Joe Lynn Turner

For other uses, see Joe Lynn.

Joe Lynn Turner
Turner performing at the concert in Sweden - 2010
Background information
Birth name	Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito
Also known as	JLT
Born	2 August 1951 (1951-08-02) Hackensack, New Jersey, United States
Genres	Hard rock, pop rock, heavy metal
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, accordion
Years active	1976–present
Labels	Elektra, Frontiers
Associated acts	Fandango, Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, Deep Purple, Mothers Army, Brazen Abbot, Hughes Turner Project, Sunstorm, The Jan Holberg Project
Website	Official website

Joe Lynn Turner (August 2, 1951), is an American singer, known for his works with hard rock band Rainbow. During his career, Turner fronted pop rock band Fandango, had the short-lived collaboration as the vocalist for Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force and Deep Purple. From the late 1990s, he continued to perform in a large number of solo albums and other studio projects. He played the accordion as a child, grew up with an appreciation for classic R&B and became an accomplished guitarist in his early teens.

Career

Born Joseph Arthur Mark Linquito to an Italian family, in high school, Joe formed Ezra, performing original material and cover songs by such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Free, Queen, and Deep Purple. In 1976, Turner enjoyed his first taste of national success with Fandango, a band described as an eclectic mix of R&B, pop, country, jazz and melodic rock. He sang and played guitar on all of the band's four albums. Fandango toured with numerous artists including The Allman Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band, The Beach Boys and Billy Joel.

After Fandango split, He received a phone call from guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. This resulted in an audition and Blackmore was so impressed that he immediately enlisted Joe in Rainbow. Rainbow, while popular in Europe and Japan, had not reached the same level of success in the US before Turner joined. With his contributions (largely considered more rock oriented), the group was catapulted to a new level of American success. Several tracks from albums with Turner reached the Top 20 on rock radio charts in the early- to mid-80's. "Stone Cold" became Rainbow's first Top 40 hit and the band's videos were played on heavy rotation on MTV. Turner recorded three studio albums with Rainbow: Difficult to Cure, Straight Between the Eyes, and Bent Out of Shape, which featured the single "Street of Dreams". Rainbow disbanded in 1984.

In 1985, after the break-up of Rainbow, Turner released a solo album, Rescue You, produced by Roy Thomas Baker, known for his work with Queen and The Cars. He co-wrote most of the songs with keyboardist Al Greenwood (Foreigner). The first single, "Endlessly," received extensive airplay on radio and MTV. Tours with Night Ranger and Pat Benatar and an acting role in the movie Blue Deville followed.

In 1987 Turner also supplied backing vocals to the Michael Bolton album The Hunger. He appeared on the tracks 'Hot Love' and 'Gina'.

In 1988, he joined Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force and recorded the greatly successful album Odyssey (1988). The brief tour that followed the release of the album included a concert in Leningrad which was recorded and then released as Trial by Fire (1989). In 1989 he left the band to join Deep Purple by replacing Ian Gillan, making him their fourth singer. Turner recorded just one album, Slaves & Masters (1990). The album peaked at #87 on the Billboard Charts, and a relatively successful tour followed in 1991. But Turner was removed from the band in late 1992.

Turner has been working mainly on his prolific solo career since mid-1990 and has worked with the Finnish rock band Brazen Abbot by Bulgarian guitarist Nikolo Kotzev and with Glenn Hughes under the "Hughes Turner Project" name. Turner also participated in Nikolo Kotzev's rock opera Nikolo Kotzev's Nostradamus. He has also put out 3 albums under the band name Mother's Army featuring Jeff Watson, Bob Daisley and Carmine Appice. In 2005 Turner has performed on the Russian studio project Michael Men Project's album Made in Moscow, along with his colleague Glenn Hughes. In 2006 he took on very successful studio project Sunstorm with bassist Dennis Ward of German rock band Pink Cream 69. Turner was a guest in the Voices of Classic Rock shows. Turner also appeared as a headliner with AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson on the Classic Rock Cares charity tour which was organized by long time friend Steve Luongo who was the drummer/producer of The John Entwistle Band.

In 2008 he has formed Over the Rainbow, a tribute band composed of former Rainbow musicians, Paul Morris-Keyboardist/94-97, and Ritchie Blackmore's son Jürgen R. Blackmore on guitar.

He is currently a member of the touring band "Big Noize" featuring alongside guitarist Carlos Cavazo, bassist Phil Soussan, and drummer Vinny Appice.

Turner recently joined Norwegian group "The Jan Holberg Project", will release their new album Sense of Time in 2011.

Discography

Main articles: Rainbow discography and Deep Purple discography

Solo

• Rescue You (1985)
• Nothing's Changed (1995)
• Under Cover (1997, cover album)
• Hurry Up And Wait (1998)
• Under Cover 2 (1999, cover album)
• Waiting For A Girl Like You (1999, EP)
• Holy Man (2000)
• Challenge Them All (2001, EP)
• Slam (2001)
• JLT (2003)
• The Usual Suspects (2005)
• Second Hand Life (2007)
• Live in Germany (2008)

As member of bands and side projects

• Fandango - Fandango (1977)
• Fandango - Last Kiss (1978)
• Fandango - One Night Stand (1979)
• Fandango - Cadillac (1980)
• Rainbow - "Difficult to Cure" (1981)
• Rainbow - "Straight Between the Eyes" (1982)
• Rainbow - "Bent Out of Shape" (1983)
• Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force - Odyssey (1988)
• Yngwie Malmsteen - Trial by Fire (1989)
• Deep Purple - "Slaves and Masters" (1990)
• Mothers Army - Mothers Army (1993)
• Brazen Abbot - Eye of the Storm (1996)
• Mothers Army - Planet Earth (1997)
• Brazen Abbot - Bad Religion (1997)
• Mothers Army - Fire on The Moon (1998)
• Fandango - The Best of Fandango (1999, Japan only)
• Hughes Turner Project - HTP (2002)
• Hughes Turner Project - Live in Tokyo (2002)
• Brazen Abbot - Guilty as Sin (2003)
• Hughes Turner Project - HTP 2 (2003)
• Brazen Abbot - A Decade of Brazen Abbot (2004, live album)
• Michael Men Project - Made in Moscow (2005, with Glenn Hughes)
• Brazen Abbot - My Resurrection (2005)
• Akira Kajiyama + Joe Lynn Turner - Fire Without Flame (2006)
• Sunstorm - Sunstorm (2006)
• Cem Köksal featuring Joe Lynn Turner - Live! (2007, DVD, with Cem Köksal)
• Brazen Abbot - Live At Berkrock (DVD) (2008)
• Sunstorm - House of Dreams (2009)
• The Jan Holberg Project - Sense of Time (2011)

Guest appearances

• The Heavenly Kid - Soundtrack (1985, "Heartless")
• Don Johnson - Heartbeat (1986)
• Michael Bolton - The Hunger (1987)
• Cher - Cher (1987) - Backing vocals
• John Waite - Rovers Return (1987) - Backing vocals
• Lee Aaron - Lee Aaron (1987)
• Jimmy Barnes - Freight Train Heart (1987, co-writer of "Walk On")
• Bonfire - Fire Works (1987, co-writer of "Sweet Obsession")
• TNT - Intuition (1988) - Backing vocals
• Bonnie Tyler - Notes from America aka Hide Your Heart (1988)
• Don Johnson - Let It Roll (1989)
• Mick Jones - Mick Jones (1989)
• Alexa - Alexa (1989)
• Paul Carrack - Groove Approved (1989)
• Billy Joel - Storm Front (1989) - Backing vocals
• Slyce - Slyce (1990)
• Riot - The Privilege of Power (1990)
• Michael Bolton - Time, Love and Tenderness (1991)
• Kathy Troccoli - Pure Attraction (1991)
• Lita Ford - Dangerous Curves (1991, co-writer of "Little Too Early") - Backing vocals
• Hellcats - Hellcats 2 (1992)
• TNT - Realized Fantasies (1992) - Backing vocals
• Taylor Dayne - Soul Dancing (1993) - Backing vocals
• Bloodline - Bloodline (1994)
• Blues Bureau International - Cream Of The Crop (1994)
• Deep Purple Tribute - Smoke On The Water (1994)
• Nerds - Poultry In Motion (1995)
• Deep Purple Tribute - Black Night (1995)
• Yngwie Malmsteen - Inspiration (1996, "Pictures of Home", "Demon's Eye")
• Toshi Kankawa - Toshi Kankawa (1996)
• Mojo Brothers - Mojo Brothers (1997)
• AC/DC Tribute - Thunderbolt (1997)
• Vick LeCar - Never Stranded (1998)
• Stuart Smith - Heaven & Earth (1998)
• Niji Densetsu - Rainbow Tribute (1998)
• Randy Rhoads "Tribute" (1999)
• Leslie West - As Phat as it Gets (1999)
• Fire Woman: A Tribute to The Cult (2000)
• Ozzy Tribute - Bat Head's Soup (2000)
• Tribute to Van Halen (2000)
• Nikolo Kotzev - Nikolo Kotzev's Nostradamus (2001)
• Voices for America - Special WTC EP (2001)
• Aerosmith Tribute - Let The Tribute Do The Talking (2001)
• Rock Ballads - WTC Benefit (2001)
• Queen Tribute - Stone Cold Crazy (2001)
• Terry Brock - Freedom (2001)
• Stuart Smith - " Heaven & Earth - 2 " (2001)
• The Tour Bus Radio Show - The Road Trip (2002)
• Mountain - Mystic Fire (2002)
• Mr. Big Tribute - Influences and Connections (2003)
• Murray Weinstock - Tails of the City (2003)
• Metallic Attack - Metallica The Ultimate Tribute (2004)
• Karl Cochran's Voodooland - Give Me Air (2004)
• Eddie Ojeda - Axes 2 Axes (2005)
• Iron Maiden Tribute - Numbers from The Beast (2005)
• Michael Schenker Group - Heavy Hitters (2005, "All Shook Up")
• Blackmore's Night - The Village Lanterne (2006, bonus track version of "Street Of Dreams")
• Joe Lynn Turner & New Japan Philarmonic - "A Tribute To Rainbow" (2006)
• Vitalij Kuprij - Revenge (2006, "Follow Your Heart")
• Icarus Witch - Songs for the Lost (2007)
• Jimi Jamison - Crossroads Moment (2008)
• We Wish You a Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year (2008, "Rockin' Around the Xmas Tree")
• Howard Leese - Secret Weapon (2009, "Alive Again", "Hot To Cold")
• MelodicRock.com, Vol. 7 - Forces Of Dark & Light (2010, "This Is Who I Am" - premiere song)
• Pushking - The World As We Love It (2011, "Kukarracha", "Head Shooter")
• Robin Beck - The Great Escape (2011, "That All Depends")

External links

• Official Joe Lynn Turner website