Gerry Beckley

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Gerry Beckley
Rhino
  • American Gramaphone
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  • Burgundy
    • Member ofAmerica
    Websitegerrybeckley.com

    Gerald Linford Beckley (born September 12, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician, and a founding member of the band America.[1]

    Early life

    Beckley was born to an American father and an English mother. He began playing the piano at the age of three and the guitar a few years later. By 1962, Beckley was playing guitar in

    British invasion
    music.

    Career

    In 1967, Beckley's father became the commander at the

    London Central High School in Bushey Hall in north west London, where he played in various school bands and met his soon-to-be bandmates, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. Originally, the group played on Friday nights at the local American teen club, mostly doing acoustic covers of Crosby, Stills, and Nash
    tunes. The original drummer was a classmate, Dave Atwood.

    Beckley singing at the 1979 Dr. Pepper Central Park Music Festival

    America signed a recording contract with the British division of

    Warner Bros. Records and found success in 1972 with "A Horse with No Name
    ."

    Beckley wrote and sang America's 1972 top-10 hit "I Need You" and its 1975 number-one hit "Sister Golden Hair", as well as its top-20 followup "Daisy Jane". He also sang their '80s top-10 hit "You Can Do Magic".

    Beckley continues to write and record music both as a solo artist and with other musicians. With Bunnell, Beckley continues touring worldwide as "America".

    Solo projects

    In the 1990 John Waters film Cry-Baby, Beckley, Andrew Gold, and Timothy B. Schmit appeared as Baldwin and the Whiffles, performing "Mister Sandman", "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane", and "Sh-Boom".

    Beckley has worked with a wide variety of musicians on many projects. In the mid-1970s, he collaborated with David Cassidy on Cassidy's critically acclaimed RCA albums, co-writing, singing, and co-producing. From 1992 to 1997 he collaborated with Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys, and Robert Lamm of Chicago, culminating with the 2000 release of Like a Brother, Wilson's final recordings before his death in 1998.

    In May 2006, Beckley released another solo album, Horizontal Fall.

    In March 2007, Beckley appeared as a guest on the Australian musical quiz TV show Spicks and Specks.[2] In April 2007, he appeared as a special guest at a Ben Kweller show in Melbourne, Australia. Beckley, Kweller, and the band performed "Sister Golden Hair" together.

    Beckley debuted his 2016 Blue Elan Records solo album Carousel on September 7, 2016, with a live performance at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, California.[3]

    Beckley is also a member of Les Deux Love Orchestra.

    Personal life

    Beckley was married to Eleanor Beckley from 1978 to 1982 and then to Kathy Beckley. He has two sons, Matthew (Born July 16, 1983) and Joe (Born February 22, 1992). Matthew is also a musician; he has toured with

    Ke$ha and Britney Spears.[4][5] Joe is an aspiring photographer in the Los Angeles area. Beckley, now married to an Australian, splits his time between homes in California and Australia.[6]

    Discography

    See also: America discography

    Solo albums

    • Van Go Gan (1995)
    • Go Man Go (2000)
    • Horizontal Fall (2006)
    • Happy Hour (2009)
    • Unfortunate Casino (2011)
    • Carousel (2016)
    • Five Mile Road (2019) (US Americana/Folk Album Sales Chart No. 23)[7]
    • Discovering America (2020) - Recorded June 1970 at Morgan Studios
    • Keeping The Light On - The Best of Gerry Beckley (2021) - Compilation and new studio material
    • Aurora (2022)

    Collaborations

    • Baldwin and the Whiffles - Cry-Baby Soundtrack (1990)
    • Beckley, Lamm & Wilson -
      Like A Brother
       (2000)

    Sessions (selection)

    • Mike Hugg - Somewhere (1972)
    • Dan Fogelberg - Souvenirs (1974)
    • Getting It in the Street
      (Both released in 1976)
    • Ricci Martin - Beached (1977)
    • Rick Danko - Rick Danko (1977)
    • Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (1977)
    • Dave Mason - Mariposa De Oro (1978)
    • Jimmy Webb - Angel Heart (1982)
    • Dan Peek - Doer of the Word (1984)
    • Various Artists - Cry Baby – Original Soundtrack (1990)
    • Modern Folk Quartet - Highway 70 (1995)
    • Various Artists - For the Love of Harry – Everybody Sings Nilsson (1995)
    • Robert Lamm - In My Head (1999)
    • Jeff Larson - Room for the Summer (2000)
    • Jeffrey Foskett - Twelve And Twelve (2000)
    • Les Deux Love Orchestra - Music From Les Deux Cafés (2001)
    • Jeff Larson - Fragile Sunrise (2002)
    • Low - Trust (2002)
    • Robert Lamm - Subtlety And Passion (2003)
    • Jeff Larson - Sepia (2004)
    • Low - Great Destroyer (2005)
    • Les Deux Love Orchestra - King Kong (2005)
    • Brian Wilson a.o. - One World Project (2005)
    • Bill Mumy - With Big Ideas (2006)
    • Les Deux Love Orchestra - Ecstasy (2008)
    • Al Jardine - A Postcard From California (2009)
    • Jeff Larson - Heart of the Valley (2009)
    • Les Deux Love Orchestra - Planet Claire 3D Maxi-Single (2009)
    • Sessions
      (2010)

    References

    1. ^ "Eugene Register-Guard - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
    2. ^ "Spicks and Specks: episode guide - Episode Seven (21/03/2007)". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
    3. ^ "Gerry Beckley debuts new album Carousel live at the Whisky A-Go-Go - Concert Blogger". concertblogger.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
    4. ^ "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.[dead YouTube link]
    5. ^ "Matt Beckley - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
    6. ^ "Life lessons learned from 45 years of rock". Starts at 60. May 12, 2017.
    7. ^ "Billboard Americana Folk Album Sales Chart". billboard.com/charts/americana-folk-album-sales. Retrieved October 4, 2019.

    External links

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gerry_Beckley&oldid=1212804093"