Little Axe is American musician Skip McDonald (born Bernard Alexander in Dayton, Ohio, on 1 September 1949. After being part of the house band for Sugarhill Records, McDonald assumed the moniker "Little Axe" and began moving from hip hop to a form of blues that drew from an array of musical influences, including dub, R&B, gospel, and jazz. McDonald learned to play the blues on his father's guitar from the age of 8, although by the time he was 12 years old he had opted to perform doo-wop.