1960 – Steve Vai: Widdlywiddlywiddlywiddlywiddlywiddlywiddly-SCREECH! Yes, it’s happy birthday to Steve Vai, born today in Long Island, N.Y. this day in rock Guitar God History!
Steven “Steve” Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York) is an American instrumental rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and producer.
After starting his professional career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Vai would also record and tour in Zappa’s backing band starting in 1980. The guitarist began a solo career starting in 1984 and has released 13 solo albums as of 2008. Apart from his work with Frank Zappa, Vai has also recorded and toured with numerous musical artists including Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake. Vai has been a regular touring member of the G3 Concert Tour which began in 1996. In 1999 Vai started his own record label Favored Nations with the intent to showcase, as Vai describes: “…artists that have attained the highest performance level on their chosen instruments.”.
Career
1970s and 1980s
In 1974, Vai took guitar lessons from guitarist Joe Satriani, and played in numerous local bands. He has acknowledged the influence of many guitarists including Jeff Beck and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Vai then attended the Berklee College of Music.
Vai mailed Frank Zappa a transcription of Zappa’s “The Black Page”, an instrumental song written for drums, along with a tape with some of Vai’s guitar playing. Zappa was so impressed with the abilities of the young musician that he hired him in 1979 to do work transcribing several of his guitar solos, including many of those appearing on the Joe’s Garage album and the Shut Up ‘n’ Play Yer Guitar series. These transcriptions were published in 1982 in The Frank Zappa Guitar Book.
Subsequent to being hired as a transcriber, Vai did overdubs on many of the guitar parts for Zappa’s album You Are What You Is. Thereafter he became a full-fledged band member, going on his first tour with Zappa in the Autumn of 1980. One of those early shows with Vai on guitar, recorded in Buffalo was released in 2007. While touring with Zappa’s band, Vai would sometimes ask audience members to bring musical scores and see if he could sight-read them on the spot. Zappa referred to Vai as his “little Italian virtuoso” and was listed in liner notes as “stunt guitar” or “impossible guitar parts”. He would later be a featured artist on the 1993 recording, Zappa’s Universe. In 2006 he returned to playing Zappa music as a special guest on Dweezil Zappa’s ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ tour.
After leaving Zappa in 1982 he moved to California where he recorded his first album Flex-Able and performed in a couple of bands. In 1985 he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as lead guitarist in Graham Bonnet’s Alcatrazz with whom he recorded the album Disturbing the Peace. Later in 1985 he joined former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth’s group to record the albums Eat ‘Em and Smile and Skyscraper. This significantly increased Vai’s visibility to general rock audiences, since Roth was in a highly public battle with the Van Halen members and Vai was favorably compared by many commentators to Eddie Van Halen.
In 1986 Vai also surprised everyone by playing with ex-Sex Pistols John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd on their album Album (also known as Compact Disc or Cassette). Then in 1989 Vai stepped into guitarist Adrian Vandenberg’s shoes to record with British rock-group Whitesnake after Vandenberg injured his wrist shortly before recording was due to begin for the album Slip of the Tongue. Vai also played on the Alice Cooper album Hey Stoopid along with Joe Satriani on the song Feed my Frankenstein.
1990s and 2000s
Vai continues to tour regularly, both with his own group and with his one-time teacher and fellow guitar instrumentalist friend Joe Satriani on the G3 series of tours. Former David Lee Roth and Mr. Big bassist Billy Sheehan also joined him for a world tour. In 1990 Vai released his critically acclaimed solo album Passion and Warfare. The song For the Love of God was voted #29 in a readers’ poll of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time for the magazine Guitar World.
In 1994 Vai began writing and recording with Ozzy Osbourne. Only one track from these sessions—”My Little Man”—was released on the Ozzmosis album. Despite Vai penning the track he does not appear on the album. His guitar parts were replaced by Zakk Wylde. Vai’s band members throughout the 1990s included drummer Mike Mangini, guitarist Mike Keneally and bassist Philip Bynoe. In 1994 Vai received a Grammy Award for his performance on the Frank Zappa song Sofa from the album Zappa’s Universe.
Vai playing a twin-necked IbanezIn July 2002, Steve Vai performed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan, in the world premiere of composer Ichiro Nodaira’s Fire Strings, a concerto for electric guitar and 100-piece orchestra. In 2004, a number of his compositions for orchestra, as well as orchestra arrangements of previously recorded pieces, were performed in The Netherlands by the Metropole Orchestra in a concert series entitled The Aching Hunger. In 2003, drummer Jeremy Colson joined Vai’s group replacing previous drummer Virgil Donati. Vai’s latest album, Sound Theories, was released in 2007.
Steve Vai released a DVD of his performance at The Astoria in London in December 2001, featuring the lineup of bassist Billy Sheehan, guitarist/pianist Tony MacAlpine, guitarist Dave Weiner and drummer Virgil Donati.
In 2004, Steve Vai was featured on Xbox’s Halo 2 Volume 1 soundtrack, performing a heavy rock-guitar rendition of the Halo theme, known as Halo Theme (Mjolnir Mix). He also performed on the track Never Surrender. He later featured in the second volume of the soundtrack, where he performed on the track Reclaimer.
In February 2005, Vai premiered a dual-guitar (electric and classical) piece that he wrote called The Blossom Suite with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris. In 2006, Vai played as a “special guest” guitarist alongside additional guest Zappa band members, drummer Terry Bozzio and saxophonist-singer Napoleon Murphy Brock in the Zappa Plays Zappa tour led by Frank’s son Dweezil Zappa in Europe and the U.S. in the Spring as well as a short U.S. tour in October.
On September 21 2006, Vai made a special appearance at the Video Games Live concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. He played two songs with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. One song being the Halo Theme, the second was for the world premier trailer for Halo 3.
Steve Vai made an appearance at the London Guitar Show 2007 on the 28th April 2007 at the ExCeL Center by doing a masterclass. In late April 2007, Vai confirmed the release of his next record, called Sound Theories, on June 26. The release will be a 2-CD set consisting mostly of previously released material that Vai rearranged and played in front of a full orchestra. Vai says that the project was a great joy because he considers himself to be a composer more than a guitarist, and he is happy to see music he has composed played by an orchestra that can play it well. A DVD will eventually accompany the record but will be released in August. He makes a guest appearance on the most recent Dream Theater album, Systematic Chaos, on the song “Repentance”. However, this appearance is vocal rather than instrumental, as Vai is one of many musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings committed in their pasts.
Vai is set to release a DVD of his show dated 19 September 2007 at the Minneapolis State Theater from his 2007 Tour.
Movies
Steve Vai’s music has been featured in a number of feature films, including Dudes and Ghosts of Mars. He appeared onscreen in the 1986 Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads, playing the demonically-inspired Jack Butler. At the film’s climax, Vai engages in a guitar duel with Macchio, whose guitar parts were dubbed by Vai and also Ry Cooder, who played the initial slide work in the duel and Macchio’s earlier performances in the film. The fast-paced neo-classical track entitled Eugene’s Trick Bag with which Macchio wins the competition was also composed by Vai. The body of the piece was heavily based on Paganini’s Caprice #5. He later borrowed the opening riff from the track Head Cuttin’ Duel for a song called Bad Horsie from his 1995 EP Alien Love Secrets. Later the Crossroads duel reappeared on the 2002 album The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1.
In 1991′s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey the introductory riff to KISS’ God Gave Rock ‘N Roll To You II, as performed by the Wyld Stallyns in the Battle of the Bands was performed by Vai. He also composed and performed the soundtrack to PCU (1994), and made contributions in 2001 to the score for John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars, performing on the tracks Ghosts of Mars and Ghost Poppin. His track Drive the Hell Out Of Here can be heard during 1992′s Encino Man in the scene where Brendan Fraser is taking a driving lesson.
Musical style
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Vai performing in 2001Vai is widely recognized as a technically highly advanced rock guitarist and has been described as a virtuoso in the world of guitar music . He has mastered many performance techniques on the instrument including legato, pinch harmonics and volume swells, and is noted for his whammy bar effects and sporadic outbursts on the instrument often contrasting sweep-picking or finger tapping with slower sections to his compositions. His 1990 album Passion and Warfare and the ballad For the Love of God in particular received a significant amount of press and are often cited by critics and fans alike as amongst his best work to date .
Vai’s playing style has been characterized as quirky and angular, owing to his technical facility with the instrument and deep knowledge of music theory. Vai was the first to use the 7-string guitar in a rock context – having designed the 7-string electric guitar, and has used double and triple neck guitars on many occasions.
Equipment
Vai is an accomplished studio producer (he owns two: “The Mothership” and “The Harmony Hut” ) and his own recordings combine his signature guitar prowess with novel compositions and considerable use of studio and recording effects, such as the Eventide H3000 ultra harmonizer and Digidesign’s Pro Tools HD recording system and plug-in effects architecture.
Vai also helped design his signature Ibanez JEM series of guitars. They feature a hand grip (fondly referred to as a “monkey grip”) cut into the top of the body of the guitar, a humbucker-single coil-humbucker DiMarzio pickup configuration with several different types of pickup including Evolution, Breed and EVO 2. He also uses Floyd Rose locking tremolo system, as well as an elaborate and extensive “Vine of Life” inlay down the neck. Vai also equips many of his guitars with an Ibanez Backstop, a tremolo stabilizer that has been discontinued. Vai also has a 7-string model designed by him named Ibanez Universe. The Universe later influenced the 7-string guitars used by Korn and other bands to create nu metal sounds in the late 1990s. He also has a signature Ibanez acoustic, the Euphoria. Before he used Ibanez, he briefly endorsed Jackson guitars, but this relationship would only last for two years.
Steve Vai has also worked with Carvin Guitars and Pro Audio to develop the Carvin Legacy line of guitar amplifiers. Vai wanted to create an amp that was unique and equal in sound, versatility, and affordability to any guitar amp he had previously used. Over his long musical career, Steve Vai has used and designed an array of guitars. He even had his DNA put into the swirl paint job on one of his signature JEM guitars, the JEM2KDNA, in the form of his blood. Only 300 of these were ever made. Nowadays he mainly uses his white “Evo”, a JEM7V, and his “Flo”, which is a customized Floral Jem 777FP painted white. They are both inscribed with their names in two places, mainly in order to allow him to distinguish between the guitars he uses onstage. “Flo” is equipped with a Fernandes sustainer system.
He also has a guitar named “Mojo” in which the dot inlays are blue LED lights. Additionally, he has a custom-made triple-neck guitar that has the same basic features as his JEM7V guitars. The top neck is a 12-string guitar, the middle is a 6-string, and the bottom is a 6-string fretless guitar with a Fernandes Sustainer pickup. This guitar was featured on the G3 2003 tour on the piece I Know You’re Here. Vai’s effects pedals include a modified Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Morley Bad Horsie, TC Electronics G-System, Morley Little Alligator Volume pedal, Digitech Whammy, and an MXR Phase 90. His flight cases are labeled “Mr. Vai”, or latterly, “Dr. Vai”. He used a number of rack effects units controlled via MIDI, but used a floor-based TC electronics G system instead for the Zappa Plays Zappa tour. Vai also has a signature pedal in the works with Ibanez called the “Jemini” pedal (see external links for a picture). This pedal is expected to be released at Winter NAMM 2008.
Philanthropy
In 2005, Vai signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on its board of directors as an honorary member.
Favored Nations
Vai owns Favored Nations, a recording and publishing company that specializes in internationally procuring and maintaining recording artists. Favored Nations is separated into three sections, ‘Favored Nations’, ‘Favored Nations Acoustic’ and ‘Favored Nations Cool (Jazz style)’
Artists who the Favored Nations label works or has worked with include Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, Yngwie Malmsteen, Mattias IA Eklundh, Tommy Emmanuel, Vernon Reid, The Yardbirds, Larry Coryell, Mimi Fox, Eric Sardinas, Dweezil Zappa, Dave Weiner and Johnny A.
Personal life
Vai is married to Pia Maiocco, former bass player of Vixen, who can be seen in Hardbodies. Vai and Maiocco have two children, Julian Angel and Fire. In his spare time Vai enjoys keeping bees, which regularly produce a crop of honey that Vai sells for his Make a Noise Foundation.
Band History – not including guest appearances
Frank Zappa (1980-1982)
Steve Vai (1982-1984)
Alcatrazz (1985)
David Lee Roth (1985-1986)
Public Image Ltd. (1985-1986)
Frank Zappa (1986)
David Lee Roth (1987-1988)
Whitesnake (1988-1990)
Solo (1989-present)
Ozzy Osbourne (1995)
Current band members
Steve Vai – vocals, lead guitar
Dave Weiner – rhythm guitar
Ann Marie Calhoun – Fiddle, keyboard
Brian Beller – bass guitar
Jeremy Colson – drums, percussion
Alex Depue- Violin
Discography
Solo albums
Flex-Able (1984)
Flex-Able Leftovers (1984)
Passion and Warfare (1990)
Sex & Religion (1993)
Alien Love Secrets (1995)
Fire Garden (1996)
The Ultra Zone (1999)
The 7th Song (2000)
Alive in an Ultra World (2001)
The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1 (2002)
The Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology (2003)
Real Illusions: Reflections (2005)
Sound Theories (2007)
Appearances on Zappa albums
Year Album Credit
1981 Tinseltown Rebellion Rhythm guitar, vocals
1981 Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar Rhythm guitar
1981 You Are What You Is Strat abuse
1982 Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch Guitar parts
1983 The Man from Utopia Guitar parts
1984 Them or Us Guitar
1984 Thing-Fish Guitar, vocals
1985 Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention Guitar
1987 Jazz from Hell Guitar
1988 Guitar Stunt guitar
1988 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore Sampler Stunt guitar
1988 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 Stunt guitar
1989 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 Stunt guitar
1991 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 Stunt guitar, vocals
1991 Beat the Boots I: As An Am Stunt guitar
1992 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 Stunt guitar
1992 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 Stunt guitar
1995 Strictly Commercial Guitar
1997 Have I Offended Someone? Guitar
1998 Cheap Thrills Guitar
1999 Son of Cheep Thrills Guitar, vocals
With other artists
Year Artist Album
1983 Lisa Popeil Lisa Popeil
1985 Heresy At The Door
1985 Alcatrazz Disturbing the Peace
1985 Public Image Ltd. Album
1986 Bob Harris The Great Nostalgia
1986 Shankar & Caroline The Epidemics
1986 David Lee Roth Eat ‘Em and Smile / Sonrisa Salvaje
1986 Randy Coven Funk Me Tender
1986 Western Vacation Western Vacation
1988 David Lee Roth Skyscraper
1989 Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue
1990 Rebecca The Best of Dreams
1991 Alice Cooper Hey Stoopid
1994 Whitesnake Whitesnake’s Greatest Hits
1995 Ozzy Osbourne Ozzmosis (cowriter on one song)
1996 Wild Style Cryin’
1997 Munetaka Higuchi with Dream Castle Free World
1997 Joe Satriani / Eric Johnson / Steve Vai G3: Live in Concert
1997 David Lee Roth The Best
1998 Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette
1998 Al Di Meola The Infinite Desire
1999 Joe Jackson Symphony No. 1
2000 Whitesnake The Back to Black Collection
2000 Gregg Bissonette Submarine
2000 Thana Harris Thanatopsis
2000 Andrew Dice Clay Face Down, Ass Up
2001 Robin DiMaggio Blue Planet
2001 Billy Sheehan Compression
2002 Tak Matsumoto Hana
2003 Surinder Sandhu Saurang Orchestra
2002 Girls Together Outrageously (G.T.O) Solo in their cover version of “I’ll Be Around”
2003 Eric Sardinas Black Pearls
2003 Steve Lukather & Friends SantaMental
2003 Hughes Turner Project HTP 2
2003 Shankar & Gingger One in a Million
2003 Yardbirds Birdland
2004 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen G3: Live – Rockin’ In The Free World
2004 Motörhead Inferno
2004 Bob Carpenter The Sun, The Moon, The Stars
2004 Mike Keneally Vai: Piano Reductions, Vol. 1
2005 John 5 Songs for Sanity
2005 Dave Weiner Live at Astoria DVD
2005 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci G3: Live in Tokyo
2006 The Devin Townsend Band Synchestra
2006 Marty Friedman Loudspeaker
2006 Meat Loaf Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose
2007 Aki Rahimovski U vremenu izgubljenih
2007 Dream Theater (spoken voice only) Systematic Chaos
2007 Eros Ramazzotti e²
Soundtracks
Year Soundtrack Type
1986 Crossroads Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1987 Dudes Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1991 Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1992 Encino Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1994 PCU Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1997 Formula 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2001 Ghosts of Mars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
2004 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2006 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 Original Video Game Soundtrack
Compilations
Year Artists Compilation
1989 Various Guitar’s Practicing Musicians
1993 Various Zappa’s Universe
1995 Various In From The Storm
1996 Various Songs of West Side Story
1997 Various A Guitar Christmas
1997 Various Angelica
1999 Various Radio Disney Kid Jams
2001 Various Roland Guitar Masters
2002 Various Guitars For Freedom
2002 Various Warmth In The Wilderness Vol. II – A Tribute to Jason Becker
2004 Various Halo 2 Original Soundtrack
2006 Various Monsters of Rock
Awards and Nominations
Grammy Winner
1994 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Sofa” from Zappa’s Universe
2001 Best Pop Instrumental No Substitutions [Steve Vai Producer/Engineer]
Grammy Nomination
1990 Best Rock Instrumental Album Passion & Warfare
1995 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Tender Surrender” – from Alien Love Secrets
1997 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “For the Love of God” – from G3 Live in Concert
1999 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Windows to the Soul” – from The Ultra Zone
2001 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Whispering a Prayer” – from Alive in an Ultra World
2006 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Lotus Feet” — lost to Les Paul & Friends’s “69 Freedom Special”
2008 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “The Attitude Song” — lost to Bruce Springsteen’s “Once Upon a Time in the West”
Guitar Player Magazine
1995 Gallery of Greats
1995 Best Rock Guitarist (Tie with Jimmy Page)
1995 Best Overall Guitarist 3rd Place
1995 Best Experimental Guitarist (Tie with Buckethead)
1995 Best Metal Recording 3rd Place
1995 Best Overall Guitar Recording 2nd Place
1995 Best Metal Guitarist 3rd Place
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Overall Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Album
1990 Best Metal Guitarist
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
1988 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Overall Guitarist
1986 Best Rock Guitarist
Guitar World
1990 Most Valued Player (tie with Stevie Ray Vaughan)
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Solo (For the Love of God)
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
International Music Awared Nomination
1990 Best Guitarist
Select Magazine (UK)
1990 Best Album (Passion and Warfare)
1990 Best Musician
1990 Sexiest Male
Guitar for the Practicing Musician
1993 Editor’s Choice Award
1990 Reader’s Choice – Guitar Album of the Year
1990 Best Instrumental Guitarist of the Year
1988 Rock Guitarist of the Year
1987 Hall of Fame
1986 Guitar in the 90’s Award
Kerrang (UK)
1993 Best Hard Rock Performance
1990 Guitarist of the Year
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
Young Guitar (Japan)
1997 Best Rock Guitarist
1991 Best Rock Guitarist
Rock Brigade
1996 Best Guitarist
1997 Best Guitarist
RAW
990 Best Selling Album (No. 10)
1990 Best Selling LP Sleeve (No. 1)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 5, I Would Love To)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 7, The Audience is Listening)
1990 Best Sex Object (No. 6)
1990 Best RAW Cover (No. 3)
Player
1995 Best Hard Rock Guitarist – 2nd Place
Making Music
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Guitarist
1990 Best Musician
Metal Hammer
1990 Best Guitarist (Reader’s Poll)
California Music Awards
2001 Outstanding Guitarist (nominee)
2003 – Scottish band Dogs Die in Hot Cars lead singer Craig McIntosh is electrocuted onstage in Dundee.
You mean this crap still happens. At least he died lovin’ what he was doing! Hats Off!
Dogs Die in Hot Cars are a Scottish band which became popular in the UK and international music scene at the same time as Biffy Clyro and Franz Ferdinand.
The band’s name comes from a RSPCA campaign to advise dog owners not to leave their pets in hot cars. The band lists their influences among others as Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers,XTC and Talking Heads.
The band posted a blog on their MySpace on September 18, 2007 indicating that they have decided to end all work on a new album. With this news they also said that they are going their separate ways and may or may not reunite.
A song of the band’s, entitled ‘Nobody Teaches Life Anything’ (found on 2004 release ‘Man Bites Man’ EP) was used in a lengthy television advertising campaign in the UK by Boots.
In April 2008, the band announced on their website that they have started again on their second album and released several free songs on their blog for fans to remix.
2001 – Bluesman John Lee Hooker, believed to be 83, dies of natural causes at his home in Los Altos, Calif. The singer/guitarist began his career in 1949, when his Modern Records single “Boogie Chillen” became a No. 1 R&B hit.
Lyrics:
Boom boom boom boom
I’m gonna shoot you right down,
right offa your feet
Take you home with me,
put you in my house
Boom boom boom boom
A-haw haw haw haw
Hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm
Hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm
I love to see you strut,
up and down the floor
When you talking to me,
that baby talk
I like it like that
Whoa, yeah!
Talk that talk, walk that walk
When she walk that walk,
and talk that talk,
and whisper in my ear,
tell me that you love me
I love that talk
When you talk like that,
you knocks me out,
right off of my feet
Hoo hoo hoo
Talk that talk, and walk that walk
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an influential American post-war blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter born in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi. From a musical family, he was a cousin of Earl Hooker. John was also influenced by his stepfather, a local blues guitarist, who learned in Shreveport, Louisiana to play a droning, one-chord blues that was strikingly different from the Delta blues of the time. John developed a half-spoken style that was his trademark. Though similar to the early Delta blues, his music was rhythmically free. John Lee Hooker could be said to embody his own unique genre of the blues, often incorporating the boogie-woogie piano style and a driving rhythm into his masterful and idiosyncratic blues guitar and singing. His best known songs include “Boogie Chillen” (1948) and “Boom Boom” (1962).
Biography
Early life
Hooker was born on August 22, 1917 in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi, the youngest of the eleven children of William Hooker (1871–1923), a sharecropper and a Baptist preacher, and Minnie Ramsey (1875–?). Hooker and his siblings were home-schooled. They were permitted to listen only to religious songs, with his earliest musical exposure being the spirituals sung in church. In 1921, his parents separated. The next year, his mother married William Moore, a blues singer who provided John’s first introduction to the guitar (and whom John would later credit for his distinctive playing style). The year after that (1923), John’s natural father died; and at age 15, John ran away from home, never to see his mother and stepfather again.
Throughout the 1930s, Hooker lived in Memphis where he worked on Beale Street and occasionally performed at house parties. He worked in factories in various cities during World War II, drifting until he found himself in Detroit in 1948 working at Ford Motor Company. He felt right at home near the blues venues and saloons on Hastings Street, the heart of black entertainment on Detroit’s east side. In a city noted for its piano players, guitar players were scarce. Performing in Detroit clubs, his popularity grew quickly, and seeking a louder instrument than his crude acoustic guitar, he bought his first electric guitar.
Career
Hooker’s recording career began in 1948 when his agent placed a demo disc, made by Hooker, with the Bihari brothers, owners of the Modern Records label. The company initially released an up-tempo number, “Boogie Chillen”, which became Hooker’s first hit single. Though they were not songwriters, the Biharis often purchased or claimed co-authorship of songs that appeared on their labels, thus securing songwriting royalties for themselves, in addition to their streams of income.
Sometimes these songs were older tunes renamed (B.B.King’s “Rock Me Baby”), anonymous jams (“B.B.’s Boogie”) or songs by employees (bandleader Vince Weaver). The Biharis used a number of pseudonyms for songwriting credits: Jules was credited as Jules Taub; Joe as Joe Josea; and Sam as Sam Ling. One song by John Lee Hooker, “Down Child” is solely credited to “Taub”, with Hooker receiving no credit for the song whatsoever. Another, “Turn Over a New Leaf” is credited to Hooker and “Ling”.
Despite being illiterate, Hooker was a prolific lyricist. In addition to adapting the occasionally traditional blues lyric (such as “if I was chief of police, I would run her right out of town”), he freely invented many of his songs from scratch. Recording studios in the 1950s rarely paid black musicians more than a pittance, so Hooker would spend the night wandering from studio to studio, coming up with new songs or variations on his songs for each studio. Due to his recording contract, he would record these songs under obvious pseudonyms such as “John Lee Booker”, “Johnny Hooker”, or “John Cooker.”
His early solo songs were recorded under Bernie Besman. John Lee Hooker rarely played on a standard beat, changing tempo to fit the needs of the song. This often made it difficult to use backing musicians who were not accustomed to Hooker’s musical vagaries: As a result, Besman would record Hooker, in addition to playing guitar and singing, stomping along with the music on a wooden pallet. For much of this time period he recorded and toured with Eddie Kirkland, who is still performing as of 2008. Later sessions for the VeeJay label in Chicago used studio musicians on most of his recordings, including Eddie Taylor, who could handle his musical idiosyncrasies very well. His biggest UK hit, “Boom Boom”, (originally released on VeeJay) had a horn section to boot!
He appeared and sang in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers. Due to Hooker’s improvisatory style, his performance was filmed and sound-recorded live at the scene at Chicago’s Maxwell Street Market, in contrast to the usual “playback” technique used in most film musicals. Hooker was also a direct influence in the look of John Belushi’s character Jake Blues, borrowing his trademark sunglasses and soul patch.
In 1989, he joined with a number of musicians, including Keith Richards, Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raitt to record The Healer, for which he and Carlos Santana won a Grammy Award. Hooker recorded several songs with Van Morrison, including “Never Get Out of These Blues Alive”, “The Healing Game” and “I Cover the Waterfront”. He also appeared on stage with Van Morrison several times, some of which was released on the live album A Night in San Francisco. The same year he appeared as the title character on Pete Townshend’s The Iron Man: A Musical.
Hooker recorded over 100 albums. He lived the last years of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area, where, in 1997, he opened a nightclub called “John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom Room”, after one of his hits.
He fell ill just before a tour of Europe in 2001 and died soon afterwards at the age of 83. The last song Hooker recorded before his death, is “Ali D’Oro”, a collaboration with the Italian soul singer Zucchero, in which Hooker sang the chorus “I lay down with an angel”. He was survived by eight children, nineteen grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren and a nephew.
Among his many awards, Hooker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 1991 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Two of his songs, “Boogie Chillen” and “Boom Boom” were named to the list of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. “Boogie Chillen” was included as one of the Songs of the Century. He was also inducted in 1980 into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2000, Hooker was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Music
Hooker’s guitar playing is closely aligned with piano Boogie Woogie. He would play the walking bass pattern with his thumb, stopping to emphasize the end of a line with a series of trills, done by rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs. The songs that most epitomize his early sound are “Boogie Chillen”, about being 17 and wanting to go out to dance at the Boogie clubs, “Baby Please Don’t Go”, a blues standard first recorded by Big Joe Williams, and “Tupelo Blues”, a stunningly sad song about the flooding of Tupelo, Mississippi in April 1936.
He maintained a solo career, popular with blues and folk music fans of the early 1960s and crossed over to white audiences, giving an early opportunity to the young Bob Dylan. As he got older, he added more and more people to his band, changing his live show from simply Hooker with his guitar to a large band, with Hooker singing.
His vocal phrasing was less closely tied to specific bars than most blues singers’. This casual, rambling style had been gradually diminishing with the onset of electric blues bands from Chicago but, even when not playing solo, Hooker retained it in his sound.
Though Hooker lived in Detroit during most of his career, he is not associated with the Chicago-style blues prevalent in large northern cities, as much as he is with the southern rural blues styles, known as delta blues, country blues, folk blues, or “front porch blues”. His use of an electric guitar tied together the Delta blues with the emerging post-war electric blues.
His songs have been covered by The White Stripes, MC5, The Doors, George Thorogood, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, The Yardbirds, The Animals, R. L. Burnside, the J. Geils Band and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
Awards and Recognition
* A Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
* Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980
* Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991
Grammy Awards:
* Best Traditional Blues Recording, 1990 for “I’m in the Mood” (with Bonnie Raitt)
* Best Traditional Blues Recording, 1998 for Don’t Look Back
* Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, 1998, “Don’t Look Back” (with Van Morrison)
* Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000
* Two of his songs, “Boogie Chillen” and “Boom Boom” were named to the list of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. “Boogie Chillen” was included as one of the Songs of the Century.
Quotes
* “It don’t take me no three days to do no album.” (during the recording of the double album Hooker ‘N’ Heat with Canned Heat.)
* “I don’t play a lot of fancy guitar. I don’t want to play it. The kind of guitar I want to play is mean, mean licks.” (when describing his own music in an article from The Daily News, Atlanta, Ga. 1992)
* “Women are like wet bars of soap. Hold on to em too hard and they pop outta your hands.” (as spoken to Randy Wilkinson in New Orleans 1983, friend and road manager)
* “His [Grateful Dead keyboardist/singer Ron 'Pig Pen' McKernan's] wife can cook but Pig can’t cook, I told him ‘Man, I can’t eat your cookin’.” (during the recording of Hooker ‘N Heat.)
* “Elvis Presley – one of the greatest people ever been born.”
Discography
Singles
Hooker issued a large number of singles, with almost a hundred releases by 1960.
Here are ten of his early classic recordings:
* Detroit September 1948 – Boogie Chillen’ – Modern 627 (11/48) R&B #1 (Crown LP “The Blues”)
* Detroit September 1948 – Hobo Blues – Modern 663 (3/49) R&B #5 (Crown LP “The Blues”)
* Detroit September 1948 – Crawling King Snake – Modern 715 (10/49) R&B #6 (Crown LP “The Blues”)
* Detroit August 7, 1951 – I’m In the Mood – Modern 835 (9/51) R&B #1 (Crown LP “The Blues”)
* Detroit Early 1955 – The Syndicator b/w Hug And Squeeze – Modern 966 (8/55) (Crown LP “Sings The Blues”)
* Chicago March 17, 1956 – Dimples – Vee-Jay 205 (8/56) (VJ LP “I’m John Lee Hooker”)
* Chicago June 10, 1958 – I Love You Honey – Vee-Jay 293 (9/58) R&B #29 (VJ LP “I’m John Lee Hooker”)
* Chicago March 1, 1960 – No Shoes – Vee-Jay 349 (4/60) R&B#21 (VJ LP “Travelin’”)
* Chicago Late 1961 – Boom Boom – Vee-Jay 438 (4/62) R&B #16 (VJ LP “Burnin’”)
* Chicago Mid 1964 – It Serves Me Right (To Suffer) – Vee-Jay 708 (11/65) (VJ/Dynasty LP “In Person”)
Albums
There are many John Lee Hooker albums out there. Below you will find the original albums with notable reissues.
THE DETROIT YEARS (recordings 1948-1955)
* 1960 – The Blues (Crown) – reissued on United, also as “The Greatest Hits” (Kent, 1971) Modern tracks
* 1960 – House Of The Blues (Chess) 1951-52 tracks
* 1961 – Sings The Blues (Crown) – reissued on United, also as “Driftin’ Thru The Blues” (Custom) Modern tracks
* 1961 – Plays And Sings The Blues (Chess) 1950-52 tracks
* 1961 – Sings Blues (King) – reissued as “Moanin’ and Stompin’”, and “Don’t You Remember Me” (Charly) Texas Slim 1948-50 tracks
* 1962 – Folk Blues (Crown) – reissued on United (Modern tracks)
* 1963 – The Great John Lee Hooker (Crown) – reissued as “The Great Blues Sounds of” (United) Modern tracks
* 1963 – Don’t Turn Me from Your Door – John Lee Hooker Sings His Blues (Atco) 1953 and 1961
* 1963 – Big Maceo Merriweather / John Lee Hooker (Fortune) 1/2 of an LP
* 1964 – Original Folk Blues (Kent) Modern compilation – reissued on United
* 1967 – John Lee Hooker & his Guitar (Advent) British bootleg; early tracks
* 1969 – No Friend Around (Red Lightnin’) early tracks, bootleg compilation
* 1970 – Alone (Specialty) 1949-1951 tracks
* 1971 – Goin’ Down Highway 51 (Specialty) 1949-1951 tracks
* 1972 – Coast to Coast Blues Band – Anywhere Anytime Anyplace (United Artists) 1948-1952 tracks
* 1972 – Johnny Lee (Greene Bottle) early Besman alternates (not issued on CD)
* 1973 – Hooker, Hopkins, Hogg (Specialty) half an LP of 1954 recordings
* 1973 – Slim’s Stomp (Polydor) King’s “Sings Blues” plus bonus tracks
* 1973 – John Lee Hooker’s Detroit (United Artists) Besman alternate 1948-1952 tracks
* 1973 – Mad Man Blues (Chess) compilation 1950s and 1966
* 1979 – Southern Blues (Savoy) 1948 tracks on half an LP
* 1981 – Blues For Big Town (Chess) compilation featuring unissed early 1950s
* 1987 – Gotham Golden Classics – Rare Recordings (Collectables) 1951-52 tracks – also issued as “Detroit Blues, 1950-51″ (Krazy Kat with bonus tracks)
* 1989 – 40th Anniversary Album (DCC) – also issued on Demon as “The Detroit Lion” (compilation of early tracks)
* 1990 – Boogie Awhile (Krazy Kat) unissued early Elmer Barbee recordings
* 1999 – Savoy Blues Legends, 1948-1949 (SavoyJazz/Atlantic) – reissued on Savoy (Elmer Barbee recordings)
* 2000 – The Unknown John Lee Hooker (Krazy Kat, 1951 tracks) – reissued as “Jack 0′Diamonds” (Eagle, 2004)
THE CHICAGO YEARS (recordings 1955-1964)
* 1959 – I’m John Lee Hooker (Vee Jay 1955-1959)
* 1960 – Travelin (Vee Jay)
* 1961 – The Folk Lore of John Lee Hooker (Vee Jay)
* 1962 – Burnin’ (Vee Jay)
* 1962 – The Big Soul of John Lee Hooker (Vee Jay)
* 1962 – The Best of John Lee Hooker (Vee Jay) – compilation
* 1962 – Gold (Vee Jay) – compilation
* 1963 – John Lee Hooker On Campus (Vee Jay) – reissued as “Big Band Blues” (Buddah)
* 1965 – … And Seven Nights (Verve-Folkways) British recordings of 1964 (re-issued with brass overdub as “On The Waterfront” on Wand) – and reissued in several versions later
* 1965 – Is He The World’s Greatest Blues Singer? (Vee Jay) compilation – reissued on Exodus
* 1974 – In Person (VeeJay/Dynasty) late Vee-Jay tracks
* 1993 – John Lee Hooker on Vee-Jay 1955-1958 (VeeJay) compilation
THE FOLK YEARS (recordings 1959-1963)
* 1959 – The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker (Riverside) – reissued as “How Long Blues” (Battle, 1963)
* 1960 – That’s My Story – JLH Sings the Blues (Riverside) – reissued as “The Blues Man” (Battle, 1963)
* 1962 – John Lee Hooker (Galaxy) – reissued as “The King of Folk Blues” (America)
* 1963 – Live At Sugar Hill (Galaxy)
* 1964 – Burning Hell (Riverside) recorded 1959
* 1964 – Concert At Newport (Vee Jay) – reissued with bonus tracks as “Live At Newport” (Fantasy)
* 1966 – Teachin’ The Blues (Guest Star) half an LP of recordings from 1961
* 1969 – That’s Where It’s At! (Stax) recordings of 1961
* 1971 – Detroit Special (Atlantic) compilation (“Don’t Turn Me From Your Door” plus bonus tracks)
* 1972 – Boogie Chillun (Fantasy) (“Live at Sugar Hill” plus bonus tracks) – reissued on Ace as “Live at Sugar Hill Vol. 1 & 2″
* 1979 – Sittin’ Here Thinkin (Muse) – reissued as “Sad And Lonesome” (Savoy recordings of 1961)
* 2002 – Live At Sugar Hill, Vol. 2 (Fantasy) unissued recordings from 1961 (featuring a “third session”)
THE ABC YEARS (recordings 1965-1974)
* 1966 – It Serves You Right To Suffer (Impulse)
* 1966 – The Real Folk Blues (Chess) new Chicago recordings
* 1967 – Live at the Cafè Au Go-Go (Bluesway)
* 1968 – Urban Blues (Bluesway)
* 1969 – Simply The Truth (Bluesway)
* 1969 – If You Miss ‘Im … I Got ‘Im (Bluesway)
* 1969 – On The Waterfront (Wand) (… And Seven Nights” with brass overdub)
* 1970 – I Wanna Dance All Night (America) Europe recordings – reissued with the next as “Black Rhythm & Blues” (Festival)
* 1970 – I Feel Good (Carson) Europe recordings – reissued on Jewel (1972)
* 1971 – Endless Boogie (ABC)
* 1971 – Get Back Home In The USA (Black & Blue) Europe recordings – reissued with bonus tracks as “Get Back Home”
* 1971 – Hooker ‘N’ Heat (Liberty) – reissued as “Infinite Boogie” (Rhino)
* 1972 – Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive (ABC)
* 1972 – Live at Kabuki Wuki (Bluesway)
* 1973 – Live At Soledad Prison (ABC)
* 1973 – Born In Mississippi, Raised Up In Tennessee (ABC)
* 1974 – Free Beer And Chicken (ABC)
* 1991 – More Real Folk Blues – The Missing Album (Chess) – also issued with “The Real Folk Blues” as “The Complete Chess Folk Blues Sessions”
THE ROSEBUD YEARS (recordings 1975-2001)
* 1976 – Alone Vol 1 (Labor) live – reissued on Tomato
* 1976 – Alone – Live in New York Vol 2 (MMG) – reissued on Tomato
* 1978 – Live + Well (Ornament)
* 1978 – The Cream (Tomato) live recordings – reissued with bonus tracks on Charly
* 1979 – Live in 1978 (Lunar)
* 1981 – Hooker ‘n’ Heat Recorded Live at the Fox Venice Theatre (Rhino, various artists)
* 1986 – Jealous (Pulsa) – reissued on Pointblank 1996 – and on Shout!Factory with bonus tracks
* 1989 – The Healer (Chameleon)
* 1990 – The Hot Spot (Featuring Miles Davis)
* 1991 – Mr. Lucky (Pointblank)
* 1992 – Boom Boom (Pointblank) – reissued on Shout!Factory with bonus tracks
* 1995 – Chill Out (Pointblank) – reissued on Shout!Factory with bonus tracks
* 1997 – Don’t Look Back (Pointblank/Virgin) – reissued on Shout!Factory with bonus tracks
* 1998 – The Best of Friends (Pointblank) compilation 1986-1998 incl one new track – reissued on Shout!Factory download with bonus track
* 2003 – Face to Face (Eagle) new recordings
Selected CD Compilations
* 1990 – That’s My Story/The Folk Blues of (Ace) – the two original Riverside LPs on one CD
* 1990 – That’s Where It’s At (Stax) reissue of Florida recordings from 1961
* 1991 – The Ultimate Collection 1948-1990 (Rhino 2CDbox)
* 1991 – Half A Stranger (Mainstream) Modern tracks 1948-1955 incl unedited masters
* 1991 – Free Beer And Chicken (BeatGoesOn/MCA) recorded 1974
* 1991 – Don’t Turn Me From Your Door (Atlantic/Atco) 1953 and 1961 (incl the bonus tracks)
* 1992 – Graveyard Blues (Specialty/Ace) 1948-1950 Besman/Sensation tracks
* 1992 – The Best of John Lee Hooker 1965 to 1974 (Universal) Impulse and ABC/Bluesway recordings
* 1993 – Everybody’s Blues (Specialty/Ace) Besman tracks of 1950-51 plus two 1954 sessions direct for Specialty
* 1993 – The Legendary Modern Recordings 1948-1954 (Flair/Ace) the original singles
* 1994 – The Boogie Man (Charly DIG 5) anthology box featuring 1948-1966 (excluding Modern)
* 1995 – Alternative Boogie – Early Studio Recordings, 1948-1952 (Capitol 3CD) Besman alternates
* 1996 – Live at the Café Au Go-Go (and Soledad Prison) (Universal) 1966 with Muddy Waters’ band and 1972
* 1998 – The Complete 50′s Chess Recordings (Chess 2CD) anthology featuring the tracks from “House of the Blues” and “Plays and Sings the Blues” (1951-52) plus several bonus tracks from Fortune 1954 incl “Blues For Big Town”
* 2000 – The Complete 1964 recordings (RPM) last Vee-Jay session 1964 plus British London recordings – the British tracks reissued with brass overdubs as “The London 1965 Sessions” on Sequel
* 2000 – I’m John Lee Hooker (Charly -with bonus tracks) his very first LP, 1955-1959 recordings – reissued on SNAP in 2003 and without bonus tracks on Shout!Factory in 2007
* 2000 – Travelin’ (Charly -with bonus tracks) the great LP session of 1960- reissued on SNAP in 2003
* 2000 – The Folk Lore of John Lee Hooker (Charly -with bonus tracks) his third VJ LP – reissued on SNAP in 2003
* 2000 – Burnin’ (Charly -with bonus tracks) the fourth VJ LP, 1962 – reissued on SNAP in 2003
* 2000 – The Complete – Vol. 1 1948-49 [Body & Soul 2CD]
* 2000 – The Complete – Vol. 2 1949 [Body & Soul 2CD]
* 2001 – The Complete – Vol. 3 1949-50 [Body & Soul 2CD]
* 2001 – House Rent Boogie (Ace) Modern compilation of rare early 1950s recordings
* 2001 – Testament – 3CDbox featuring some of the very best Vee-Jay recordings (Charly/Snapper)
* 2002 – The Complete – Vol. 4 1950-51 [Body & Soul 2CD]
* 2002 – The Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues (Chess) 1966 recordings; reissue of the 1991 CD “The Complete Chess Folk Blues Sessions”
* 2003 – Boogie Chillen’ (Audio Fidelity) 1949 – 1952 Besman and Siracuse (engineer) compilation
* 2003 – Blues Kingpins – Blues Immortal (Virgin) 1948-1955 Modern anthology
* 2004 – Early Years – The Classic Savoy Sessions (Metro Doubles 2CD) recorded 1948 and 1961 – comprising the tracks from “Savoy Blues Legends” (Savoy in 1999 and 2003) and the 1961 Savoy recordings from “Sittin’ Here Thinkin’” (32Blues in 2004 with the bonus track)
* 2004 – I’m A Boogie Man (Varése Sarabande) Vintage 1948 – 1953 Texas Slim and John Lee Booker (King/DeLuxe tracks featuring all the King singles)
* 2004 – The Complete – Vol. 5 1951-53 [Body & Soul 2CD]
* 2005 – The Complete – Vol. 6 1953-54 [Body & Soul 2CD]
* 2006 – Hooker (a terrific 4CD Box chronological anthology covering his whole career) (Shout!Factory)
* 2006 – The Boogie Man 1948 – 1955 (Charly 4 CDBox) – not identical to Charly’s rare CD DIG 5 (but this time also featuring Modern recordings)
* 2007 – Gold (Hip-O Select 2CD) 1948-2001 chronological anthology
1999 – Reggae star Dennis Brown dies at University Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, of a collapsed lung. He is 43.
by Dotun Adebayo Saturday July 3, 1999
Were it not for a fundamental flaw in his character, Dennis Brown, who has died aged 42, should have been crowned the undisputed king of reggae in May 1981 after the death of Bob Marley. Fans were practically gagging to hand him the title. Even Marley himself had selected Brown as his successor, dubbing him the “crown prince”.
Raised in the badlands of west Kingston, Jamaica, where boys become men before they reach puberty, Brown was nine years old when he was billed as the “boy wonder-singing sensation” and hoisted onto a beer crate to face an audience as the novelty act with the island’s leading big band, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires. By the age of 12, he was already a veteran of the music scene, and followed the same route as Bob Marley to Studio One Records on Brentford Road, Kingston, the birthplace of reggae royalty from Burning Spear to Toots and the Maytals.
In a two-day session, presided over by Clement “Coxsone” Dodd, the young Brown recorded two classic albums – No Man Is An Island and If I Follow My Heart – that confirmed him as Jamaica’s own Michael Jackson, with a mini-afro to boot. Though the albums sold well, it wasn’t until his voice had broken two years later that Brown was able to establish himself – on the album Super Reggae And Soul Hits – as a classy interpreter of the understated soul ballad, with a honeycoated voice that glided like a gentle breeze and went on to influence a generation of reggae vocalists, from Maxi Priest to Drummie Zeb, of Aswad.
It didn’t take long before every producer in Jamaica was knocking on the 14-year -old’s door, enticing him with little more than small change to record for them. Brown was incapable of saying “no” and duly obliged, setting a pattern that would result in at least 78 albums for 37 record labels in his 30-year career, releasing six or seven albums a year at his peak.
Reggae fans, however, could not get enough of Dennis. All he had to do was sing, and his records would sell in tens of thousands, if not millions – as did his only UK Top 10 hit, Money In My Pocket, in 1977. The odd dud track was unable to distract from the countless reggae classics that he seemed to knock out – Some Like It Hot, My Time, Cassandra, Westbound Train, How Could I Leave, Easy Take It Easy and Ghetto Girl, itself recently covered by Mick Hucknall, of Simply Red.
By the mid-1970s, Brown had followed further in Marley’s footsteps – to the door of the Twelve Tribes Of Israel rasta church on Hope Road, New Kingston. When he came out, the afro had been replaced by dreadlocks, and the soul ballads had been beefed up with a heavy dub bassline and the occasional rasta revolutionary lyrics, such as on the album Wolf And Leopards.
Brown seemed to have found a similar mix of lovers’ music and third-world militancy that catapulted Marley into international stardom.
From that same session came the tune that was to become Brown’s signature, Here I Come (With Love And Not Hatred). Success brought him to England, where he set up DEB Records, which established lovers’ rock as one of only three reggae styles indigenous to the UK and launched the career of a roster of female singers, including formerSoul II Soul frontwoman, Caron Wheeler.
In 1981, reggae drum and bass duo Sly and Robbie, who had assumed the semi-retired Coxsone Dodd’s mantle, invited Brown to ascend the throne made vacant by Marley’s death. Again, Brown could not say “no” when they took him into the studio, and dusted him down with a pop reggae beat and an international recording contract that saw him release three mediocre albums in successive years for A&M, Foul Play, Love Has Found Its Way and The Prophet Rides Again.
Though an international audience ignored these blatant attempts to wear Marley’s crown, the reggae audience forgave Brown his flirtation with pop and welcomed him to a sellout concert at the Brixton Academy as if it were his coronation. But Brown would never become king. He had been unable to say “no” to a cocaine habit, which would torment him for the rest of his life and see his career slide into parody. In May, while touring in Brazil, he was arrested for possession of drugs. A sad, undignified footnote to the life and times of the boy who couldn’t say “no”.
He is survived by his wife, Yvonne, and his 13 children.
Dennis Emmanuel Brown, musician, February 1957 – July 1 1999
1966 – No. 1 Chart Topper… Nancy Sinatra: These Boots Are Made for Walking US 45. This song would have a huge revival later in the 90′s being used for the “FemBot” theme of the first of the “Austin Powers” movies, starring Mike Myers.
1965 – The Beatles record “Day Tripper” this day in rock history!
“Day Tripper” is a riff-driven rock song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles as a “double A-side” single with “We Can Work It Out”. Both songs were recorded during the sessions for the Rubber Soul album. The song topped the UK Singles Chart and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Day Tripper” became a part of the group’s concert repertoire in 1965 and 1966, and was one of the songs played at their final tour date at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, on 29 August 1966.
Lyrics:
Got a good reason for taking the easy way out
Got a good reason for taking the easy way out now
She was a day tripper, a one way ticket yea
It took me so long to find out, and i found out
She’s a big teaser, she took me half the way there
She’s a big teaser, she took me half the way there now
Tried to please her, she only played one night stands
Tried to please her, she only played one night stands now
She was a day tripper, a sunday driver yea
Took me so long to find out, and i found out
Day tripper
Day tripper yea
Composition
Under the pressure of needing a new single for the Christmas market,
The lyric may be partly about McCartney’s reluctance to experiment with LSD.
According to Ian MacDonald, the song “starts as a twelve-bar blues in E, which makes a feint at turning into a twelve-bar in the relative minor (i.e. the chorus) before doubling back to the expected B—another joke from a group which had clearly decided that it was to be their new gimmick.” Indeed, in 1966 McCartney said in Melody Maker that “Day Tripper” and “Drive My Car” (recorded three days prior) were “funny songs, songs with jokes in.” McCartney provides the lead vocal and Lennon the harmony, in contrast to the Beatles’ usual practice of a song’s principal composer singing lead.
Recording
The song was recorded on 16 October 1965 at Abbey Road Studios. The Beatles recorded the basic rhythm track for “If I Needed Someone” after completing “Day Tripper”.
The released master contains one of the most noticeable mistakes of any Beatles song, a drop out at 1:58 (1:49 in the version on Past Masters, Volume Two) in which the rhythm guitar part momentarily disappears; this may have been done to cover tape damage or some other recording mishap. This was later fixed on the 2000 compilation 1.
Credits
* John Lennon: lead vocal, rhythm guitar and tambourine.
* Paul McCartney: lead vocal and bass.
* George Harrison: lead guitar.
* Ringo Starr: drums.
Cover versions
Year Band Record Notes
1966 Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 Herb Alpert Presents album
1966 Nancy Sinatra Boots album
1966 Otis Redding Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul album
1967 Jimi Hendrix Experience BBC Sessions album of recordings from 5 days with BBC’s Radio One, released in 1988.
1967 Lulu Love Loves To Love album
1974 Electric Light Orchestra Long Beach live album and single in Germany and the Netherlands
1975 Anne Murray Highly Prized Possession album, and a minor hit single, reaching #59 on the Billboard charts
1978 Whitesnake Trouble
1979 James Taylor Flag album
1980 Cheap Trick Found All The Parts live 10″ EP
1980 Sham 69 The Game
1980 Yellow Magic Orchestra Public Pressure live album
1984 Devo 4th Dimension borrowed riff
1976 Skyhooks Million Dollar Riff borrowed riff
1987 Bad Brains The Youth Are Getting Restless live album
1991 Daniel Ash Coming Down album
1994 Gene Wooten The Great Dobro Sessions album of dobro players.
1996 Ocean Colour Scene single with members of Oasis
1999 tok tok tok 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover Album of German Jazz Award winning soul-acousic band, “Day Tripper” to re-appear on 2005 compilation I wish
1999 Type O Negative World Coming Down album
2000 Simply Uncanny Heads over Heels demo album
2001 The Bollock Brothers ’77 ’78 ’79 – The Bollock Brothers album
2001 Ian Hunter Missing In Action live album
2004 The Punkles Pistol album
2006 Tommy Shaw Butchering the Beatles: A Headbashing Tribute Compilation Album
2008 David Cook Day Tripper (American Idol Studio Version)- Single American Idol Season 7
Cultural references
* On the 1966 John Mayall album Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, a faster version of the riff is interspersed within the closing section of their cover of “What’d I Say”, the 1959 rhythm & blues signature hit by Ray Charles.
* In 1968, Yes used the riff in their Beatles cover “Every Little Thing” on their debut album.
* The Police incorporated part of the riff into “O My God”, from 1983′s Synchronicity. It can be heard in the introduction and chorus call “Fill it up”.
* In 1984, Devo reused “Day Tripper”‘s riff in “The 4th Dimension” on their album Shout!.
* 2 Live Crew used the riff on the As Nasty As They Wanna Be album track “Fraternity Record.”
* The Wildhearts covered part of the song in “My Baby Is a Headfuck”, appearing on their album Earth Vs The Wildhearts.
* April Wine used the riff at the end of their song “I Like to Rock”, in canon with The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” riff, and “I Like to Rock”‘s own riff.
* The Eagles play the riff in the outro for “In the City” from The Long Run.
* Buffalo Springfield borrowed the riff for “Baby Don’t Scold Me” (at the 1:54 mark) on their debut album.
* In the ABC comedy, Full House, Danny Tanner plays the riff on the season two episode “I’m There For You, Babe”.
* Johnny Marr of The Smiths incorporated the riff from “Day Tripper” in live versions of the band’s early song, “Jeane”.
* Guns N’ Roses plays the riff from “Day Tripper” at the end of a cover of “Hair of the Dog” by Nazareth (band) in their 1993 album The Spaghetti Incident?.
* The song is featured in the TV show The Mighty Boosh, near the end of the episode “Jungle”. Vince Noir and mod-wolves are seen dancing to the song.
* Type O Negative cover the song as part of a medley consisting of “Day Tripper”, “If I Needed Someone”, and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, on the album “World Coming Down”.
1963 – Bob Dylan flies from London to Rome in pursuit of his girlfriend Suze Rotolo. He’s accompanied by the folksinger Odetta. Once in Italy, Dylan discovers that Rotolo has returned to the United States. He scores a gig at a folk club in Rome and writes both “Girl from the North Country” and “Boots of Spanish Leather.”
1960 – Steven “Steve” Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York) is an American instrumental rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and producer. After starting his professional career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Vai would also record and tour in Zappa’s backing band starting in 1980. The guitarist began a solo career starting in 1984 and has released 13 solo albums as of 2008. Apart from his work with Frank Zappa, Vai has also recorded and toured with numerous musical artists including Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake. Vai has been a regular touring member of the G3 Concert Tour which began in 1996. In 1999 Vai started his own record label Favored Nations with the intent to showcase, as Vai describes: “…artists that have attained the highest performance level on their chosen instruments.”
Career
1970s and 1980s
In 1974, Vai took guitar lessons from guitarist Joe Satriani, and played in numerous local bands such as a band named “The Steve Vais”. He has acknowledged the influence of many guitarists including Jeff Beck and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Vai then attended the Berklee College of Music.
Steve Vai (right), Frank Zappa and band during a concert at the Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, NY. Oct 25, 1980
Vai mailed Frank Zappa a transcription of Zappa’s “The Black Page”, an instrumental song written for drums, along with a tape with some of Vai’s guitar playing. Zappa was so impressed with the abilities of the young musician that he hired him in 1979 to do work transcribing several of his guitar solos, including many of those appearing on the Joe’s Garage album and the Shut Up ‘n’ Play Yer Guitar series. These transcriptions were published in 1982 in The Frank Zappa Guitar Book.
Subsequent to being hired as a transcriber, Vai did overdubs on many of the guitar parts for Zappa’s album You Are What You Is. Thereafter he became a full-fledged band member, going on his first tour with Zappa in the Autumn of 1980. One of those early shows with Vai on guitar, recorded in Buffalo was released in 2007. While touring with Zappa’s band, Vai would sometimes ask audience members to bring musical scores and see if he could sight-read them on the spot. Zappa referred to Vai as his “little Italian virtuoso” and was listed in liner notes as performing “stunt guitar” or “impossible guitar parts”. He would later be a featured artist on the 1993 recording, Zappa’s Universe. In 2006 he returned to playing Zappa music as a special guest on Dweezil Zappa’s ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ tour.
After leaving Zappa in 1982 he moved to California where he recorded his first album Flex-Able and performed in a couple of bands. In 1985 he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as lead guitarist in Graham Bonnet’s Alcatrazz with whom he recorded the album Disturbing the Peace. Later in 1985 he joined former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth’s group to record the albums Eat ‘Em and Smile and Skyscraper. This significantly increased Vai’s visibility to general rock audiences, since Roth was in a highly public battle with the Van Halen members and Vai was favorably compared by many commentators to Eddie Van Halen.
In 1986 Vai also surprised everyone by playing with ex-Sex Pistols John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd on their album Album (also known as Compact Disc or Cassette). Then, in 1989, Vai joined Whitesnake, replacing Vivian Campbell. But, when Adrian Vandenberg injured his wrist shortly before recording was due to begin for the album Slip of the Tongue, Vai played all the guitar parts on the album. Vai also played on the Alice Cooper album Hey Stoopid along with Joe Satriani on the song Feed my Frankenstein.
1990s and 2000s
Vai continues to tour regularly, both with his own group and with his one-time teacher and fellow guitar instrumentalist friend Joe Satriani on the G3 series of tours. Former David Lee Roth and Mr. Big bassist Billy Sheehan also joined him for a world tour. In 1990 Vai released his critically acclaimed solo album Passion and Warfare. The song For the Love of God was voted #29 in a readers’ poll of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time for the magazine Guitar World.
In 1994 Vai began writing and recording with Ozzy Osbourne. Only one track from these sessions—”My Little Man”—was released on the Ozzmosis album. Despite Vai penning the track he does not appear on the album. His guitar parts were replaced by Zakk Wylde. Vai’s band members throughout the 1990s included drummer Mike Mangini, guitarist Mike Keneally and bassist Philip Bynoe. In 1994 Vai received a Grammy Award for his performance on the Frank Zappa song Sofa from the album Zappa’s Universe.
Vai playing a twin-necked Ibanez
Vai playing a twin-necked Ibanez
In July 2002, Steve Vai performed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan, in the world premiere of composer Ichiro Nodaira’s Fire Strings, a concerto for electric guitar and 100-piece orchestra. In 2004, a number of his compositions for orchestra, as well as orchestra arrangements of previously recorded pieces, were performed in The Netherlands by the Metropole Orchestra in a concert series entitled The Aching Hunger. In 2003, drummer Jeremy Colson joined Vai’s group replacing previous drummer Virgil Donati. Vai’s latest album, Sound Theories, was released in 2007.
Steve Vai released a DVD of his performance at The Astoria in London in December 2001, featuring the lineup of bassist Billy Sheehan, guitarist/pianist Tony MacAlpine, guitarist Dave Weiner and drummer Virgil Donati.
In February 2005, Vai premiered a dual-guitar (electric and classical) piece that he wrote called The Blossom Suite with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris. In 2006, Vai played as a “special guest” guitarist alongside additional guest Zappa band members, drummer Terry Bozzio and saxophonist-singer Napoleon Murphy Brock in the Zappa Plays Zappa tour led by Frank’s son Dweezil Zappa in Europe and the U.S. in the Spring as well as a short U.S. tour in October.
On September 21 2006, Vai made a special appearance at the Video Games Live concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. He played two songs with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. One song being the Halo Theme, the second was for the world premier trailer for Halo 3.
Steve Vai made an appearance at the London Guitar Show 2007 on the 28th April 2007 at the ExCeL Center by doing a masterclass. In late April 2007, Vai confirmed the release of his next record, called Sound Theories, on June 26. The release will be a 2-CD set consisting mostly of previously released material that Vai rearranged and played in front of a full orchestra. Vai says that the project was a great joy because he considers himself to be a composer more than a guitarist, and he is happy to see music he has composed played by an orchestra that can play it well. A DVD will eventually accompany the record but will be released in August. He makes a guest appearance on the most recent Dream Theater album, Systematic Chaos, on the song “Repentance”. However, this appearance is vocal rather than instrumental, as Vai is one of many musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings committed in their pasts.
Vai is set to release a DVD of his show dated 19 September 2007 at the Minneapolis State Theater from his 2007 Tour.
Video Games
In 2004, Steve Vai was featured on Xbox’s Halo 2 (a game by Bungie Studios) Volume 1 soundtrack, performing a heavy rock-guitar rendition of the Halo theme, known as Halo Theme (Mjolnir Mix). He also performed on the track Never Surrender. He later featured in the second volume of the soundtrack, where he performed on the track Reclaimer.
In 2008, Steve Vai’s For the Love of God (instrumental) was featured as a downloadable track for the game Guitar Hero 3
Movies
Steve Vai’s music has been featured in a number of feature films, including Dudes and Ghosts of Mars. He appeared onscreen in the 1986 Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads, playing the demonically-inspired Jack Butler. At the film’s climax, Vai engages in a guitar duel with Macchio, whose guitar parts were dubbed by Vai and also Ry Cooder, who played the initial slide work in the duel and Macchio’s earlier performances in the film. The fast-paced neo-classical track entitled Eugene’s Trick Bag with which Macchio wins the competition was also composed by Vai. The body of the piece was heavily based on Paganini’s Caprice #5. He later borrowed the opening riff from the track Head Cuttin’ Duel for a song called Bad Horsie from his 1995 EP Alien Love Secrets. Later the Crossroads duel reappeared on the 2002 album The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1.
In 1991′s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey the introductory riff to KISS’ God Gave Rock ‘N Roll To You II, as performed by the Wyld Stallyns in the Battle of the Bands was performed by Vai. He also composed and performed the soundtrack to PCU (1994), and made contributions in 2001 to the score for John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars, performing on the tracks Ghosts of Mars and Ghost Poppin. His track Drive the Hell Out Of Here can be heard during 1992′s Encino Man in the scene where Brendan Fraser is taking a driving lesson.
Playing style
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Vai performing in 2001
Vai is widely recognized as a technically highly advanced rock guitarist and has been described as a virtuoso in the world of guitar music .
Vai’s playing style has been characterized as quirky and angular, owing to his technical facility with the instrument and deep knowledge of music theory. He often uses exotic guitars; he plays both double and triple neck guitars, and is regarded as the first to use the 7-string guitar in a rock context. Along with Ibanez, he designed a signature 7-string guitar, the Ibanez Universe.
Equipment
Vai is an accomplished studio producer (he owns two: “The Mothership” ) and his own recordings combine his signature guitar prowess with novel compositions and considerable use of studio and recording effects, such as the Eventide H3000 ultra harmonizer and Digidesign’s Pro Tools HD recording system and plug-in effects architecture.
Vai also helped design his signature Ibanez JEM series of guitars. They feature a hand grip (fondly referred to as a “monkey grip”) cut into the top of the body of the guitar, a humbucker-single coil-humbucker DiMarzio pickup configuration with several different types of pickup including Evolution, Breed and EVO 2. He also uses an Ibanez Edge double-locking tremolo system (the current production JEMs have the newer Edge Pro), as well as an elaborate and extensive “Tree of Life” inlay down the neck. Vai also equips many of his guitars with an Ibanez Backstop, a tremolo stabilizer that has been discontinued. Lately Vai has also equipped some of his guitars with True Temperament fretboards in order for his chords to sound completly in tune. Vai also has a 7-string model designed by him named Ibanez Universe. The Universe later influenced the 7-string guitars used by Korn and other bands to create nu metal sounds in the late 1990s. He also has a signature Ibanez acoustic, the Euphoria. Before he used Ibanez, he briefly endorsed Jackson guitars, but this relationship would only last for two years.
Steve Vai has also worked with Carvin Guitars and Pro Audio to develop the Carvin Legacy line of guitar amplifiers. Vai wanted to create an amp that was unique and equal in sound, versatility, and affordability to any guitar amp he had previously used. Over his long musical career, Steve Vai has used and designed an array of guitars. He even had his DNA put into the swirl paint job on one of his signature JEM guitars, the JEM2KDNA, in the form of his blood. Only 300 of these were ever made. Nowadays he mainly uses his white “Evo”, a JEM7V, and his “Flo”, which is a customized Floral Jem 777FP painted white. They are both inscribed with their names in two places, mainly in order to allow him to distinguish between the guitars he uses onstage. “Flo” is equipped with a Fernandes sustainer system.
He also has a guitar named “Mojo” in which the dot inlays are blue LED lights. Additionally, he has a custom-made triple-neck guitar that has the same basic features as his JEM7V guitars. The top neck is a 12-string guitar, the middle is a 6-string, and the bottom is a 6-string fretless guitar with a Fernandes Sustainer pickup. This guitar was featured on the G3 2003 tour on the piece I Know You’re Here. Vai’s effects pedals include a modified Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Morley Bad Horsie, TC Electronics G-System, Morley Little Alligator Volume pedal, Digitech Whammy, and an MXR Phase 90/Phase 100 on the Passion and Warfare album. His flight cases are labeled “Mr. Vai”, or latterly, “Dr. Vai”. He used a number of rack effects units controlled via MIDI, but used a floor-based TC electronics G system instead for the Zappa Plays Zappa tour. Vai also has a signature pedal in the works with Ibanez called the “Jemini” pedal (see external links for a picture). This pedal is expected to be released at Winter NAMM 2008.
Philanthropy
In 2005, Vai signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on its board of directors as an honorary member.
Favored Nations
Vai owns Favored Nations, a recording and publishing company that specializes in internationally procuring and maintaining recording artists. Favored Nations is separated into three sections, ‘Favored Nations’, ‘Favored Nations Acoustic’ and ‘Favored Nations Cool (Jazz style)’
Artists who the Favored Nations label works or has worked with include Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess, Mattias IA Eklundh, Tommy Emmanuel, Vernon Reid, The Yardbirds, Larry Coryell, Mimi Fox, Eric Sardinas, Dweezil Zappa, Dave Weiner and Johnny A.
Personal life
Vai is married to Pia Maiocco, former bass player of Vixen, who can be seen in Hardbodies. Vai and Maiocco have two children, Julian Angel and Fire. In his spare time Vai enjoys keeping bees
Band History – not including guest appearances
* Frank Zappa (1980-1982)
* Steve Vai (1982-1984)
* Alcatrazz(1985)
* David Lee Roth (1985-1986)
* Public Image Ltd. (1985-1986)
* Frank Zappa (1986)
* David Lee Roth (1987-1988)
* Whitesnake (1988-1990)
* Solo (1989-present)
* The Brian May Band (1992)
* Ozzy Osbourne (1995)
Current band members
* Steve Vai – vocals, lead guitar
* Dave Weiner -rhythm guitar,electric sitar
* Ann Marie Calhoun – violin,keyboard
* Alex DePue-violin
* Bryan Beller-bass guitar
* Jeremy Colson – drums, percussion
Discography
Solo albums
* Flex-Able (1984)
* Flex-Able Leftovers (1984)
* Passion and Warfare (1990)
* Sex & Religion (1993)
* Alien Love Secrets (1995)
* Fire Garden (1996)
* The Ultra Zone (1999)
* The 7th Song (2000)
* Alive in an Ultra World (2001)
* The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1 (2002)
* The Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology (2003)
* Real Illusions: Reflections (2005)
* Sound Theories (2007)
Appearances on Zappa albums
Year Album Credit
1981 Tinseltown Rebellion Rhythm guitar, vocals
1981 Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar Rhythm guitar
1981 You Are What You Is Guitar
1982 Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch Guitar parts
1983 The Man from Utopia Guitar parts
1984 Them or Us Guitar
1984 Thing-Fish Guitar, vocals
1985 Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention Guitar
1987 Jazz from Hell Guitar
1988 Guitar Stunt guitar
1988 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore Sampler Stunt guitar
1988 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 Stunt guitar
1989 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 Stunt guitar
1991 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 Stunt guitar, vocals
1991 Beat the Boots I: As An Am Stunt guitar
1992 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 Stunt guitar
1992 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 Stunt guitar
1995 Strictly Commercial Guitar
1997 Have I Offended Someone? Guitar
1998 Cheap Thrills Guitar
1999 Son of Cheep Thrills Guitar, vocals
With other artists
Year Artist Album
1983 Lisa Popeil Lisa Popeil
1985 Heresy At The Door
1985 Alcatrazz Disturbing the Peace
1985 Public Image Ltd. Album
1986 Bob Harris The Great Nostalgia
1986 Shankar & Caroline The Epidemics
1986 David Lee Roth Eat ‘Em and Smile / Sonrisa Salvaje
1986 Randy Coven Funk Me Tender
1986 Western Vacation Western Vacation
1988 David Lee Roth Skyscraper
1989 Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue
1990 Rebecca The Best of Dreams
1991 Alice Cooper Hey Stoopid
1994 Whitesnake Whitesnake’s Greatest Hits
1995 Ozzy Osbourne Ozzmosis (cowriter on one song)
1996 Wild Style Cryin’
1997 Munetaka Higuchi with Dream Castle Free World
1997 Joe Satriani / Eric Johnson / Steve Vai G3: Live in Concert
1997 David Lee Roth The Best
1998 Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette
1998 Al Di Meola The Infinite Desire
1999 Joe Jackson Symphony No. 1
2000 Whitesnake The Back to Black Collection
2000 Gregg Bissonette Submarine
2000 Thana Harris Thanatopsis
2000 Andrew Dice Clay Face Down, Ass Up
2001 Robin DiMaggio Blue Planet
2001 Billy Sheehan Compression
2002 Tak Matsumoto Hana
2003 Surinder Sandhu Saurang Orchestra
2002 Girls Together Outrageously (G.T.O) Solo in their cover version of “I’ll Be Around”
2003 Eric Sardinas Black Pearls
2003 Steve Lukather & Friends SantaMental
2003 Hughes Turner Project HTP 2
2003 Shankar & Gingger One in a Million
2003 Yardbirds Birdland
2004 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen G3: Live – Rockin’ In The Free World
2004 Motörhead Inferno
2004 Bob Carpenter The Sun, The Moon, The Stars
2004 Mike Keneally Vai: Piano Reductions, Vol. 1
2005 John 5 Songs for Sanity
2005 Dave Weiner Live at Astoria DVD
2005 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci G3: Live in Tokyo
2006 The Devin Townsend Band Synchestra
2006 Marty Friedman Loudspeaker
2006 Meat Loaf Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose
2007 Dream Theater (spoken voice only) Systematic Chaos
2007 Eros Ramazzotti e²
Soundtracks
Year Soundtrack Type
1986 Crossroads Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1987 Dudes Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1991 Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1992 Encino Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1994 PCU Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1997 Formula 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2001 Ghosts of Mars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
2004 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2006 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2008 Guitar Hero III: Virtuoso Track Pack Original Video Game Soundtrack
Compilations
Year Artists Compilation
1989 Various Guitar’s Practicing Musicians
1993 Various Zappa’s Universe
1995 Various In From The Storm
1996 Various Songs of West Side Story
1997 Various A Guitar Christmas
1997 Various Angelica
1999 Various Radio Disney Kid Jams
2001 Various Roland Guitar Masters
2002 Various Guitars For Freedom
2002 Various Warmth In The Wilderness Vol. II – A Tribute to Jason Becker
2004 Various Halo 2 Original Soundtrack
2006 Various Monsters of Rock
Grammy Winner
* 1994 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Sofa” from Zappa’s Universe
* 2001 Best Pop Instrumental No Substitutions
Grammy Nomination
* 1990 Best Rock Instrumental Album Passion & Warfare
* 1995 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Tender Surrender” – from Alien Love Secrets
* 1997 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “For the Love of God” – from G3 Live in Concert
* 1999 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Windows to the Soul” – from The Ultra Zone
* 2001 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Whispering a Prayer” – from Alive in an Ultra World
* 2006 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Lotus Feet” — lost to Les Paul & Friends’s “69 Freedom Special”
* 2008 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “The Attitude Song” — lost to Bruce Springsteen’s “Once Upon a Time in the West”
Guitar Player Magazine
1995 Gallery of Greats
1995 Best Rock Guitarist (Tie with Jimmy Page)
1995 Best Overall Guitarist 3rd Place
1995 Best Experimental Guitarist (Tie with Buckethead)
1995 Best Metal Recording 3rd Place
1995 Best Overall Guitar Recording 2nd Place
1995 Best Metal Guitarist 3rd Place
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Overall Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Album
1990 Best Metal Guitarist
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
1988 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Overall Guitarist
1986 Best Rock Guitarist
Guitar World
1990 Most Valued Player (tie with Stevie Ray Vaughan)
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Solo (For the Love of God)
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
International Music Awared Nomination
1990 Best Guitarist
Select Magazine (UK)
1990 Best Album (Passion and Warfare)
1990 Best Musician
1990 Sexiest Male
Guitar for the Practicing Musician
1993 Editor’s Choice Award
1990 Reader’s Choice – Guitar Album of the Year
1990 Best Instrumental Guitarist of the Year
1988 Rock Guitarist of the Year
1987 Hall of Fame
1986 Guitar in the 90’s Award
Kerrang (UK)
1993 Best Hard Rock Performance
1990 Guitarist of the Year
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
Young Guitar (Japan)
1997 Best Rock Guitarist
1991 Best Rock Guitarist
Rock Brigade
1996 Best Guitarist
1997 Best Guitarist
RAW
1990 Best Selling Album (No. 10)
1990 Best Selling LP Sleeve (No. 1)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 5, I Would Love To)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 7, The Audience is Listening)
1950 – Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry is born in Boston.
Anthony Joseph “Joe” Perry (Born September 10, 1950 in Lawrence, Massachusetts) is the lead guitarist, backing and occasional lead vocalist, and contributing songwriter for the rock band Aerosmith. He was ranked 48th in the Rolling Stone‘s list – The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Early life
The paternal side of Perry’s family are Portuguese, originally from Madeira. His grandfather changed the family’s name from Pereira to Perry upon arriving in the United States of America. His maternal side is Italian, more specifically Neapolitan.[1]
Perry grew up in the small town of Hopedale, Massachusetts. There, his father was an accountant and his mother a high school gym teacher and later an aerobics instructor. She later retired to Arizona while Perry’s father died in 1975. Perry also attended the prep school Vermont Academy, a boarding school of about 230 students in Saxtons River, Vermont.
Early career
During Joe Perry’s early years he formed a band with Tom Hamilton called The Jam Band. After meeting with Steven Tyler, Joe & Tom would go on to form Aerosmith with him. While initially dismissed as Rolling Stones knock-offs, the band came into its own during the mid-1970s with a string of hit records. Chief among these successes were Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976), thanks largely to the prevalence of free-form, album-oriented FM radio. The group also managed hit singles on the AM dial with songs like “Dream On,” “Same Old Song and Dance,” “Sweet Emotion” and “Walk This Way.”
During this time, Perry and vocalist Steven Tyler became known as the “Toxic Twins” for their notorious hard-partying and drug use. Hard core drug dealers made a cash grab following Aerosmith around the country knowing there would be an unlimited supply of customers. Aerosmith’s crowd in these days earned the nickname “The Blue Army”. So called by the band after the seemingly endless amount of teenagers in the audience wearing blue denim jackets and blue jeans. The audience was abundantly male with extremely long hair, one of the loudest of its day.
Following Rocks, the group began to stumble – drug use escalated and the creative process became hampered by strained relationships within the band. They managed another hit record in 1977 with Draw the Line, on which Perry sang lead vocals on the track “Bright Light Fright,” considered by some to be one of the album’s highlights. A fall of ’77 tour was scheduled, but as the crowds got more dangerous, violence followed. An m-80 was thrown onstage in Philadelphia at The Spectrum in October 1977, injuring both Perry and Tyler.
Summer of 1979 saw the band headline over Van Halen, Ted Nugent, AC/DC and Foreigner during the world music festival concerts. An argument backstage in Cleveland resulted in Joe Perry’s wife throwing a glass of milk at Tom Hamilton’s wife. This would prove to be the turning point that saw Perry quit Aerosmith, taking a collection of unrecorded material with him, which would later become the basis of his Let the Music Do the Talking album.
The Project
By the end of the year, Perry had formed his own band – The Joe Perry Project. Their debut record, Let the Music Do the Talking, reached #47 on the Billboard album charts, selling 250,000 copies domestically. While sales and reviews were respectable the group mainly thrived as a live act. It managed to do so even after its second album, I’ve Got the Rock’n'Rolls Again, went largely ignored.
In the end, the Project never solidified a lineup; all three studio releases would feature a different lead vocalist and the entire roster was replaced before their final effort (1983′s Once a Rocker, Always a Rocker.) Even a brief stint with fellow Aerosmith exile, rhythm guitarist Brad Whitford, failed to ignite things again and the group found themselves with minimal label support by 1984.
A compilation album, The Music Still Does the Talking: The Best of the Joe Perry Project, was released by an Australian Indie Record label in 1999.
Return to the spotlight
Equipped with a new record label (MCA Records) and three new band members in singer Cowboy Mach Bell, bassist Danny Hargrove and drummer Joe Pet, the band released Once a Rocker, Always a Rocker in 1983. The album met the same fate as its predecessor, selling a meager 40,000 copies without any promotion whatsoever. Despite the poor sales, The Project went out on a final tour in support of the album, adding then ex-Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford to the line-up. During this tour, The Project performed in a series of co-bills with Huey Lewis and the News. The following year, both Perry and Whitford would rejoin Aerosmith for a very successful reunion.
In 1986, Perry and Tyler collaborated with Run-D.M.C. in a remake of their 1975 hit “Walk This Way,” which brought their band renewed mainstream attention.
After completing drug rehabilitation, Aerosmith went on to collaborate with various big-name songwriters and producers to launch their true comeback. Another string of successful albums (most notably the triple-platinum Pump in 1989) and many hit singles followed. Perry and Tyler resumed their tight friendship, again co-writing songs and performing very close together on stage.
In 1998, Perry helped conceive the group’s first number one single, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” with pop songwriter Diane Warren. It appeared on the soundtrack to the hit film Armageddon.
From 2001 to present, Aerosmith has been heavily active in the music scene, and has toured every year.
In 2006, Perry performed alongside Steven Tyler for a three-song medley (“Dream On”, “Walk This Way”, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”) with the Boston Pops Orchestra as part of a nationally-televised event to celebrate the Fourth of July in Boston, Massachusetts.
Solo album
Perry released his first solo record, the self-titled Joe Perry, in May 2005. Recorded at his home studio (The Boneyard) in suburban Boston, with every instrument but the drums played by Perry himself. Critics also responded favorably; Rolling Stone magazine crowned it with three-and-a-half (out of five) stars, declaring “A Joe Perry solo joint? about time!” He was also nominated for “Best Rock Instrumental” at the 2006 Grammys for the track “Mercy” but lost to Les Paul.
Family life
Perry was married to Elyssa Jerret from 1975-1985, a union that gave him a son, Adrian. The couple had a turbulent relationship,[citation needed] and she once bit him in the face during an altercation.[citation needed] Perry is now married to Billie Paulette Montgomery Perry; they have two children together, Tony and Roman, and she has a son from a previous relationship, Aaron. They married in 1985 after meeting on the set of his “Black Velvet Pants” video in 1983. Billie appears on one of Joe’s guitars, which is dubbed “The Billie Perry Guitar.” Tony and Adrian Perry are both founding members of the band TAB the Band. Perry’s first grandchild, Austin, was fathered by his stepson Aaron, who is also the CEO for the Joe Perry’s Rock Your World hot sauce brand.
Joe’s sister-in-law is Diana Minor, a well-known pool player. Perry is one of her sponsors.
Perry is also known to bring his entire family with him on several of Aerosmith’s concert tours in the recent past.
Equipment
The main guitar associated with Joe Perry is the Gibson Les Paul. He has used many different types of Les Pauls since the 70s, including Les Paul Juniors, Les Paul Standards, and Les Paul Customs. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Gibson issued a Joe Perry signature Les Paul guitar; this guitar was customized with an active mid-boost control, black chrome hardware, and a translucent black finish. However, in 2004, this model was replaced by another Joe Perry signature Les Paul, the Joe Perry Boneyard Les Paul. This guitar is characterized by Perry’s custom “Boneyard” logo on the headstock and a figured maple top with a green tiger finish, and is available with either a stopbar tailpiece or a Bigsby tailpiece; Perry typically uses a Bigsby-equipped Boneyard model in Aerosmith and solo live shows. The Gibson Joe Perry was a present from his wife Billie and then he was allowed to manufacture it. Perry has also endorsed an affordable replica version of the Boneyard guitar made by Epiphone that carries the same USA made Burstbucker pickups as the Gibson model.
Perry also uses other Gibson models. Another model he uses frequently is a customized Gibson B.B. King “Lucille” guitar; however, instead of the black finish and “Lucille” signature on the headstock, Perry’s guitar features a white finish, a “Billie Perry” signature on headstock and an image of Billie Perry on the front of the guitar. He has also used Gibson SGs, Firebirds, ES-175s, ES-335s, and ES-350s at various points in his career.
Perry has been known to play guitars of other luthiers and manufacturers. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Perry frequently used various Fender Stratocasters; many of these guitars were left-handed Strats turned upside-down and appropriately restrung. One of these “upside-down” models is still played occasionally by Perry onstage, usually for “Sweet Emotion”. Perry also uses Fender Telecasters, some modified with neck humbuckers. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Perry (along with fellow Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford) endorsed B.C. Rich guitars, and frequently used the Mockingbird (such as in the performance of “Come Together” in the film Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) and 10-string B.C. Rich models. He has also been photographed playing what looks like, judging by the headstock logo, a custom built Spector guitar during the 80s.
The six-string bass guitar is a trademark of Perry’s guitar sound; instead of playing it like an ordinary bass guitar, he uses it like a regular guitar, playing riffs, chords, and solos. The six-string bass helped to create the characteristic growl of Aerosmith’s “Back in the Saddle”, “Combination”, and “Draw the Line”. In the past, Perry used Fender Bass VI and Danelectro six-string basses; he also used a Gibson EB-6 for the bass solo on “King of the Kings” on the Joe Perry Project’s Once a Rocker, Always a Rocker album (as indicated by the album’s liner notes). Perry currently uses an Ernie Ball MusicMan six-string bass onstage.
For amps, Perry uses vintage 200 watt Marshall Major amps on stage. In the studio he uses various vintage low wattage tube amps.
For slide work, Perry typically uses a Dan Armstrong Lucite guitar, such as for “Draw the Line”.
Joe has also been known to use a Pro Co RAT Distortion Pedal, a Klon Centaur overdrive, a talkbox, a Crybaby wah and a Digitech Whammy pedal.
Joe Perry currently has a collection of over 600 guitars.[citation needed]
Perry
Joe Perry has spearheaded the creation of an entire line of hot sauces entitled Joe Perry’s Rock Your World Hot Sauces, which are featured widely in the marketplace. A quesadilla featuring a flavor of the namesake hot sauce is available as an appetizer at Hard Rock Cafe. Additionally, Perry was featured in a television episode of Inside Dish with Rachael Ray on a recent stop on Aerosmith’s tour, in which he prepared a meal, displayed his passion for knives, discussed his hot sauce brand and cooking, and gave insight into what goes into meal preparation on Aerosmith tours.
Perry, along with Aerosmith band member Steven Tyler and other partners, until recently co-owned Mount Blue, a restaurant in Norwell, Massachusetts.
Influences
He is a huge fan of early Fleetwood Mac, particularly their first lead guitarist, Peter Green, which explains the occasional inclusion of the FM classics “Stop Messin’ Round” and “Rattlesnake Shake” in Aerosmith’s sets. Steven Tyler has even mentioned that hearing Perry play “Rattlesnake Shake” brought them together.
He is also a huge fan of guitarist Jeff Beck and looked at him as one of his influences. Beck played onstage with Aerosmith in 1976, as a ‘birthday present’ for Perry.
Perry was also strongly influenced by Jimi Hendrix as evidenced in particular by some of the playing on the Joe Perry Project track song “The Mist Is Rising”, and his covering the Hendrix classic “Red House” both with the Project and later with Aerosmith.
He was a huge influence on Slash, in fact Slash owned Perry’s old 59 Les Paul, but later returned it as a birthday present.
Not commonly known, he was quoted on Entertainment Tonight saying that another one of his small influences was the legendary Keith Richards.
Guest appearances
Played on the 1978 solo album by Gene Simmons.
Played on two tracks of the 1978 debut solo album by David Johansen.
Perry is one of the few non-Kiss members to guest on stage with the masked band, as he wore a pair of Paul Stanley’s boots and jammed in the song “Strutter” during a date of an Aerosmith/Kiss tour. Pictures can be viewed here.
Perry played on the guitar super-ensemble CD Merry Axemas Volume 1 with his own track Blue Christmas, the album also features Rush’s Alex Lifeson, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Jeff Beck and others.
He played the guitar solo in Eminem’s “Sing For The Moment“, Joe Perry liked the use of sample and said once “It’s great. The song lives again in another form.”
He also appeared in the Nelly video “#1″
He performed a duet of “You Really Got Me” with Sanjaya Malakar on American Idol 6.[2]
He played with Tom Jones and later in a duet of Tom Jones and Joss Stone in the Concert for Diana on July 1, 2007.
He was part of an all-star lineup–including Little Richard and Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen– that recorded the 2006 version of the Monday Night Football theme song with Hank Williams, Jr.
Miscellaneous
He is left-handed, but plays the guitar right-handed.[3]
He sings lead vocals on the Aerosmith songs “Bright Light Fright” (Draw the Line – 1977), “Walk On Down” (Get a Grip – 1993), “Falling Off” (Nine Lives – 1997) “Drop Dead Gorgeous” (Just Push Play – 2001), “Stop Messin’ Around” (Honkin’ on Bobo – 2004), and “Back Back Train” (Honkin’ on Bobo – 2004), and a lead duet with Steven Tyler on “Combination” (Rocks – 1976)
Steven Tyler often drops Joe Perry’s name in song lyrics. On record, this includes the songs “Shame on You” (1985) “Reefer Head woman” (1979) and “F.I.N.E.*” (1989), as well as a live version of “Movin’ Out” (from 1987′s Classics Live II). In concert, noted examples include “‘Perry’ was all over the floor” in the song “Draw the Line and in “Hangman Jury”, “If I could I surely would, stand on the rock ‘Joe Perry’ done stood.”
Before reuniting with Aerosmith in 1984, Perry was planning on joining forces with Alice Cooper.
An achievement in the Xbox 360 version of the game Guitar Hero II, is titled the “Joe and Steven Award” in tribute to Joe and fellow Aerosmith member Steven Tyler. It is awarded to two players who can get a 500 note streak in cooperative mode.
The video game Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is mainly centered around Joe Perry.
Perry is often referred to onstage by Steven Tyler with the tmesis “Joe-Fuckin’-Perry.”
1935 – Elvis Presley is born in Tupelo, Miss., one of a pair of twins. His brother Jessie is stillborn. Chart Toppers ranks him as the top pop recording artist of all time with 17 No. 1 songs. The 1956 two-sided hit “Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog” stays at No. 1 for 11 weeks, a record for the rock era that stands until 1992.
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977; middle name sometimes written Aron)a was an American singer, actor and musician. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as “Elvis”, and is also sometimes referred to as “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” or “The King”.
In 1954, Presley began his career as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing “black” and “white” sounds, made him popular—and controversial and had unusually wide success encompassing other genres, including gospel, blues, ballads and pop. To date, he has been inducted into four music halls of fame.
In the 1960s, Presley made the majority of his thirty-one movies—mainly poorly reviewed, but financially successful, musicals. and other factors led to his death at age 42.
Biography
Early life
Elvis Presley owed his ancestry to diverse European ethnic strains, primarily British and German; Presley’s lineage also included some Native American, i.e., Cherokee descent.
Presley was born in a two-room shotgun house, built by his father, in East Tupelo. He was an identical twin—his brother was stillborn and given the name Jesse Garon. Growing up as an only child he “was, everyone agreed, unusually close to his mother.”
In September 1942, Presley entered first grade at Lawhorn School in Tupelo.
On October 3, 1945, at age ten, he made his first public performance in a singing contest at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show at the suggestion of his teacher Mrs. J.C. Grimes.
In 1946, for his eleventh birthday, Presley received his first guitar.
In September 1950, Presley occasionally worked evenings as an usher at Loew’s State Theater—his first job—to boost the family income,
After graduation, Presley was still rather shy, a “kid who had spent scarcely a night away from home”.
Early musical influences
Initial influences came through his family’s attendance at the Assembly of God.
The young Presley frequently listened to local radio; his first musical hero was family friend Mississippi Slim, a hillbilly singer with a radio show on Tupelo’s WELO. Presley performed occasionally on Slim’s Saturday morning show, Singin’ and Pickin’ Hillbilly. “He was crazy about music… That’s all he talked about,” recalls his sixth grade friend, James Ausborn, Slim’s younger brother.
In Memphis, Presley went to record stores that had jukeboxes and listening booths, playing old records and new releases for hours. He was an audience member at the all-night white—and black—”gospel sings” downtown.
Memphis had a strong tradition of blues music and Presley went to blues as well as hillbilly venues. Many of his future recordings were inspired by local African American composers and recording artists, including Arthur Crudup, Rufus Thomas and B.B. King.
Presley “was an untrained musician who played
First recordings and performances
Elvis Presley’s Sun recordings
On July 18, 1953, Presley went to Sun Records’ Memphis Recording Service to record “My Happiness” with “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin”, supposedly a present for his mother.
During a recording break, Presley began “acting the fool” first with Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right (Mama)”.
“That’s All Right” was aired on July 8, 1954, by DJ Dewey Phillips.
Moore and Black began playing regularly with Presley. They gave performances on the July 17 and July 24, 1954 to promote the Sun single at the Bon Air, a rowdy music club in Memphis, where the band was not well-received.
DJ and promoter Bob Neal became the trio’s manager (replacing Scotty Moore). Moore and Black left their band, the Starlight Wranglers and, from August through October 1954, appeared with Presley at The Eagle’s Nest.
According to one source, regarding Presley’s engagements from that time, “Audiences had never before heard
By August 1955, Sun Studios had released ten sides credited to “Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill”, all typical of the developing Presley style. That style proved hard to categorize; he was billed or labeled in the media as “The King of Western Bop”, “The Hillbilly Cat” and “The Memphis Flash”.
On August 15, 1955, “Colonel” Tom Parker became Presley’s manager, signing him to a one year contract, plus renewals.
1956 Breakthrough
The iconic cover of Elvis Presley’s debut RCA Victor album. Photo taken on January 31, 1955
On January 10, Presley made his first recordings for RCA in Nashville, Tennessee. By April it had hit number one in the U.S. charts, selling in excess of one million copies.
To increase the singer’s exposure, Parker finally brought Presley to national television (In March 1955, Presley had failed an audition for Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts). He booked six Dorsey Brothers’ Stage Show appearances in New York for CBS, beginning January 28, 1956. Presley was introduced on the first by Cleveland DJ Bill Randle. He stayed in town and on January 30, he and the band headed for the RCA’s New York Studio.
On March 23, RCA Victor released Elvis Presley, his first album. Like the Sun recordings, the majority of the tracks were country songs.
On April 1, Presley launched his acting career with a screen-test for Paramount Pictures. His first motion-picture, Love Me Tender, was released on November 21 (See ‘Acting career’).
Colonel Parker had also obtained a deal for two lucrative shows with Milton Berle at NBC. Presley first appeared on The Milton Berle Show from the deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego on April 3. His performance was cheered by a live audience of appreciative sailors and their dates.
From April 23, Presley was scheduled to perform four weeks at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip—billed this time as “the Atomic Powered Singer” (Since Nevada was the home of the U.S.’s atomic weapons testing, Parker thought the name would be catchy). His shows were so badly received by critics and the conservative, middle-aged guests, that Colonel Parker cut short the engagement from four weeks to two.
After more hectic touring, Presley made his second appearance on The Milton Berle Show (June 5). Whilst delivering an uptempo version of “Hound Dog” (without his guitar), he then stopped, and immediately after began performing a slower version.
The Berle shows drew such huge ratings that Steve Allen (NBC), not a fan of rock and roll, booked him for one appearance in New York on July 1. Allen wanted “to do a show the whole family can watch” and introduced a “new Elvis” in white bow tie and black tails. Presley sang “Hound Dog” for less than a minute to a Basset Hound in a top hat. According to one author, “Allen thought Presley was talentless and absurd…
Country vocalists The Jordanaires accompanied Presley on The Steve Allen Show and their first recording session together produced “Any Way You Want Me”, “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog”. The Jordanaires would work with the singer through the 1960s.
Though Presley had been unhappy, Allen’s show had, for the first time, beaten The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings, causing a critical Sullivan (CBS) to book Presley for three appearances for an unprecedented $50,000.
Presley’s first Ed Sullivan appearance (September 9, 1956) was seen by some 55–60 million viewers. Biographer Greil Marcus has written: “Compared to moments on the Dorsey shows and on the Berle show, it was ice cream.”
On December 4, Presley dropped into Sun Records where Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were recording.
On December 29, Billboard revealed that Presley had placed more songs in the Top 100 than any other artist since chart records began.
Controversy and cultural impact
Cultural impact of Elvis Presley
When “That’s All Right” was played, many listeners were sure Presley must be black, prompting white disc-jockeys to ignore his Sun singles. However, black disc-jockeys did not want anything to do with any record they knew was made by a white man.c
By the spring of 1956, Presley was becoming popular nationwide and teenagers flocked to his concerts. Scotty Moore recalled: “He’d start out, ‘You ain’t nothin’ but a Hound Dog,’ and they’d just go to pieces. They’d always react the same way. There’d be a riot every time.”
Crowd frenzy at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, 1956
To many white adults, the singer was “the first rock symbol of teenage rebellion. … they did not like him, and condemned him as depraved. Anti-Negro prejudice doubtless figured in adult antagonism. Regardless of whether parents were aware of the Negro sexual origins of the phrase ‘rock ‘n’ roll’, Presley impressed them as the visual and aural embodiment of sex.”
According to the FBI files on the singer, Presley was even seen as a “definite danger to the security of the United States.” His actions and motions were called “a strip-tease with clothes on” or “sexual self-gratification on stage.” They were compared with “masturbation or riding a microphone.” Some saw the singer as a sexual pervert, and psychologists feared that teenaged girls and boys could easily be “aroused to sexual indulgence and perversion by certain types of motions and hysteria—the type that was exhibited at the Presley show.” (Presley recalls this incident during the ’68 Comeback Special.)
In 1957, despite Presley’s demonstrable respect for “black” music and performers,
His parents moved home in Memphis, but the singer lived there briefly. With increased concerns over privacy and security, Graceland was bought and renovated in 1957, a mansion with several acres of land. This was Presley’s primary residence until his death.
Presley’s record sales grew quickly throughout the late 1950s, with hits like “All Shook Up”, “(Let me Be Your) Teddy Bear” and “Too Much”.
Military service and mother’s death
Rank and Insignia Date of Rank
Private Drafted
24 March 1958
Private First-Class 27 November 1958
Specialist 4 1 June 1959
Sergeant 20 January 1960
On December 20, 1957, Presley received his draft notice. Hal Wallis and Paramount Pictures had already spent $350,000 on the film King Creole, and did not want to suspend or cancel the project. The Memphis Draft Board granted Presley a deferment to finish it. On March 24, 1958, he was inducted as US Army private #53310761 and completed basic training at Fort Hood, Texas on September 17, 1958, before being posted to Friedberg, Germany with the 3rd Armored Division, where his service took place from October 1, 1958 until March 2, 1960.
3rd Armored Division insignia
Fellow soldiers have attested to Presley’s wish to be seen as an able an ordinary soldier, despite his fame, and to his generosity while in service. To supplement meager under-clothing supplies, Presley bought an extra set of fatigues for everyone in his outfit. He also donated his Army pay to charity, and purchased all the TV sets for personnel on the base at that time.
Presley had chosen not to join ‘Special Services’, which would have allowed him to avoid certain duties and maintain his public profile. Hit singles—and six albums—duly followed during that period.
As Presley’s fame grew, his mother continued to drink excessively and began to gain weight. She had wanted her son to succeed, “but…
Some months later, in Germany, “d
Presley returned to the U.S. on March 2, 1960, and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant on March 5.
First post-Army recordings
The first recording session, on March 20, 1960, was attended by all of the significant businessmen involved with Presley; none had heard him sing for two years, and there were inevitable concerns about him being able to recapture his previous success.
Acting career
In 1956, Presley launched his career as a film actor. He screen-tested for Paramount Pictures by lip-synching “Blue Suede Shoes” and performing a scene as ‘Bill Starbuck’ in The Rainmaker.
After signing a seven-year contract with Paramount, Presley made his big-screen début with the musical western, Love Me Tender. It was panned by the critics but did well at the box office. He also made one non-musical western, Charro!.
Presley in a promotional photo for Jailhouse Rock released by MGM on November 8, 1957
Presley stopped live performing after his Army service with the exception, ironically—given Sinatra’s previously scathing criticism—of a guest appearance on The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis (1960). He also performed three charity concerts—two in Memphis and one in Pearl Harbor (1961).
In the Army, Presley had said on many occasions that “more than anything, he wanted to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor.”
The movies he did make, and the AIP beach movies (which were mainly made for an early sixties teenage audience), were generally criticized as a “pantheon of bad taste.” Elvis in the film Viva Las Vegas (1964)
Presley movies were nevertheless very popular, and he “became a film genre of his own.”very film yields an LP sound-track record which may sell as many as two-million copies.”
In 1964, Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole had starred in Hal Wallis’ acclaimed Becket. Wallis admitted to the press that the financing of such quality productions was only possible by making a series of profitable B-movies starring Presley. Elvis branded Wallis “a double-dealing sonofabitch” (and he thought little better of Tom Parker), realizing there had never been any intention to let him develop into a serious actor.
Presley was similarly exploited the following year with the film Tickle Me. Allied Artists had serious financial problems and hoped a Presley film would help them “stay afloat”.
Presley was one of the highest paid actors during the 1960s, but times were changing. ”
Change of Habit (1969) was the singer’s final movie role. His last two films were concert documentaries in the early 1970s, though Presley was keen to consider dramatic movie roles. (See: ‘Influence of Colonel Parker and others’).
As well as the formulaic movie songs of the 1960s, Presley added to the studio recordings of Elvis Is Back, by recording other noteworthy songs like “She’s Not You”, “Suspicion,” “Little Sister”, “(You’re the) Devil in Disguise” and “It Hurts Me.” In 1966 he recorded a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow is a Long Time” (which RCA Victor relegated to a bonus track on the soundtrack album for Spinout). He also produced two gospel albums: His Hand in Mine (1960) and How Great Thou Art (1966). In 1967, he recorded some well-received singles, like Guitar Man, by songwriter/guitar player Jerry Reed. However, “during the Beatles era (1963-70), only six Elvis singles reached number ten or better. ‘Suspicious Minds’ was the lone number one.”
“The Fab Four” meet “The King”
During filming of Paradise, Hawaiian Style, Presley returned to his Bel Air home. The Beatles were at the end of their second U.S. tour. Colonel Parker had been negotiating a meeting for some time, through The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, though Parker simply saw it as a valuable publicity opportunity (He had apparently even tried to get the group and Presley to perform the closing song in the same movie, but The Beatles’ film contract precluded it). The group arrived in Bel Air amid a flurry of elaborate security arrangements made by Parker at 10pm, on August 27, 1965.
Biographer Peter Guralnick maintains that Presley was at best “lukewarm” about playing host to people he did not really know, and it took a while for everyone to feel comfortable.
Marty Lacker recalls Presley saying: “‘Quite frankly, if you guys are going to stare at me all night, I’m going to bed. I thought we’d talk a while and maybe jam a little.’ And when he said that, they
Ringo Starr played pool with two others that night; George Harrison “looked to most of the guys to be stoned” on arrival and allegedly smoked a joint with Larry Geller and talked about Hinduism (see: ‘Influence of Colonel Parker and others’). Parker played roulette with Epstein. (See: ’1970–1972)’).
Sex symbol
Relationships of Elvis Presley
Presley’s sexual appeal and photogenic looks have been acknowledged: for example, director Steve Binder, not a fan of Presley’s music at the time, recalled from the ’68 Comeback Special (when Presley was fit and tanned): “I’m straight as an arrow and I got to tell you, you stop, whether you’re male or female, to look at him. He was that good looking. And if you never knew he was a superstar, it wouldn’t make any difference; if he’d walked in the room, you’d know somebody special was in your presence.”
According to Marjorie Garber, a “male rock critic writing in 1970 praised Elvis as ‘The master of the sexual simile, treating his guitar as both phallus and girl.’ … rumor had it that into his skin-tight jeans was sewn a lead bar to suggest a weapon of heroic proportions.” She cites a boyhood friend of Presley’s who claims the singer actually used a cardboard toilet roll tube to make it “look to the girls up front like he had one helluva thing there inside his pants.”
Accounts of Presley’s numerous sexual conquests may be exaggerated.
Ann-Margret (Presley’s co-star in Viva Las Vegas) refers to Presley as her “soulmate” but has revealed little else.
Former partner Linda Thompson says they did not consummate their relationship until after a few months of dating. After they broke up in December 1976, many say Presley never had sex again.
Marriage to Priscilla
Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley
Elvis and Priscilla met in 1959 at a party in Bad Nauheim, Germany during his stay in the army.
Priscilla and Elvis stayed in contact over the phone, though they would not see each other again until the summer of 1962, when Priscilla’s parents agreed to let her visit for two weeks.
In her autobiography, Elvis and Me, Priscilla says that Elvis refused to have sex with her until they were married. However, biographer Suzanne Finstad writes that Priscilla and Elvis slept together on their second date.
Shortly before Christmas 1966, Elvis proposed to Priscilla. They married on May 1, 1967 at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. In typical fashion, Colonel Parker had arranged a photo session and press conference to be conducted shortly after the ceremony. According to Finstad, this marriage was part of a mastermind for fame hatched by Priscilla and her mother.
Their only child, Lisa Marie, was born on February 1, 1968.
Influence of Colonel Parker and others
Colonel Tom Parker and Memphis Mafia
By 1967, Colonel Tom Parker had negotiated a contract that gave him 50% of Presley’s earnings. Parker’s excessive gambling—and his subsequent need to have Presley signed up to commercially lucrative contracts—may well have adversely affected the course of Presley’s career.
As well as signing Presley to RCA Victor, Parker also cut a deal with Hill and Range Publishing Company to create a separate entity— “Elvis Presley Music Incorporated”—to handle all of Presley’s songs and accrued royalties. Parker would later use this set-up to make songwriters relinquish some of their royalties; this ultimately resulted in the better writers refusing to provide songs for Presley, causing a marked decline in the quality of his output over the years.
In 1969, record producer Chips Moman and Presley recorded with Moman’s own musicians at his American Sound Studios in Memphis. Given the control exerted by RCA and the music publishers, this was a significant departure. Moman still had to deal with Hill and Range staff on site and was not happy with their song choices. Moman could only get the best out of the singer when he threatened to quit the sessions and asked Presley to remove the “aggravating” publishing personnel from the studio.
According to life-long friend and “Memphis Mafia” member George Klein, over the years Presley was offered lead roles in the film Midnight Cowboy and in West Side Story. Robert Mitchum personally offered him the lead in Thunder Road.
Marty Lacker regarded Parker as a “hustler and scam artist” who abused Presley’s trust, but Lacker acknowledged that Parker was a master promoter.
Presley’s father in turn distrusted Lacker and the other members of the “Memphis Mafia”; he thought they collectively exercised an unhealthy influence over his son.
Larry Geller became Presley’s hairdresser in 1964. Unlike others in the “Memphis Mafia”, Geller was interested in ‘spiritual studies’, and was subsequently viewed with suspicion and scorn by the singer’s manager and friends.
1968 comeback
Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special
Elvis Presley in his ’68 Comeback Special, airing on NBC, December 3, 1968
In 1968, even Presley’s version of Jerry Reed’s hook-laden “Guitar Man” had failed to enter the U.S. Top 40. He continued to issue movie soundtrack albums that sold poorly compared to those of films like Blue Hawaii from 1961. It had also been nearly six years since the single “Good Luck Charm” had topped the Billboard Hot 100.
Presley was, by now, “profoundly” unhappy with his career.
The special was made in June, but was first aired on December 3, 1968 as a Christmas telecast called simply Elvis. Later dubbed the ’68 Comeback Special by fans and critics, the show featured some lavishly staged studio productions. Other songs however, were performed live with a band in front of a small audience—Presley’s first live appearance as a performer since 1961. The live segments saw Presley clad in black leather, singing and playing guitar in an uninhibited style—reminiscent of his rock and roll days. Rolling Stone called it “a performance of emotional grandeur and historical resonance.”
By January, 1969, one of the key songs written specifically for the special, “If I Can Dream”, reached number 12.
Jerry Schilling recalls that the special reminded Presley about what “he had not been able to do for years, being able to choose the people; being able to choose what songs and not being told what had to be on the soundtrack. … He was out of prison, man.” Steve Binder said of Presley’s reaction: “I played Elvis the 60-minute show, and he told me in the screening room, “Steve, it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I give you my word I will never sing a song I don’t believe in.”
Buoyed by the experience, Presley engaged in the prolific series of recording sessions at American Sound Studios, which lead to the acclaimed From Elvis in Memphis (Chips Moman was its uncredited producer). It was followed by From Memphis To Vegas/From Vegas To Memphis, a double-album. The same sessions lead to the hit singles “In the Ghetto”, “Suspicious Minds”, “Kentucky Rain” and “Don’t Cry Daddy”.
Return to live performances
In 1969, Presley was keen to resume regular live performing. Following the success of Elvis, many new offers came in from around the world.
Presley duly delivered fifty-seven shows over four weeks at the hotel, which had the largest showroom in the city. He had assembled some of the finest musicians—including an orchestra—and some of the best soul/gospel back-up singers available.
Despite such a prestigious backing, Presley was nervous; his only other engagement in Las Vegas (1956) had been a disaster, critically. Parker therefore promoted the singer’s appearances heavily; he rented billboards and took out full-page advertisements in local and trade papers. The lobby of the International displayed Presley souvenirs; records, T-shirts, straw boaters and stuffed animals. Parker intended to make Presley’s return the show business event of the year, and hotel owner Kirk Kerkorian planned to send his own plane to New York to fly in the rock press for the debut performance.
Presley took to the stage with no introduction. The audience—which included Pat Boone, Fats Domino, Wayne Newton, Dick Clark, Ann-Margret, George Hamilton, Angie Dickinson, and Henry Mancini—gave him a standing ovation before he sang one note.
Newsweek commented: “There are several unbelievable things about Elvis, but the most incredible is his staying power in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars.”
The next day, Parker’s negotiations with the hotel resulted in a five-year contract for Presley to play each February and August, at a salary of $1 million per year.
1970–1972
Elvis meets U.S. President Richard Nixon in the White House Oval Office, December 21, 1970
In January 1970, Presley returned to the International Hotel for a month-long engagement, performing two shows a night. RCA recorded some shows and the best material appeared on the album On Stage – February 1970.
Around this time Presley was threatened with kidnapping at the International Hotel. Phone calls were received, one demanding $50,000; if unpaid, Presley would be killed by a “crazy man”. The FBI took the threat seriously and security was stepped up for the next two shows. Presley went on stage with a Derringer in his right boot and a .45 in his waistband, but nothing untoward transpired.
After closing his Las Vegas engagement on September 7, Presley embarked on his first concert tour since 1958. Feeling exhausted, Presley spent a month relaxing and recording before touring again in October and November. He would tour extensively in the U.S. up to his death; many of the 1,145 concerts setting attendance records.
On December 21, 1970, Presley met with President Richard Nixon at the White House (Presley arrived with a gift—a handgun. It was accepted but not presented for security reasons). Presley had engineered the encounter to express his patriotism, his contempt for the hippie drug culture and his wish to be appointed a “Federal Agent at Large”. He also wished to obtain a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge to add to similar items he had begun collecting. He offered to “infiltrate hippie groups” and claimed that The Beatles had “made their money, then gone back to England where they fomented anti-American feeling.”
On January 16, 1971 Presley was named ‘One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation’ by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce (The Jaycees).
In April 1972, MGM again filmed Presley, this time for Elvis on Tour, which won a 1972 Golden Globe for Best Documentary. A fourteen-date tour started with an unprecedented four consecutive sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, New York. RCA taped the shows for a live album. After the tour, Presley released the 1972 single “Burning Love”—his last top ten hit in the U.S. charts.
Divorce from Priscilla
Off stage, Presley had continuing problems. His lifelong friend, Joe Esposito, said Elvis “could never be true to any one woman.” The Presleys separated on February 23, 1972 and divorced on October 9, 1973, agreeing to share custody of their daughter.
Following his separation from Priscilla, he lived with Linda Thompson, a songwriter and one-time Memphis beauty queen, from July 1972 until just a few months before his death.
Aloha from Hawaii
Elvis Presley, in Aloha From Hawaii television broadcast via satellite on January 14, 1973
In January 1973, Presley performed two charity concerts in Hawaii for the Kui Lee cancer foundation. The first (January 12) was primarily a practice run for the main show which was broadcast live on January 14 (The first show also served as a backup if technical problems affected the live broadcast). The “Aloha from Hawaii” concert was the world’s first live concert satellite broadcast, reaching at least a billion viewers live and a further 500 million on delay. The show’s album went to number one and spent a year in the charts. The album also proved to be Presley’s last U.S. Number One album during his lifetime.
1973–1976
After his divorce in 1973, Presley became increasingly unwell, with prescription drugs affecting his health, mood and his stage act. His diet had always been unhealthy, and he now had significant weight problems.
In his book, Elvis: The Final Years, Jerry Hopkins writes: “Elvis’ health plummeted as his weight ballooned.” At a University of Maryland concert on September 27 (1974), band members “had trouble recognizing him. … ‘He walked on stage and held onto the mike for the first thirty minutes like it was a post. Everybody was scared.’ Guitarist John Wilkinson … recalled, … ‘He was all gut. He was slurring. … It was obvious he was drugged, that there was something terribly wrong with his body. It was so bad, the words to the songs were barely intelligible. … We were in a state of shock.’ ”
Despite this, his “thundering” live version of “How Great Thou Art” won him a Grammy award in 1974.
In April 1974, rumours began that he would actually be playing overseas after years of offers.
Presley continued to play to sell-out crowds in the U.S.; a 1975 tour ended with a concert in Pontiac, Michigan, attended by over 62,000 fans. However the singer now had “no motivation to lose his extra poundage… he became self-conscious… his self-confidence before the audience declined… Headlines such as ‘Elvis Battles Middle Age’ and ‘Time Makes Listless Machine of Elvis’ were not uncommon.”
On July 13, 1976, Presley’s father fired “Memphis Mafia” bodyguards Red West, Sonny West and David Hebler. All three were taken by surprise, especially the Wests, who had been with Presley since the beginning of his career.
Almost throughout the 1970s, Presley’s recording label had been increasingly concerned about making money from Presley material: RCA Victor often had to rely on live recordings because of problems getting him to attend studio sessions. A mobile studio was occasionally sent to Graceland in the hope of capturing an inspired vocal performance. Once in a studio, he could lack interest or be easily distracted; often this was linked to his health and drug problems.
Final year and death
In 2006, a journalist recalled: “Elvis Presley had
In Rapid City, “he was so nervous on stage that he could hardly talk… He was undoubtedly painfully aware of how he looked, and he knew that in his condition, he could not perform any significant movement.”
Elvis Presley’s final resting place at Graceland
The book Elvis: What Happened? was published just fifteen days before Presley’s death.
Presley’s final performance was in Indianapolis at the Market Square Arena, on June 26, 1977. According to many of his entourage who accompanied him on tour, it was the “best show he had given in a long time” with “some strong singing”.
Another tour was scheduled to begin August 17, 1977, but at Graceland the day before, Presley was found on his bathroom floor by fiancée, Ginger Alden. According to the medical investigator, Presley had “stumbled or crawled several feet before he died”; he had apparently been using the toilet at the time. Death was officially pronounced at 3:30 pm at the Baptist Memorial Hospital.
Before his funeral, hundreds of thousands of fans, the press and celebrities lined the streets and many hoped to see the open casket in Graceland. One of Presley’s cousins, Bobby Mann,
On Thursday, August 18, following a funeral service at Graceland,
Presley had developed many health problems during his life, some of them chronic.
According to Guralnick: ”
The medical profession has been seriously questioned. Medical Examiner Dr. Jerry Francisco had publicly offered a cause of death while the autopsy was still being performed, but before toxicology results were known. Dr. Francisco dubiously stated that cardiac arrhythmia was the cause of death, a condition that can only be determined in a living person—not post mortem.
In 1994, the autopsy into Presley’s death was re-opened. Coroner Dr. Joseph Davis declared: “There is nothing in any of the data that supports a death from drugs
Legacy
Further information: Cultural depictions of Elvis Presley; Cultural impact of Elvis Presley; Elvis Presley phenomenon
Elvis Presley’s death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique and irreplaceable. More than 20 years ago, he burst upon the scene with an impact that was unprecedented and will probably never be equaled. His music and his personality, fusing the styles of white country and black rhythm and blues, permanently changed the face of American popular culture. His following was immense, and he was a symbol to people the world over of the vitality, rebelliousness, and good humor of his country.
– President Jimmy Carter, 1977-08-17,
Author Samuel Roy has argued: “Elvis’ death did occur at a time when it could only help his reputation. Just before his death, Elvis had been forgotten by society.”
Biographer Ernst Jorgensen has observed that when Presley died, “it was as if all perspective on his musical career was somehow lost.”
Presley has featured prominently in a variety of polls and surveys designed to measure popularity and influence.g However, sociologist Philip Ennis writes: “Perhaps it is an error of enthusiasm to freight Elvis Presley with too heavy a historical load” because, according to a opinion poll of high school students in 1957, Pat Boone was nearly the “two-to-one favorite over Elvis Presley among boys and preferred almost three-to-one by girls…”
In the late 1960s, composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein remarked: “Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it’s a whole new social revolution… the 60′s comes from it.”
Other celebrated pop and rock musicians have acknowledged that the young Presley inspired them. The Beatles were all big Presley fans.
By 1958, singers obviously adopting Presley’s style, like Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard (the so-called “British Elvis”), were rising to prominence in the UK. Elsewhere, France’s Johnny Hallyday and the Italians Adriano Celentano and Bobby Solo were also heavily influenced by Presley.
Presley’s recorded voice is seen by many as his enduring legacy. Music critic Henry Pleasants writes: “Elvis Presley has been described variously as a baritone and a tenor. An extraordinary compass… and a very wide range of vocal color have something to do with this divergence of opinion. The voice covers two octaves and a third … Moreover, he has not been confined to one type of vocal production. In ballads and country songs he belts out full-voiced high G’s and A’s that an opera baritone might envy. He is a naturally assimilative stylist with a multiplicity of voices—in fact, Elvis’ is an extraordinary voice, or many voices.”
Gospel tenor Shawn Nielsen, who sang backing vocals for Presley on tour, said: “He could sing anything. I’ve never seen such versatility… He had such great soul. He had the ability to make everyone in the audience think that he was singing directly to them. He just had a way with communication that was totally unique.”
Presley’s informal jamming in front of a small audience in the ’68 Comeback Special is regarded as a forerunner of the so-called ‘Unplugged’ concept, later popularized by MTV.
The singer has been inducted into four music ‘Halls of Fame’: the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986), the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (1997), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1998), and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2001). In 1984, he received the W. C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation and the Academy of Country Music’s first Golden Hat Award. In 1987, he received the American Music Awards’ first posthumous presentation of the Award of Merit.
Presley has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard. He was also honored by the Mississippi Blues Commission with a Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker placed in Tupelo, his birth place, in recognition of his contribution to the development of the blues in Mississippi.
In 1994, the 40th anniversary of Presley’s “That’s All Right” was recognized with its re-release, which made the charts worldwide, making top three in the UK.
During the 2002 World Cup a Junkie XL remix of his “A Little Less Conversation” (credited as “Elvis Vs JXL”) topped the charts in over twenty countries and was included in a compilation of Presley’s U.S. and UK number one hits, Elv1s: 30.
In the UK charts (January 2005), three re-issued singles again went to number one (“Jailhouse Rock”, “One Night”/”I Got Stung” and “It’s Now or Never”). Throughout the year, twenty singles were re-issued—all making top five.
In the same year, Forbes magazine named Presley, for the fifth straight year, the top-earning deceased celebrity, grossing US$45 million for the Presley estate during the preceding year. In mid-2006, top place was taken by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain after the sale of his song catalogue, but Presley reclaimed the top spot in 2007.
Paul F. Campos has written: “The Elvis cult touches on so many crucial nerves of American popular culture: the ascent of a workingclass boy from the most obscure backwater to international fame and fortune; the white man with the soul of black music in his voice; the performer whose music tied together the main strands of American folk music – country, rhythm and blues, and gospel; and, perhaps most compellingly for a weight-obsessed nation, the sexiest man in America’s gradual transformation into a fat, sweating parody of his former self, straining the bounds of a jewel-encrusted bodysuit on a Las Vegas stage. The images of fat Elvis and thin Elvis live together in the popular imagination.”
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