Bernard Allison, who had come to France to be with his father, Luther Allison. Allison Sr had been trying for some time to convince Boney to come to Europe to work both in his band and in Bernard’s. Boney, now aged 38, thought about the proposal for a while. As he felt he needed to experiment something new, he finally took the step and settled down in Paris.

Boney played in ’96 and ’97 Luther Allison’s European tours. This collaboration was another major shift in Boney’s career. Just as he did with James Cotton, Boney Fields watched and learned from Allison’s stage performances: he too achieved the highest level of energy and completely dedicated himself to his audience. Boney would soon use that experience for his own project.

For Allison’s influence did not stop there. Convinced that all these years as a sideman had made Boney ready to start his own project, Luther Allison voluntarily left him behind in Paris when he kicked off his last US tour before his death. Cornered in a place he did not really know with only a few contacts in clubs given by Allison, Boney took on the challenge.
He started jamming and gigging in every club in Paris, looking for musicians to set up The Bones’ Project with. He finally fell under the charm both of Paris and of Parisian female saxophone player Nadège Dumas, now his partner both on stage and in private life.

© Bram EUBANKS

Boney played in small Parisian blues clubs like the Baryton (now the Fifty’s) or The Front Page, often with different line-ups. Those gigs enabled him to perfect his repertoire, mostly covers rearranged à la sauce Boney Fields. Bit by bit, he added his own songs on top. He also started to sing more and more on stage, just like he used to when going to church with his family or playing in other bands.

It took him 2 years to meet the musicians that would become the backbone of The Bones’ Project: Mauritian bass player Mike ARMOOGUM, and young guitar player Hervé SAMB, just fresh out of Senegal. Both Mike and Hervé became the pillars around which the band was built up. They recorded their first album, “ Hard Work” in 1999 featuring, Boney’s childhood friend Bernard Allison as a guest artist.

© Alice AKANE

At the same time, Boney kept on playing as a sideman with artists such as Alpha Blondy, blues legend Jimmy Johnson, gospel singer Liz Mc Comb and Patrick Verbeke. He played in numerous studio sessions for Paco Sery, Tino Gonzales, Check Tidiane Seck, Karim Albert Kook, Ras Smaila, Fred Chapellier and others.

© C. Grudzien

Today however, his main concern lies with The Bone’s Project. Entertainer, singer trumpet player and MC all at the same time, Boney leads his powerful seven-piece band on all stages and festivals throughout Europe at a rate of over 50 gigs a year.

His only motto: the audience must have a good time!!! This is party music, very much away from all clichés about Blues being an old man whining over his guitar.

Through his many encounters with master musicians from all over the world and different musical horizons, Boney has created his own vision of the blues. His music is a musical spectrum so wide it goes from blues to funk, from world music to rock and from rhythm and blues to jazz without even hearing the difference or thinking about it.

A form of blues that is not interested in belonging to which or which musical chapel, a music whose only concern is for the public to have a roar of a time...