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Gerry Beckley

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Gerry Beckley
Beckley in 2012
Beckley in 2012
Background information
Birth nameGerald Linford Beckley
Born (1952-09-12) September 12, 1952 (age 72)
Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer-songwriter
  • musician
Instruments
Years active1967–present
Labels
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

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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 The Vanguards (not to be confused with the Norwegian band), an instrumental surf music band in Virginia. He spent every summer in England and soon discovered British invasion music.

Career

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In 1967, Beckley's father became the commander at the United States Air Force base at RAF West Ruislip, near London. Gerry attended 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 continued touring worldwide with America for five decades. In 2024, Beckley announced his retirement from touring with America, although he stated he would remain a member of the band.[2]

Solo projects

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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.[3] 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.[4]

Personal life

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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 Katy Perry and has worked with other artists, including Ke$ha and Britney Spears.[5][6] 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.[7]

Discography

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Solo albums

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  • 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)[8]
  • 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)
  • Gerry Beckley (2024)

Collaborations

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Sessions (selection)

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References

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  1. ^ "Eugene Register-Guard - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  2. ^ "Ventura Highway". venturahighway.com. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
  3. ^ "Spicks and Specks: episode guide - Episode Seven (21/03/2007)". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  4. ^ "Gerry Beckley debuts new album Carousel live at the Whisky A-Go-Go - Concert Blogger". concertblogger.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  5. ^ "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.[dead YouTube link]
  6. ^ "Matt Beckley - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  7. ^ "Life lessons learned from 45 years of rock". Starts at 60. May 12, 2017.
  8. ^ "Billboard Americana Folk Album Sales Chart". billboard.com/charts/americana-folk-album-sales. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
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