Who were or are the most cheerful musicians?

Jonathan Richman?
definitely

Biz Markie also a good one

Bootsy Collins

I agree with Huey Lewis - I liked that perky p4k album-by-album video he did even in the face of his sad personal circumstances

John Cage

The late Timmy Thomas

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets seemed to be having a great time when I saw them last month, especially the two frontmen Guy Pratt and Gary Kemp.

I saw Chas & Dave live once and unexpectedly they were very reserved. Not much between song banter or joking or anything. Reminded me that they were seasoned pros though.

This was at a festival by the way, where Joe Brown out-humoured them

Watch any YouTube clip of the Lovin' Spoonful from their first couple of years, and Zal Yanovsky looks like he's having a blast.

G.E. Smith

G.E. Smith

And his long-lost brother, Billy Zoom.

Fats Domino.

Watch any YouTube clip of the Lovin' Spoonful from their first couple of years, and Zal Yanovsky looks like he's having a blast.

You call it cheerful, I call it smirky, like he's having his fun at the expense of the audience.

Yes, Zal was a bit of a difficult character apparently.

Current bassist in Drive-By Truckers is all smiles. Paul McCartney is always peppy. The drummer Brian Blade.

like he's having his fun at the expense of the audience

I don't know how on earth you get that impression. (Billy Zoom, now there's a frozen, contemptuous smile.) Steve Boone, the bassist, looks like he'd rather be somewhere else, but Zanofsky?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbQ1EZKDTXU

Wayne Coyne is pretty much all up-with-people during Flaming Lips shows.

Liberace, for sure.

Also, whoever-she-is that is Japanese Breakfast. And the Sylvan Esso duo as well.

Jon Langford generally seems to be enjoying the hell out of whatever he’s doing.

I don’t know much about him personally but Mdou Moctar seemed totally delighted to be onstage playing insane guitar solos when I saw him.

Dave Wakeling

That Lovin' Spoonful clip is cheerful enough, I'm just remembering another where Zal is playing with a rubber toy and has an aura of "I'm above all this".

my dad, at some point in the early 70s, saw cannonball adderley in ottawa and requested 'sack o' woe'

cannonball responded, in an impossibly deep voice, 'we don't play that one anymore'

this has absolutely nothing to do with cheerfulness or anything else, but he ruled

Several latin american artists could fit:

Selena, Chayanne, Shakira, Celia Cruz, Thalia, Marco Antonio Solis, Celso Piña, Ramon Ayala

Brazil and Africa also has plenty of energetic, cheerful artists to pick from.

mookie that's because it was all about walkin tall at that point.

add king sunny ade if we're talkin africa

I saw OMD play live when they got back together to tour about 15 years ago, and I remember thinking that maybe it was a thing where they didn't really want to be doing this but needed the money or whatever, but they seemed to be having the time of their lives

Andy has a very positive stage presence indeed, it's such a joy to see OMD.
This comment made me think of when I saw the Who in 2015, and how much Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend seemed to be enjoying themselves and performing together as friends (saw many smiles and laughs exchanged between the two). It surprised me when I read an interview with Pete not long after, wherein he said that they don't really enjoy touring and have always felt a little awkward performing.

I also have to think of seeing Leonard Cohen on his comeback tour (where it was known that he needed the money, but nobody cared because we still got to see Leonard Cohen) and he came hopping on stage with the biggest smile possible. He also kept showering his band members with praise, repeatedly announcing them after every solo.

Yeah, Leonard was a joy to see.

When I saw him in 2013, he joked that he was going to take up smoking. "I'm 78 years old, I have nothing to lose."

add king sunny ade if we're talkin africa

One of the most joyful shows I've ever seen. Eight hours (8PM - 4AM) and it absolutely flew by. (Spending much of it dancing with an eye-poppingly gorgeous Nigerian woman helped.)

Adrian Belew always seems to have the joie de vivre turned up to 10. Mike Watt is a good call.

yea I've always gotten a 'just happy to be here' vibe from Adrian which is funny cuz he's usually the most talented person on stage

Hiromi Uehara must be the most cheerful jazz musician I've ever seen.

This comment made me think of when I saw the Who in 2015, and how much Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend seemed to be enjoying themselves and performing together as friends (saw many smiles and laughs exchanged between the two).

That wasn’t always the case…in fact, prior to Entwistle’s death, it was almost never the case. I think John’s death, and Roger publicly supporting Pete after his 2003 arrest, brought them much closer.

Norman from Teenage Fanclub always looked really happy to me, like he was always glad to be doing what he is doing.

Funnily enough, despite knowing how troubled he is and how sad the music can be, Alan Sparhawk has looked cheery every time I seen Low.

Hiromi Uehara must be the most cheerful jazz musician I've ever seen.

Totally!

Van Morrison's music can be far more cheerful than the man himself appears to be.

Ringo

Al Jarreau always seemed pretty upbeat onstage.

(xp) The guy's been grumpy and miserable as sin for about 30 years now. Probably since he gave up boozing.

Mickey Dolenz was the most cheerful Monkee and he's outlived them all.

Ray Charles

Sometimes I like to pretend the last 30 years hasn’t happened.

Classic EVH is ebullient and joyful, cannot deny.

Is Weird Al too obvious?

Bressa Creeting Cake are probably the most cheerful band I've seen. It helps that their music is joyously ridiculous.

Lawrence Arabia (James Milne) also oozes cheerfulness. I saw him perform a solo piano show where he recreated all the brass instrumental parts with his voice. It was silly and charming and heartwarming. He even managed to imbue joy into the line "Everything is shit, so shit."

it's been a while since I've seen them, but Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon as the most cheerful (couple of) musicians.

Céline Dion

Toto?
Faces / Small Faces?

Can't leave out Carmen Miranda

I saw Minyo Crusaders at WOMAD this weekend and that is my answer

My God was Charles Bradley a fountain of ebullience. The one time I saw him his band jammed for about 30 min. while a huge chunk of the crowd took turns giving him a hug.

Celia Cruz

oops she was already mentioned
nm

Buster Poindexter

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51RwqPr8N8L.jpg

well yeah

the mention of Hiromi led me to watch this again, a duet with Akiko Yano - they both look like they're having so much fun. Hiromi has that kid in a candy shop grin the whole time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faa_c5V_Vww

Ian Dury to thread!

He had many reasons to be cheerful.

Except he wasn't particularly cheerful, quite an intense drive dude.

... driven

Well I dunno, he actually wrote a song about being cheerful which is more than you can say for Roy Clark.

Fats Domino?

xp "Happy to be Unhappy" by Roy Clark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DRVpnBXu9c

Dolly Parton seems a rather upbeat person

Kirk Hammett

Bob Nastanovich

Bez

https://i.imgur.com/BrOMMkg.jpg

(minnie riperton)

Livvy, obv

Bill Black