1931 Bonnie Lee*
1949 Frank Lee Beard*
1954 Johnny Neel*
1957 Ralph Willis+ *1910
1959 Hugh Laurie*
1979 Mike Welch*
1987 Steve Balkun*
Mudbone Turner *
Happy Birthday
Bonnie Lee *11.06.1931
Bonnie Lee (June 11, 1931 – September 7, 2006)[1] was an American Chicago blues singer. Known as 'Sweetheart of the Blues', she is best remembered for her lengthy working relationships with Sunnyland Slim and Willie Kent.[1] David Whiteis, who interviewed Lee in researching his book, Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories stated, "she was one of the last of her genre, the big-voiced woman blues singer fronting a Chicago band."
She was born Jessie Lee Frealls in Bunkie, Louisiana, United States, and raised in Beaumont, Texas.[3]
After learning to play the piano as a child, her mother refused to let her join gospel singer Lillian Glinn on tour. Instead she did later tour with the Famous Georgia Minstrels, meeting both Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Big Mama Thornton.[2][3]
In 1958 she moved to Chicago, and chose the stage name of Bonnie Lee, working as both a dancer and singer. Two years later she signed a recording contract with J. Mayo Williams' Ebony Records label. The downside was Williams' insistence on her being billed as Bonnie "Bombshell" Lane on her first single, "Sad and Evil Woman." It was a name she disliked but, after the single failed to sell, she returned to the Chicago jazz and blues nightclubs. She was later billed as Bonnie Lee Murray, using her then husband's surname.[2]
In 1967 Lee first appeared on the bill with the pianist Sunnyland Slim, and their working arrangement included residencies at a number of Chicago clubs. This led her, at the end of the 1970s, to release further singles via the Slim owned record label, Airway Records.[3] After suffering health problems at the end of that decade, Lee then enjoyed a long professional partnership with Willie Kent. For many years the combination of Lee backed by Willie Kent and the Gents, became a regular feature in B.L.U.E.S., a noted Chicago club. There she sang her most famous numbers; "I’m Good" and "Need Your Love So Bad."[2]
In 1982, and partnered with Zora Young and Big Time Sarah as 'Blues with the Girls', Lee toured Europe and cut a joint album in Paris, France.[4] In 1992 Lee guested on Magic Slim's album, 44 Blues, with John Primer. Finally in her own name, in 1995 Delmark Records released, Sweetheart of the Blues, and three years later another collection, I'm Good, was issued.[3]
In September 2006, after years of poor health, Lee died at the age of 75.
Frank Lee Beard *11.06.1949
Frank Beard (* 11. Juni 1949 in Frankston, Anderson County, Texas) ist ein US-amerikanischer Bluesmusiker, der als Schlagzeuger der Band ZZ Top bekannt wurde.Beard wurde in Frankston geboren und besuchte die Highschool in Irving. In seiner Jugend war er in mehreren kleinen Bands wie „The Cellar Dwellers“, „The Hustlers“ und „The Warlocks“ tätig. Aus „The Warlocks“ wurde schließlich American Blues.
American Blues
American Blues wurde Anfang der 1960er von Rocky und Dusty Hill als „The Starliners“ gegründet und wurde schon bald in „The Deadbeats“ umbenannt. Über einen Organisator wurde die Band schon früh als Backupmusiker für Größen wie Freddie King und Lightnin' Hopkins gebucht, die keine feste Band hatten. Aus „The Deadbeats“ wurde "The Warlocks" und daraus wurde wiederum „American Blues“. Als neuer Schlagzeuger stieß Frank Beard dazu. Das Markenzeichen der Band waren damals blau gefärbte Haare, um sich von den anderen aufstrebenden Bands abzuheben.
Die Band spielte eine Mischung aus psychedelic- und Bluesrock. Als erste Single spielte die Band ein Cover von Pete Seegers „If I Had a Hammer“ für das örtliche Label Karma ein. Mit „Is Here“ (1967) und „Do Their Thing“ (1968) erschienen noch zwei Alben, die später mehrere Male wiederveröffentlicht wurden.
Die Band verließ die Szene in Dallas und zog nach Houston. Dort trennte sich die Band aufgrund der verschiedenen Vorstellungen der Hills-Brüder. Dusty Hill wollte mehr Rockmusik, sein Bruder wollte stärkere Blueseinflüsse. So verließ er die Band und wurde Solokünstler. Frank Beard stieß schließlich mit Billy Gibbons von Moving Sidewalks zusammen, der noch einen Bassisten suchte. Beard schlug Hill vor und die Band ZZ Top wurde gegründet.
ZZ Top
Zusammen mit dem Moving-Sidewalks-Gitarrist Billy Gibbons und seinem bisherigen Bandkollegen Dusty Hill gründete Beard Ende 1969 die Band ZZ Top. Als Musikstil entschied man sich für Bluesrock, Texas Blues und Southern Rock. In Bill Ham fand man einen Manager für die Band, der von 1969 bis September 2006 blieb.
Innerhalb der nächsten sechs Jahre gab ZZ Top-fünf-Alben heraus: Das erste Album ZZ Top’s First Album erschien 1971 unter dem Label Warner Bros. Records, bei dem die Band bis 1990 ihre Alben veröffentlichten.[1]
Bis 1976 wurde ZZ Top zu einer der meistverkauften Rockbands ihrer Zeit, dennoch machte die Band bis 1979 eine Pause. Die folgenden Alben waren moderner und die Band mischte elektronischen Sound mit ihrem normalen Stil.[2]
Bis zu dem Verkauf ihres 1983er international erfolgreichen Album „Eliminator“ ließen Hill und Gibbons sich ihre langen Bärte wachsen, die ebenso Markenzeichen der Band wurden wie Gibbons’ 1933 Ford Coupe und langbeinige Frauen in ihren Musikclips und die große Anzahl verschiedener Gitarren und Bässe bei Liveauftritten. Beard ließ sich als einziger keinen Vollbart wachsen, dafür aber einen Schnurrbart. Einige Songs der Band gehören zu den meistgespielten Musikclips bei MTV.[2]
Mit dem 1994 erschienenen Album „Antenna“ wechselte ZZ Top mit einem besser dotierten Vertrag zu RCA Records, wo sie insgesamt vier Alben veröffentlichten.[1]
2004 wurde Beard zusammen mit seinen Bandkollegen in die Rock and Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen.[3]
Gastbeiträge
1990 war er Mitproduzent des Tributealbums für Roky Erickson (Sänger von The 13th Floor Elevators) „Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson“.
Film und Fernsehen
Neben der rein musikalischen Karriere als Schlagzeuger ist Beard als Mitglied von ZZ Top seit Anfang der 1980er mit der Filmszene verbunden. Von 1982 bis 2007 steuerte er (als Mitglied von ZZ Top) etliche Songs zu Soundtracks bei, so z. B. zu Ein Offizier und Gentleman, Die Sieger – American Flyers, Knight Rider, Stephen King’s The Stand – Das letzte Gefecht, Shang-High Noon, Die Sopranos und Ghost Rider.
Darüber hinaus hatte Frank Beard selbst Auftritte im Fernsehen. Einen der Stadtbewohner spielt er in der Serie Deadwood. Im Film Zurück in die Zukunft III stellt er zusammen mit seinen Bandkollegen eine Band auf dem Dorffest dar. Weitere Auftritte hatte Beard bei Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme, Ellen, Ein einfacher Plan, King of the Hill und MADtv.
Privat
Frank Beard ist zum zweiten Mal verheiratet. Die erste Ehe mit Catherine Alexander hielt vom 12. April 1978 bis zum 16. Juli 1981. Seit dem 11. November 1982 ist er in zweiter Ehe mit Debbie Meredith verheiratet. Aus dieser Ehe hat er drei Kinder: ein Jungenzwillingspaar und eine Tochter.[4]
Zuerst versuchte Beard mit dem Pseudonym Rube Beard Karriere zu machen und wurde so auch im Verzeichnis der beiden Alben „ZZ Top's First Album“[5] und „Tres Hombres“[6] angegeben, bevor er seinen bürgerlichen Namen angab.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Beard
Frank Lee Beard (born June 11, 1949) is the drummer in the American rock band ZZ Top. Frank Beard is notable as being the only musician in the band without a long beard, an ironic fact considering his last name. Beard was formerly with the bands The Cellar Dwellars, who originally were a three-piece band, The Hustlers, The Warlocks, and American Blues[1] before starting to play and record with Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill as ZZ Top.
Beard was born in Frankston, Texas and attended Irving High School in Irving, Texas. In late 1969, he joined The Moving Sidewalks guitarist and vocalist Gibbons' ZZ Top. Beard also introduced Gibbons to bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill, with whom Beard had played in the bands American Blues, the Warlocks, and the Cellar Dwellers. After honing their trademark "Texas boogie-blues-rock" style, they released their aptly titled "ZZ Top's First Album" on London Records in January, 1971. When ZZ Top started, Beard was known by the nickname "Rube" and was credited as "Rube Beard" on the first album and on Tres Hombres, the band's third album, but is listed under his real name on Rio Grande Mud, their second album. After Tres Hombres, he was credited as "Frank Beard" on all the band's albums.
Personal Life
Beard was married to Catherine Alexander from April 1978 to July 1981, when they divorced.[2]
He married Debbie Meredith in November 1982. They remain married, and have three children.[2]
Beard resides in Richmond, Texas, where he owns and operates the Top 40 Ranch.
He is a scratch golfer, known locally for participation in tournaments and community events.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Beard_%28musician%29Beard was born in Frankston, Texas and attended Irving High School in Irving, Texas. In late 1969, he joined The Moving Sidewalks guitarist and vocalist Gibbons' ZZ Top. Beard also introduced Gibbons to bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill, with whom Beard had played in the bands American Blues, the Warlocks, and the Cellar Dwellers. After honing their trademark "Texas boogie-blues-rock" style, they released their aptly titled "ZZ Top's First Album" on London Records in January, 1971. When ZZ Top started, Beard was known by the nickname "Rube" and was credited as "Rube Beard" on the first album and on Tres Hombres, the band's third album, but is listed under his real name on Rio Grande Mud, their second album. After Tres Hombres, he was credited as "Frank Beard" on all the band's albums.
Personal Life
Beard was married to Catherine Alexander from April 1978 to July 1981, when they divorced.[2]
He married Debbie Meredith in November 1982. They remain married, and have three children.[2]
Beard resides in Richmond, Texas, where he owns and operates the Top 40 Ranch.
He is a scratch golfer, known locally for participation in tournaments and community events.
Hugh Laurie *11.06.1959
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (* 11. Juni 1959 in Oxford) ist ein britischer Schauspieler, Komiker, Schriftsteller und Musiker.
Nach seinem Schulabschluss am Eton College nahm Laurie an der Universität Cambridge ein Studium am Selwyn College auf (Abschluss in Anthropologie).[1] Während des Studiums stieß er zu den Cambridge Footlights, einer Theatergruppe der Universität, die schon für viele britische Schauspieler und Entertainer den Ausgangspunkt einer erfolgreichen Karriere darstellte. Von 1980 bis 1981 leitete Laurie die Gruppe. Bei den Cambridge Footlights lernte er Emma Thompson kennen, mit der er eine Beziehung hatte und auch heute noch gut befreundet ist. Emma Thompson stellte Laurie 1980 das neue Theatergruppenmitglied Stephen Fry vor, Lauries späteren Partner in mehreren britischen Fernseh-Produktionen.[2] Laurie bezeichnet Stephen Fry als seinen besten Freund.Bei der britischen Ruder-Juniorenmeisterschaft 1977 belegte der Sohn des Olympiasiegers von 1948 Ran Laurie den ersten Platz im Zweier mit Steuermann, bei den Junioren-Weltmeisterschaften im selben Jahr belegte er in dieser Disziplin den vierten Platz. Noch heute ist Laurie Mitglied des exklusiven Leander-Ruderclubs. Laurie gehörte auch zum Cambridge-Achter im traditionsreichen Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, der 1980 vom Oxford-Team mit eineinhalb Meter Vorsprung geschlagen wurde. Zudem erklärte er 2005 in einer Late-night-Show, mit dem Boxen begonnen zu haben.[3]
Laurie ist ein passionierter Pianist und tritt zusammen mit anderen Prominenten als Sänger und Keyboarder der Wohltätigkeits-Rockgruppe Band From TV auf, in der die Schauspielkollegen Teri Hatcher (Gesang), Jesse Spencer (Geige) und James Denton (Gitarre) mitwirken. Seit 1989 ist Laurie verheiratet. Mit seiner Frau, Jo Green, hat er drei Kinder. Sein jüngstes Kind und einzige Tochter Rebecca hatte eine Rolle im Film Wit (2001).[1] Am 23. Mai 2007 wurde Laurie von Königin Elisabeth II. für seine Verdienste in der Schauspielkunst zum Officer des Order of the British Empire (OBE) ernannt.[1]
Künstlerischer Werdegang
1981 gewann Lauries Theatertruppe beim Edinburgh Festival Fringe den Perrier Comedy Award.
Von 1986 bis 1995 bildeten Hugh Laurie und Stephen Fry in der BBC-Sketch-Serie A Bit of Fry & Laurie ein erfolgreiches Comedy-Duo. Für die vier Staffeln dieser Reihe, die in insgesamt 26 Episoden ausgestrahlt wurde, schrieb Laurie auch die Drehbücher.
Hugh Laurie wurde durch zahlreiche Engagements einem breiten Publikum bekannt, zunächst hauptsächlich in britischen Comedy-Serien, wie z. B. der Blackadder-Reihe. Hugh Laurie ist ein großer Verehrer des Schriftstellers P. G. Wodehouse und übernahm Anfang der 1990er in der BBC-Verfilmung der Buchreihe Jeeves and Wooster die Rolle des Bertie Wooster neben Stephen Fry als Butler Jeeves. Daneben besetzte er auch Rollen in Spielfilmen, darunter in den Filmkomödien Peter’s Friends, 101 Dalmatiner und Maybe Baby und in Kinderbuchverfilmungen von Stuart Little.
Zugleich übernahm Laurie immer wieder Rollen jenseits des Comedy-Genres, wie etwa in einigen Episoden der Spionage-Serie Spooks, in der Jane-Austen-Verfilmung Sinn und Sinnlichkeit und in der Neuverfilmung von Der Flug des Phoenix. 2003 spielte er die Hauptrolle in der britischen Fernsehserie Dr. Slippery (OT: Fortysomething). Für seine Titelrolle des Dr. Gregory House in der Krankenhaus-Serie Dr. House (2004–2012), in der er mit amerikanischem Akzent spricht, wurde er viermal für den Emmy Award nominiert und 2006 und 2007 mit dem Golden Globe Award ausgezeichnet. Für die im September 2008 in den USA gestartete 5. Staffel erhielt Hugh Laurie für die Darstellung des Dr. House pro Folge 400.000 Dollar; hochgerechnet also rund neun Millionen Dollar pro Jahr.[4] Zum Start der 8. und letzten Staffel ist sein Gehalt auf 700.000 Dollar pro Episode angestiegen.[5]
Zudem spielte er 1986 im Musikvideo zum Titel Experiment IV von Kate Bush und 1992 zusammen mit John Malkovich im Musikvideo Walking on Broken Glass von Annie Lennox mit.
Hugh Laurie arbeitet auch als Schriftsteller. Im Jahr 1996 veröffentlichte er einen Roman (The Gun Seller), der es bei Erscheinen in Großbritannien in die Bestsellerlisten schaffte. In Deutschland erschien das Buch 1999 unter dem Titel Der Waffenhändler, das im März 2008 unter dem Titel Bockmist neu aufgelegt wurde. Hugh Laurie arbeitet an seinem zweiten Roman: The Paper Soldier.
Am 29. April 2011 erschien sein Debütalbum Let Them Talk bei Warner Music. Bei der Aufnahme arbeitete er unter anderem mit Irma Thomas und Tom Jones zusammen.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (born 11 June 1959), known professionally as Hugh Laurie (/ˌhjuː ˈlɒri/), is an English actor, writer, director, musician, singer, comedian, and author. He first became known as one-half of the Fry and Laurie double act with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Blackadder, and Jeeves and Wooster in the 1980s and 1990s.
From 2004 to 2012, he played Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he received two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards, and six Emmy nominations. He was listed in the 2011 Guinness World Records as the most watched leading man on television and was one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama, earning £250,000 ($409,000) per episode in House.[1][2]
Early life
Laurie was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire.[3] The youngest of four children, he has an older brother named Charles Alexander Lyon Mundell Laurie[3] and two older sisters named Susan and Janet.[4][5] He had a strained relationship with his mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw).[3][3][6] He notes that his mother "was Presbyterian by character, by mood"[3] and that he was "a frustration to her... she didn't like me".[3] His father, William George Ranald Mundell Laurie, was a doctor who also won an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.[3][7]
Laurie's parents, who were of Scottish descent, attended St. Columba's Presbyterian Church of England (now United Reformed Church)[8] in Oxford.[9][10][11] He notes that "belief in God didn't play a large role in my home, but a certain attitude to life and the living of it did".[3] He followed this by stating, "pleasure was something that was treated with great suspicion, pleasure was something that... I was going to say it had to be earned but even the earning of it didn't really work. It was something to this day, I mean, I carry that with me. I find pleasure a difficult thing; I don't know what you do with it, I don't know where to put it."[3] He has stated, "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted he'd take it away".[12]
Education
Laurie was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School from ages 7 to 13 and notes that he "was, in truth, a horrible child. Not much given to things of a bookey nature, [he] spent a large part of [his] youth smoking Number Six and cheating in French vocabulary tests."[13]
Laurie went on to Eton College, which he describes as "the most private of private schools."[3] He attributes his attending Selwyn College at Cambridge University, as "a result of family tradition" as his "father went to Cambridge and I applied to the same college."[3] Laurie notes his father had a successful bout as an oarsman at Cambridge and that he was "trying to follow in his father's footsteps."[3] He studied for a degree in archaeology and anthropology, specialising in social anthropology.[14]
A building in the Tudor style with a courtyard in front
Like his father, Laurie was an oarsman at school and university;[3] in 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J.S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets[15] coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club.
Later, Laurie also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.[16] Cambridge lost that year by 5 feet.[17] During this time, Laurie was training for up to 8 hours a day and was on course to become an Olympic-standard rower.[18] Laurie is a member of Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world. He was also a member of the Hermes Club and the Hawks' Club.[3]
Acting career
Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of glandular fever (mononucleosis), Laurie joined the Cambridge Footlights,[19] the university dramatic club that has produced many well-known actors and comedians. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends.[3] She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves as the University Challenge representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones, with the series' co-writer Ben Elton completing their team.
In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing, Laurie was also president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won the first Perrier Comedy Award. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer. He states that he did not graduate from Cambridge.[3] The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.
Fry and Laurie went on to work together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them were the Blackadder series, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, starring Rowan Atkinson, with Laurie in various roles, but most notably Prince George and Lieutenant George.[3] Other projects followed, of which one was their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie; another project was Jeeves and Wooster,[3] an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves's employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry worked together at various charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3 and Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Third Ball, Comic Relief TV shows and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends and came together for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.
Laurie starred in the Thames Television film Letters from a Bomber Pilot (1985) directed by David Hodgson. This was a serious acting role, the film being dramatised from the letters home of Pilot Officer J.R.A. "Bob" Hodgson, a pilot in RAF Bomber Command, who was killed in action in 1943.[20]
Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush, and the 1992 Annie Lennox single "Walking on Broken Glass" in British Regency period costume alongside John Malkovich.[21] In 1998, Laurie had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding".
Laurie's later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton's adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl from Rio; the 2004 remake of The Flight of the Phoenix'
Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.
Laurie's fame expanded to the American public in 2004, when he first starred as the acerbic physician specialising in diagnostic medicine, Dr. Gregory House in the popular Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, Laurie assumes an American accent.[3] Laurie was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded the audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, the only place he could get enough light.[22] While working on Flight of the Phoenix, Jacob Vargas operated the camera to shoot Laurie's audition tape for House. Laurie's American accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is British, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for.[22] Laurie also adopted the accent between takes on the set of House,[23] as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the House episode "Lockdown".[23] Laurie also served as director for the episode "The C-Word" of the show's final season.[24]
Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award[25] for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie was also awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives,[26] but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeded to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an Emmy with Dame Helen Mirren, and has since been nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his involvement in House. In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano.[3] He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man's wife.
In August 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry’s 50th birthday. In 2008, he took part in Blackadder Rides Again and appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Cockroach, PhD in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens. He also hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time on the Christmas show in which he sang a medley of three-second Christmas songs to close his monologue. In 2009, Laurie returned to guest star in another Family Guy episode, "Business Guy", parodying Gregory House. In 2010, Laurie guest starred in The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror XXI" as Roger, a castaway who is planning a murder scheme on a ship during Homer and Marge's second honeymoon.[27]
On 8 February 2012, Fox announced that season 8 of House would be the last. On 13 June 2012, it was announced that Laurie was in negotiations to play the villain in RoboCop, a remake of the original RoboCop film.[28] These negotiations ultimately fell through and Laurie passed on the project.[29] In 2012, Laurie starred in an independent feature called The Oranges that had a limited release. The New York Post felt that he was "less-than-ideally cast" in the role of a dad who has an affair with his neighbour's daughter, played by Leighton Meester.[30] The Star-Ledger, Newark NJ, thought that he was "particularly good".[31]
He played David Nix, a villain, in Brad Bird's 2015 film Tomorrowland.[32]
Laurie is set to play Richard Onslow Roper in the upcoming television mini-series The Night Manager based on the espionage and detective novel of the same name by John le Carré. The series will start filming in Spring 2015 and will air on AMC in 2016 with Tom Hiddleston also starring.[33][34]
Music career
Laurie took piano lessons from the age of six.[35] He sings and plays piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents throughout his acting career, most notably on A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV. Additionally, following Meat Loaf's appearance in the House episode "Simple Explanation", Laurie played piano as a special guest on the song "If I Can't Have You" from Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear. Laurie co-wrote and performed the humorous blues song, "Sperm Test in the Morning", in the film Maybe Baby.[36]
On House, Laurie played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including Gibson Flying V and Les Paul guitars. His character has a Hammond B-3 organ in his home and on one episode performed the introduction to Procol Harum's classic "Whiter Shade of Pale".[37]
On 26 July 2010, it was announced that Laurie would be releasing a blues album after signing a contract with Warner Bros. Records.[38] The album, called Let Them Talk, was released in France on 18 April 2011 and in Germany on 29 April. The album features collaborations from well-known artists such as Tom Jones, Irma Thomas and Dr. John.
On 1 May 2011, Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim.[39]
On 15 May 2011, Laurie was the subject of the ITV series Perspectives, explaining his love for the music of New Orleans and playing music, from his album Let Them Talk, at studios and live venues in the city itself.[35] He was the subject of PBS Great Performances Let them Talk, also about New Orleans jazz, first broadcast on 30 September 2011.[40]
His second album, Didn't It Rain, was released in the UK on 6 May 2013.[41] In the same year he played at the RMS Queen Mary together with his band. This concert was filmed and later released as "Live on the Queen Mary" on DVD and Blu-ray.
Writing
In 1996, Laurie's first novel, The Gun Seller, an intricate thriller laced with Wodehouseian humour, was published and became a best-seller.[3] He has since been working on the screenplay for a film version. His second novel, The Paper Soldier, was scheduled for September 2009, but has yet to appear.
Personal life
Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire at the age of 73 in 1989, when Laurie was 30. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world".[5]
Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989 in Camden, London. They live in Belsize Park,[42] north London with sons Charlie and Bill and daughter Rebecca.[43] They had planned to move the whole family to Los Angeles in 2008 due to the strain of being mostly separated for nine months each year,[43] but ultimately decided against it.[44] Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry & Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled "Special Squad", as baby William. Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" him about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy. Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing. Laurie's best friend is long-time comedy partner Stephen Fry, who was best man at his wedding and is godfather to his children.[45]
On 23 May 2007, Laurie received his award as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), to which he was appointed in the 2007 New Year Honours for his services to drama.[46][47][48][49] While appearing on Inside the Actors Studio in 2006, Laurie discussed his struggle with severe clinical depression.[3] He continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He told host James Lipton that he first concluded he had a problem whilst driving in a charity demolition derby, during which he realised that seeing two cars collide and explode in front of him caused him to be neither excited nor frightened, but bored.[3][6] "Boredom," he commented, "is not an appropriate response to exploding cars."[3]
Laurie admires the writings of P. G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.[50] In a further interview in The Daily Telegraph Laurie confirmed his atheism.[51] He is also an avid motorbike enthusiast. He has two motorbikes, one at his London home and one at his Los Angeles home. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the British flag".[52]
In March 2012 Laurie was made an honorary fellow of his alma mater Selwyn College.[53][54] In June 2013 he was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. His choices included Joe Cocker ("The Letter"), Sister Rosetta Tharpe ("My Journey to the Sky"), Randy Newman ("Louisiana 1927"), Professor Longhair ("Go to the Mardi Gras"), Son House ("Grinnin' in Your Face"), Nina Simone ("I Wish I Knew How It Would Be to Be Free"), Lester Young–Buddy Rich Trio ("I Cover the Waterfront") and Van Morrison ("Brown Eyed Girl").[55] This was his second appearance on the show, having previously been a guest in 1996.
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE (born 11 June 1959), known professionally as Hugh Laurie (/ˌhjuː ˈlɒri/), is an English actor, writer, director, musician, singer, comedian, and author. He first became known as one-half of the Fry and Laurie double act with his friend and comedy partner Stephen Fry, whom he joined in the cast of A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Blackadder, and Jeeves and Wooster in the 1980s and 1990s.From 2004 to 2012, he played Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of House, for which he received two Golden Globe awards, two Screen Actors Guild awards, and six Emmy nominations. He was listed in the 2011 Guinness World Records as the most watched leading man on television and was one of the highest-paid actors in a television drama, earning £250,000 ($409,000) per episode in House.[1][2]
Early life
Laurie was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire.[3] The youngest of four children, he has an older brother named Charles Alexander Lyon Mundell Laurie[3] and two older sisters named Susan and Janet.[4][5] He had a strained relationship with his mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw).[3][3][6] He notes that his mother "was Presbyterian by character, by mood"[3] and that he was "a frustration to her... she didn't like me".[3] His father, William George Ranald Mundell Laurie, was a doctor who also won an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.[3][7]
Laurie's parents, who were of Scottish descent, attended St. Columba's Presbyterian Church of England (now United Reformed Church)[8] in Oxford.[9][10][11] He notes that "belief in God didn't play a large role in my home, but a certain attitude to life and the living of it did".[3] He followed this by stating, "pleasure was something that was treated with great suspicion, pleasure was something that... I was going to say it had to be earned but even the earning of it didn't really work. It was something to this day, I mean, I carry that with me. I find pleasure a difficult thing; I don't know what you do with it, I don't know where to put it."[3] He has stated, "I don't believe in God, but I have this idea that if there were a God, or destiny of some kind looking down on us, that if he saw you taking anything for granted he'd take it away".[12]
Education
Laurie was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School from ages 7 to 13 and notes that he "was, in truth, a horrible child. Not much given to things of a bookey nature, [he] spent a large part of [his] youth smoking Number Six and cheating in French vocabulary tests."[13]
Laurie went on to Eton College, which he describes as "the most private of private schools."[3] He attributes his attending Selwyn College at Cambridge University, as "a result of family tradition" as his "father went to Cambridge and I applied to the same college."[3] Laurie notes his father had a successful bout as an oarsman at Cambridge and that he was "trying to follow in his father's footsteps."[3] He studied for a degree in archaeology and anthropology, specialising in social anthropology.[14]
A building in the Tudor style with a courtyard in front
Like his father, Laurie was an oarsman at school and university;[3] in 1977, he was a member of the junior coxed pair that won the British national title before representing Britain's Youth Team at the 1977 Junior World Rowing Championships. In 1980, Laurie and his rowing partner, J.S. Palmer, were runners-up in the Silver Goblets[15] coxless pairs for Eton Vikings rowing club.
Later, Laurie also achieved a Blue while taking part in the 1980 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.[16] Cambridge lost that year by 5 feet.[17] During this time, Laurie was training for up to 8 hours a day and was on course to become an Olympic-standard rower.[18] Laurie is a member of Leander Club, one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world. He was also a member of the Hermes Club and the Hawks' Club.[3]
Acting career
Forced to abandon rowing during a bout of glandular fever (mononucleosis), Laurie joined the Cambridge Footlights,[19] the university dramatic club that has produced many well-known actors and comedians. There he met Emma Thompson, with whom he had a romantic relationship; the two remain good friends.[3] She introduced him to his future comedy partner, Stephen Fry. Laurie, Fry and Thompson later parodied themselves as the University Challenge representatives of "Footlights College, Oxbridge" in "Bambi", an episode of The Young Ones, with the series' co-writer Ben Elton completing their team.
In 1980–81, his final year at university, besides rowing, Laurie was also president of the Footlights, with Thompson as vice-president. They took their annual revue, The Cellar Tapes, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won the first Perrier Comedy Award. The revue was written principally by Laurie and Fry, and the cast also included Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer and Penny Dwyer. He states that he did not graduate from Cambridge.[3] The Perrier Award led to a West End transfer for The Cellar Tapes and a television version of the revue, broadcast in May 1982. It resulted in Laurie, Fry and Thompson being selected, along with Ben Elton, Robbie Coltrane and Siobhan Redmond to write and appear in a new sketch comedy show for Granada Television, Alfresco, which ran for two series.
Fry and Laurie went on to work together on various projects throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Among them were the Blackadder series, written by Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, starring Rowan Atkinson, with Laurie in various roles, but most notably Prince George and Lieutenant George.[3] Other projects followed, of which one was their BBC sketch comedy series A Bit of Fry & Laurie; another project was Jeeves and Wooster,[3] an adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's stories, in which Laurie played Jeeves's employer, the amiable twit Bertie Wooster. He and Fry worked together at various charity stage events, such as Hysteria! 1, 2 & 3 and Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Third Ball, Comic Relief TV shows and the variety show Fry and Laurie Host a Christmas Night with the Stars. They collaborated again on the film Peter's Friends and came together for a retrospective show in 2010 titled Fry and Laurie Reunited.
Laurie starred in the Thames Television film Letters from a Bomber Pilot (1985) directed by David Hodgson. This was a serious acting role, the film being dramatised from the letters home of Pilot Officer J.R.A. "Bob" Hodgson, a pilot in RAF Bomber Command, who was killed in action in 1943.[20]
Laurie appeared in the music videos for the 1986 single "Experiment IV" by Kate Bush, and the 1992 Annie Lennox single "Walking on Broken Glass" in British Regency period costume alongside John Malkovich.[21] In 1998, Laurie had a brief guest-starring role on Friends in "The One with Ross's Wedding".
Laurie's later film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), adapted by and starring Emma Thompson; the Disney live-action film 101 Dalmatians (1996), where he played Jasper, one of the bumbling criminals hired to kidnap the puppies; Elton's adaptation of his novel Inconceivable, Maybe Baby (2000); Girl from Rio; the 2004 remake of The Flight of the Phoenix'
Since 2002, Laurie has appeared in a range of British television dramas, guest-starring that year in two episodes of the first season of the spy thriller series Spooks on BBC One. In 2003, he starred in and also directed ITV's comedy-drama series fortysomething (in one episode of which Stephen Fry appears). In 2001, he voiced the character of a bar patron in the Family Guy episode "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea". Laurie voiced the character of Mr. Wolf in the cartoon Preston Pig. He was a panellist on the first episode of QI, alongside Fry as host. In 2004, Laurie guest-starred as a professor in charge of a space probe called Beagle, on The Lenny Henry Show.
Laurie's fame expanded to the American public in 2004, when he first starred as the acerbic physician specialising in diagnostic medicine, Dr. Gregory House in the popular Fox medical drama House. For his portrayal, Laurie assumes an American accent.[3] Laurie was in Namibia filming Flight of the Phoenix and recorded the audition tape for the show in the bathroom of the hotel, the only place he could get enough light.[22] While working on Flight of the Phoenix, Jacob Vargas operated the camera to shoot Laurie's audition tape for House. Laurie's American accent was so convincing that executive producer Bryan Singer, who was unaware at the time that Laurie is British, pointed to him as an example of just the kind of compelling American actor he had been looking for.[22] Laurie also adopted the accent between takes on the set of House,[23] as well as during script read-throughs, although he used his native accent when directing the House episode "Lockdown".[23] Laurie also served as director for the episode "The C-Word" of the show's final season.[24]
Laurie was nominated for an Emmy Award[25] for his role in House in 2005. Although he did not win, he did receive a Golden Globe in both 2006 and 2007 for his work on the series and the Screen Actors Guild award in 2007 and 2009. Laurie was also awarded a large increase in salary, from what was rumoured to be a mid-range five-figure sum to $350,000 per episode. Laurie was not nominated for the 2006 Emmys, apparently to the outrage of Fox executives,[26] but he still appeared in a scripted, pre-taped intro, where he parodied his House character by rapidly diagnosing host Conan O'Brien and then proceeded to grope him as the latter asked him for help to get to the Emmys on time. He would later go on to speak in French while presenting an Emmy with Dame Helen Mirren, and has since been nominated in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Laurie was initially cast as Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, in Singer's film Superman Returns but had to bow out of the project because of his involvement in House. In July 2006, Laurie appeared on Inside the Actors Studio, where he also performed one of his own comic songs, "Mystery", accompanying himself on the piano.[3] He hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live, in which he appeared in drag in a sketch about a man (Kenan Thompson) with a broken leg who accuses his doctor of being dishonest. Laurie played the man's wife.
In August 2007, Laurie appeared on BBC Four's documentary Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out, filmed in celebration of Fry’s 50th birthday. In 2008, he took part in Blackadder Rides Again and appeared as Captain James Biggs in Street Kings, opposite Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, and then in 2009 as the eccentric Dr. Cockroach, PhD in DreamWorks' Monsters vs. Aliens. He also hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time on the Christmas show in which he sang a medley of three-second Christmas songs to close his monologue. In 2009, Laurie returned to guest star in another Family Guy episode, "Business Guy", parodying Gregory House. In 2010, Laurie guest starred in The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror XXI" as Roger, a castaway who is planning a murder scheme on a ship during Homer and Marge's second honeymoon.[27]
On 8 February 2012, Fox announced that season 8 of House would be the last. On 13 June 2012, it was announced that Laurie was in negotiations to play the villain in RoboCop, a remake of the original RoboCop film.[28] These negotiations ultimately fell through and Laurie passed on the project.[29] In 2012, Laurie starred in an independent feature called The Oranges that had a limited release. The New York Post felt that he was "less-than-ideally cast" in the role of a dad who has an affair with his neighbour's daughter, played by Leighton Meester.[30] The Star-Ledger, Newark NJ, thought that he was "particularly good".[31]
He played David Nix, a villain, in Brad Bird's 2015 film Tomorrowland.[32]
Laurie is set to play Richard Onslow Roper in the upcoming television mini-series The Night Manager based on the espionage and detective novel of the same name by John le Carré. The series will start filming in Spring 2015 and will air on AMC in 2016 with Tom Hiddleston also starring.[33][34]
Music career
Laurie took piano lessons from the age of six.[35] He sings and plays piano, guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone. He has displayed his musical talents throughout his acting career, most notably on A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, House and when he hosted Saturday Night Live in October 2006. He is a vocalist and keyboard player for the Los Angeles charity rock group Band From TV. Additionally, following Meat Loaf's appearance in the House episode "Simple Explanation", Laurie played piano as a special guest on the song "If I Can't Have You" from Meat Loaf's 2010 album Hang Cool Teddy Bear. Laurie co-wrote and performed the humorous blues song, "Sperm Test in the Morning", in the film Maybe Baby.[36]
On House, Laurie played several classic rock 'n roll instruments including Gibson Flying V and Les Paul guitars. His character has a Hammond B-3 organ in his home and on one episode performed the introduction to Procol Harum's classic "Whiter Shade of Pale".[37]
On 26 July 2010, it was announced that Laurie would be releasing a blues album after signing a contract with Warner Bros. Records.[38] The album, called Let Them Talk, was released in France on 18 April 2011 and in Germany on 29 April. The album features collaborations from well-known artists such as Tom Jones, Irma Thomas and Dr. John.
On 1 May 2011, Laurie and a jazz quintet closed the 2011 Cheltenham Jazz Festival to great acclaim.[39]
On 15 May 2011, Laurie was the subject of the ITV series Perspectives, explaining his love for the music of New Orleans and playing music, from his album Let Them Talk, at studios and live venues in the city itself.[35] He was the subject of PBS Great Performances Let them Talk, also about New Orleans jazz, first broadcast on 30 September 2011.[40]
His second album, Didn't It Rain, was released in the UK on 6 May 2013.[41] In the same year he played at the RMS Queen Mary together with his band. This concert was filmed and later released as "Live on the Queen Mary" on DVD and Blu-ray.
Writing
In 1996, Laurie's first novel, The Gun Seller, an intricate thriller laced with Wodehouseian humour, was published and became a best-seller.[3] He has since been working on the screenplay for a film version. His second novel, The Paper Soldier, was scheduled for September 2009, but has yet to appear.
Personal life
Laurie's mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease in Oxfordshire at the age of 73 in 1989, when Laurie was 30. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world".[5]
Laurie married theatre administrator Jo Green in June 1989 in Camden, London. They live in Belsize Park,[42] north London with sons Charlie and Bill and daughter Rebecca.[43] They had planned to move the whole family to Los Angeles in 2008 due to the strain of being mostly separated for nine months each year,[43] but ultimately decided against it.[44] Charlie had a cameo in A Bit of Fry & Laurie in the last sketch of the episode entitled "Special Squad", as baby William. Stephen and Hugh begin to "interrogate" him about "what he's done with the stuff", calling him a scumbag and telling him that he's been a very naughty boy. Rebecca had a role in the film Wit as five-year-old Vivian Bearing. Laurie's best friend is long-time comedy partner Stephen Fry, who was best man at his wedding and is godfather to his children.[45]
On 23 May 2007, Laurie received his award as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), to which he was appointed in the 2007 New Year Honours for his services to drama.[46][47][48][49] While appearing on Inside the Actors Studio in 2006, Laurie discussed his struggle with severe clinical depression.[3] He continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. He told host James Lipton that he first concluded he had a problem whilst driving in a charity demolition derby, during which he realised that seeing two cars collide and explode in front of him caused him to be neither excited nor frightened, but bored.[3][6] "Boredom," he commented, "is not an appropriate response to exploding cars."[3]
Laurie admires the writings of P. G. Wodehouse, explaining in a 27 May 1999 article in The Daily Telegraph how reading Wodehouse novels had saved his life.[50] In a further interview in The Daily Telegraph Laurie confirmed his atheism.[51] He is also an avid motorbike enthusiast. He has two motorbikes, one at his London home and one at his Los Angeles home. His bike in the United States is a Triumph Bonneville, his "feeble attempt to fly the British flag".[52]
In March 2012 Laurie was made an honorary fellow of his alma mater Selwyn College.[53][54] In June 2013 he was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. His choices included Joe Cocker ("The Letter"), Sister Rosetta Tharpe ("My Journey to the Sky"), Randy Newman ("Louisiana 1927"), Professor Longhair ("Go to the Mardi Gras"), Son House ("Grinnin' in Your Face"), Nina Simone ("I Wish I Knew How It Would Be to Be Free"), Lester Young–Buddy Rich Trio ("I Cover the Waterfront") and Van Morrison ("Brown Eyed Girl").[55] This was his second appearance on the show, having previously been a guest in 1996.
Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk: A Celebration of New Orleans Blues (all musics)
Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk documentary. Edited only with scenes of Hugh and band's performances. Hugh Laurie playing
Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk documentary. Edited only with scenes of Hugh and band's performances. Hugh Laurie playing
Johnny Neel *11.06.1954
Johnny Neel is an American vocalist, songwriter, and musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is best known for his songwriting, stage, and session work for the Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule, and Dickey Betts.
As a songwriter, in addition to the material written, or co-written for the Allman Brothers,[1] Gregg Allman,[2] and Dicky Betts,[3] Neel's songs have also been recorded by Gov’t Mule,[4] John Mayall,[5] Delbert McClinton,[6] Montgomery Gentry,[7] Keith Whitley,[8] Travis Tritt,[9] The Oak Ridge Boys,[10] Restless Heart,[11] Ann Peebles,[12] Dorothy Moore,[13] and John Schneider.[14]
As a studio musician, Neel has appeared on recordings by The Allman Brothers,[15] Gov't Mule,[16] Warren Haynes,[17] Dickey Betts,[18] Montgomery Gentry,[19] Michael McDonald,[20] Todd Snider,[21] David Allan Coe,[22] Jeff Coffin,[23] Robert Gordon,[24] Chris LeDoux,[25] Tiny Town,[26] Suzy Bogguss,[27] Joe Diffie,[28] Colin Raye,[29] and Pirates of the Mississippi.
Neel was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He cut his first single, entitled "Talking About People", at the age of twelve, as Johnny Neel and The Shapes Of Soul, which was a hit on local radio in the Wilmington/Philadelphia area. As an adult, the Johnny Neel Band had a strong following up and down the east coast and released two well-received independent albums. Neel moved to Nashville in 1984. Performing with various bands in area clubs drew the attention of former Nashville resident Dickey Betts, who asked Neel to join his road band, and he soon began working on Bett’s solo LP for Epic Records. That relationship led to seven cuts on the Pattern Disruptive album released in 1988, including the AOR hit, "Rock Bottom".[31]
Neel's talented keyboard and harmonica playing on the Pattern Disruptive album convinced Gregg Allman to ask Neel to tour with his road band which led to the inclusion of the cut "Island" on The Gregg Allman Band album (also released in 1988),[32] co-written with Allman, Dan Toler, and Tony Colton. In 1989 Neel was invited to join the reunited Allman Brothers Band. He immersed himself in touring, writing, and recording, which led to four cuts on the Allman's Seven Turns album (released in 1990), and the hit single "Good Clean Fun", co-written by Neel with Allman and Betts.[33] In 2002 country stars Montgomery Gentry included "Good Clean Fun" as part of their My Town album.[34] album.
In 1994, the studio album Johnny Neel & The Last Word was released.[35] This album included the song "Maydell", which was co-written with Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers/Gov't Mule) and has been covered by the Allman Brothers on their Hittin' The Note[36] album, and by John Mayall on his Wake Up Call [37] album. The album also included the song "Read Me My Rights" which was co-written with Delbert McClinton, and which was covered by McClinton on his Nothing Personal[38] album, by Ann Peebles on her Full Time Love[39] album, by Dorothy Moore on Stay Close to Home[40] album, and by Dalton Reed on Louisiana Soul Man.[41] This album featured appearances by Jack Pearson (Allman Brothers) on guitar and Delbert McClinton on harmonica.
In 1995, Neel's album Commin' Atcha... Live was released and included live versions of "Read Me My Rights" and "Maydell". The album captured a live appearance by Neel and his band The Last Word including Jack Pearson and most of the musicians on The Last Word album.
In 2000, Neel released Late Night Breakfast which was recorded at his Straight Up Sound Studio with the members of his band The Last Word, along with special guests guitarists Shane Theriot (The Neville Brothers), and Rick Vito, as well as Wayne Jackson on trumpet. Late Night Breakfast was released on Neel's Breakin' Records label.[42]
During the period of time the Late Night Breakfast recordings were made, Neel also became a member of Blue Floyd,[43] an all-star jam band performing variations on the material of Pink Floyd. In addition to Neel, the band was composed of guitarist Marc Ford, drummer Matt Abts, bassist Berry Oakley Jr. (OKB Band) and until his death, Allen Woody on second guitar. Neel and Abts then went into the Straight Up Sound Studio and recorded the X2 funk/jam duo project. X2 - Johnny Neel / Matt Abts was released in 2002.
In 2004, Neel released the album Gun Metal Blue on his Breaking Records label which was also recorded at Straight Up Sound. These sessions included guitarists Chris Anderson, George Marinelli, and Pat Bergeson, drummer Vince Santoro, and vocalists Joanna Cotten, and Neel's wife, Christine Thompson Neel.
Also in 2004, the album Johnny Neel and The Italian Experience was released on the Italian label, Artesuono.[44] This album included strings and horns as Neel moved in a jazz direction. The album included members of the Italian blues/rock/jam power trio W.I.N.D.,[45] with which Neel has toured and recorded in Europe several times.[46]
In addition to Blue Floyd[47] and X2[48] projects, Neel was a part of two other all-star collaborations. The group Deep Fried included Neel on keyboards, drummer Matt Abts, guitarist Brian Stoltz, and bassist George Porter Jr.. Their album The Deep Fried Sessions - Live[49] was released in 2004. The other group, The Grease Factor released two live recordings;[50] Off the Cuff[51] in 2004, and Live From Zambifest 2004[52] in 2005. The Grease Factor included guitarist Shane Theriot, bassist Derek Jones, drummer Jeff Sipe, and percussionist Count M'Butu.
Neel has provided vocals on five songs included on four Walt Disney Records CD releases, related to the Pixar Animation Studios movie releases, Finding Nemo, Cars, and Ratatouille. These include "Saturday Night Fish Fry" from the 2003 release Finding Nemo: Ocean Favorites,[53] "My Old Car" from the 2006 release Lightning McQueen's Fast Tracks,[54] "One Meat Ball" and "Banana Split for My Baby" from the 2007 release Ratatouille: What's Cooking?,[55] and "Hot Rodder's Lament" from the 2009 release Mater's Car Tunes.[56]
Towards the end of the new century's first decade Neel was recording and performing with his band The Criminal Element. Three albums have been released by Johnny Neel and The Criminal Element; Volume 1 (2007), Volume 2 (2008), and The CSI Chronicles (2010).
In 2010, Neel also released Harmonius,[57] a solo project featuring only his vocals and keyboards.
In 2012 Every Kinda' Blues... But What You're Used To was released.[58] A return to a more blues-based sound, the album includes Ex-Allman Brothers guitarist Jack Pearson, and ex-Little Feat vocalist Shaun Murphy.[59]
Also in 2012, in recognition of their contributions to the world of music, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to the Allman Brothers Band.[60] Neel made significant contributions to the history of the band, playing keyboards and harmonica during their 20th Anniversary Reunion tour, performing on the Seven Turns album, and co-writing four tracks on that album, including the chart topping hit Good Clean Fun.
Mike Welch *11.06.1979
Mike Welch is a Boston-area blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter who has released several albums on the Rounder Tone-Cool subsidiary. The fact that he's so good and so young is part of the reason why they called him "Monster." Welch got this name from actor/comedian/Blues Brother Dan Aykroyd, although the moniker was dropped following his second album.
These Blues Are Mine
Welch's releases for Tone-Cool, which essentially launched his career as an international touring act, include a 1996 release, These Blues Are Mine, and his 1997 album Axe to Grind.
He began his blues education with his father's record collection, and he picked up the guitar at age eight and tried to emulate the sounds he heard from recordings by Magic Sam, Earl Hooker and B.B. King. Welch also studied the rock & roll and blues-rock records of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, but after hearing more of Albert King and other blues guitarists, he found his calling in life.
When he was 11, his parents began driving him to blues jams around Boston. In the clubs, Welch learned from some of the greats of that scene, including Ronnie Earl and Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson. Welch was invited to play at the opening of the first House of Blues club in Cambridge, Mass. in 1992. After co-owner Aykroyd heard him, his nickname changed from "Little Mikey" to "Monster Mike."
A few months later, Welch began working with George Lewis, who ran the blues jams at House of Blues, to put together the Monster Mike Welch Band. Welch is accompanied on his records by Lewis on guitar, Jon Ross on bass and Warren Grant on drums. Welch's biting, stinging Albert King-style guitar playing has better-than-average backing from these three on his Tone-Cool releases.
Catch Me
The crop of original songs he wrote on his first two albums for Tone-Cool demonstrate his prowess as a crafty blues songwriter. Whether he decides to go on to college or not, Welch has a bright future. All indications are that Welch, who got a flood of publicity because of his age, and was even quoted in People magazine -- "being an adolescent is more than enough blues for anyone to handle" -- should go on to a lengthy and varied career as a bluesman. He returned in 1998 with Catch Me.
Monster Mike Welch Double Trouble Paris 2014
Steve Balkun *11.06.1987
Die Balkun Brothers sind eine Blues-Rock Band aus Hartford, Connecticut (USA), die im Jahre 2010 von den Brüdern Nick und Steve Balkun gegründet wurde.
Indem sie die traditionellen Stile des Delta und Electric Blues mit schwerem Rock und Funk- Grooves mischen, kreieren die Balkun Brothers einen einzigartigen Sound und Stil. Obwohl die Brüder tief in den Wurzeln des traditionellen Blues verankert sind, ist ihr musikalischer Einflussbereich breit gefächert. Sie vereinen Blues, Rock, Funk, Jam, Psychedelic mit allem was dazwischen liegt.
Steve V. Balkun is a 25 year old certified guitar virtuoso, whose talents have been learned and refined in some of the most prestigious clubs, theaters, streets corners, and jam rooms across the continental U.S. Steve grew up in West Hartford, CT and has also lived in Boston, MA and Snellville, GA. His influences span from artists such as John Frusciante, Jimi Hendrix, Son House, Charlie Patton, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Winter, Eric Sardinas, Dave Grohl, Larry La Londe, Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Gary Clark Jr., and Buddy Guy.
As a young man, Steve experienced music in all facets of his life. His passion for art and music eventually encompassed his every thought in his late teens and after taking up the guitar in high school, his future as a musician became clearer to him. Steve attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA and began searching out other musicians to collaborate with and push his talents as a guitarist, vocalist, and overall musician.
While in Boston, Balkun began playing with a number of bands such as Cashed Fools, Entrain, Monkey Cage, and Crash Midnight just to name a few. Each band had a unique style and Steve’s musicianship began bursting at the seams at this time in his life. From funk to rock and back to the roots of the blues, each genre of music was blended into one fantastic blast of deep guitar playing that was growing each time he plugged in.
Eventually Steve left Boston and went on to attend and graduate at top of his class at the Luthiers International Guitar Repair and Building School located in Snellville, GA. He uses many of his own custom built guitars when he plays gigs and currently has built and sold a number of top of the line, class “A” quality basses and guitars. Currently Steve owns and operates his own guitar shop as the Chairman and CEO of Balkun Guitars, headquartered in West Hartford, CT.
He is currently touring as a solo artist, as well as with his main bands Three Wheeled Fonk Cirkis and Balkun Brothers Blues Band, who are set to release studio albums in early 2013. Balkun also, just released a debut album with Cashed Fools, who he will be touring with starting in December 2012.
Some call him a musical druid because of his intense mixture of blues, rock, and colossal funk, but one thing is for sure… He is taking the guitar world by storm and isn’t stopping anytime soon!
Balkun Brothers - 'Mean Town Blues' - Stage One Fairfield Theater Company [4-Cam HD]
Mudbone Turner *11.06.
https://www.facebook.com/mudbone.turner
A RASPY VOICE, LARGE BRIM HAT TILTED TO THE SIDE, CALL AND RESPONSE PATTERNS IN THE MUSIC, ALL PROVIDE A DEPICTION OF MUDBONE TURNER.
HE IS A SINGER/SONGWRITER, DRUMMER AND PERFORMER OF THE WELL SOUGHT AFTER CHICAGO BLUES FOR OVER 20 YEARS. HE TAKES BLUES, SOMETIMES ADDING SAXOPHONES AND HARMONICA TO THE BASIC STRING BAND, AND CREATES THAT FOOT-STOMPING CHICAGO BLUES SOUND.
MUDBONE TURNER HAS TRAVELED THE WORLD PERFORMING THE BLUES AND SHARING THE STAGE WITH SUCH LEGENDARY ARTISTS AS B.B. KING, BUDDY GUY, AND EVEN THE LATE GREAT JUNIOR WALKER AND THE ALL STARS. HE HAS MOST RECENTLY COMPLETED TOURING WITH GRAMMY NOMINATED SUSAN TEDESCHI.
HIS MUCH ANTICIPATED SOON TO BE RELEASED CD ENTITLED "STATE OF CONDITION BLUES" OFFERS FASCINATING, UNIQUELY ARRANGED SONGS TO CAPTIVATE BLUES LOVERS EVERYWHERE.
WITH HIS LOVE OF THE BLUES AND HIS STRONG DESIRE TO PERFORM, MUDBONE'S MISSION IS TO INCREASE THE AWARENESS OF THE BLUES AND CONTINUE TO SHARE THE SOUNDS OF SOME HOT CHICAGO BLUES WITH AUDIENCES AROUND THE WORLD.
HE IS A SINGER/SONGWRITER, DRUMMER AND PERFORMER OF THE WELL SOUGHT AFTER CHICAGO BLUES FOR OVER 20 YEARS. HE TAKES BLUES, SOMETIMES ADDING SAXOPHONES AND HARMONICA TO THE BASIC STRING BAND, AND CREATES THAT FOOT-STOMPING CHICAGO BLUES SOUND.
MUDBONE TURNER HAS TRAVELED THE WORLD PERFORMING THE BLUES AND SHARING THE STAGE WITH SUCH LEGENDARY ARTISTS AS B.B. KING, BUDDY GUY, AND EVEN THE LATE GREAT JUNIOR WALKER AND THE ALL STARS. HE HAS MOST RECENTLY COMPLETED TOURING WITH GRAMMY NOMINATED SUSAN TEDESCHI.
HIS MUCH ANTICIPATED SOON TO BE RELEASED CD ENTITLED "STATE OF CONDITION BLUES" OFFERS FASCINATING, UNIQUELY ARRANGED SONGS TO CAPTIVATE BLUES LOVERS EVERYWHERE.
WITH HIS LOVE OF THE BLUES AND HIS STRONG DESIRE TO PERFORM, MUDBONE'S MISSION IS TO INCREASE THE AWARENESS OF THE BLUES AND CONTINUE TO SHARE THE SOUNDS OF SOME HOT CHICAGO BLUES WITH AUDIENCES AROUND THE WORLD.
The Best Man
R.I.P.
Ralph Willis +11.06.1957 *1910
http://www.wirz.de/music/wilrafrm.htm
Ralph Willis (1910 – June 11, 1957)[2] was an American Piedmont and country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter.[1] Some of his Savoy records were released under pseudonyms, such as Alabama Slim, Washboard Pete and Sleepy Joe.
Willis was born near Birmingham, Alabama.[2] In the late 1930s, Willis moved to North Carolina and started to play along with musicians who were familiar with Blind Boy Fuller. Willis recorded his debut material in 1944, and continued until 1953, issuing fifty tracks via several record labels including Savoy, Signature, 20th Century, Abbey, Jubilee, Prestige, Par, and King Records.[1]
Similar to Gabriel Brown, Alec Seward and Brownie McGhee, Willis relocated to New York.[3] Willis originally recorded singly, but record label demands saw him used more frequently with accompaniment. Judson Coleman joined Willis on his 20th Century recordings, and in 1949, McGhee was employed. His latter recordings utilised both McGhee and Sonny Terry.[1]
Willis employed an array of musical styles from slow blues to uptempo country dance tracks. However he spurned the growing popularity of folk-blues and R&B.[1] He was musically conscious of Blind Lemon Jefferson and Luke Jordan, but later recordings saw his guitar style leaning towards the booming resonance of Lightnin' Hopkins.[3]
Willis died in New York in June 1957.[1]
Willis was born near Birmingham, Alabama.[2] In the late 1930s, Willis moved to North Carolina and started to play along with musicians who were familiar with Blind Boy Fuller. Willis recorded his debut material in 1944, and continued until 1953, issuing fifty tracks via several record labels including Savoy, Signature, 20th Century, Abbey, Jubilee, Prestige, Par, and King Records.[1]
Similar to Gabriel Brown, Alec Seward and Brownie McGhee, Willis relocated to New York.[3] Willis originally recorded singly, but record label demands saw him used more frequently with accompaniment. Judson Coleman joined Willis on his 20th Century recordings, and in 1949, McGhee was employed. His latter recordings utilised both McGhee and Sonny Terry.[1]
Willis employed an array of musical styles from slow blues to uptempo country dance tracks. However he spurned the growing popularity of folk-blues and R&B.[1] He was musically conscious of Blind Lemon Jefferson and Luke Jordan, but later recordings saw his guitar style leaning towards the booming resonance of Lightnin' Hopkins.[3]
Willis died in New York in June 1957.[1]
