Skip McDonald is a guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, and vocalist, who also goes by the name of Little Axe. A native of Dayton, Ohio ? homebase of Soul/R&B legends like Wilson Pickett and the Ohio Players ?Skip learned to play the blues on his father's guitar beginning at the age of 8.

McDonald, along with bass player Doug Wimbish and drummer Keith LeBlanc, formed the house band for the pioneering rap label Sugar Hill, providing the music for some of the most important artists of the early hip-hop era: Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaata, Force M.D.'s and others. The records they made together, like “Rapper’s Delight,” “White Lines (Don’t Do It),” and “The Message,” changed music forever.

Skip pioneered the fusion of blues and electronic music with his project known as Little Axe. Their most recent recording, Stone Cold Ohio, is the fifth Little Axe release and the second on Peter Gabriel's Real World label. This time around, the emphasis is on the gospel, another of Skip's old loves. The production and mixing was done by leading producer Adrian Sherwood; with whom Skip began working in the mid 80s.