Leslie West
Leslie West |
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Leslie West (born October 22, 1945) is an American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter.
Biography
He was born Leslie Weinstein in New York City, and grew up across New York's Long island, in East Meadow, Forest Hills and Lawrence.[1] After his parents divorced, he changed his name to West. His musical career began with The Vagrants, one of the few teenage garage rock acts to come out of Manhattan itself (as opposed to the Greenwich Village scene of artists, bohemians, and Beat Generation types, which produced bands like The Fugs and The Velvet Underground). They had a minor local hit with a cover of Otis Redding's Respect in 1967.
Some of the Vagrants' recordings were produced by Felix Pappalardi, who was also working with Cream. West and Pappalardi would form the pioneering hard rock act Mountain in 1969. The original album was actually (and still is) credited to Leslie West, and named Mountain - supposedly an allusion to West's large size. They made up one of the bands considered to be part of early heavy metal.
The original line-up on the solo album did not have a keyboardist, but one was added to keep the band from seeming like a Cream imitation (whom Pappalardi had previously worked with in producing the seminal Disraeli Gears).
After that first album, Mountain the band was officially formed, with drummer Corky Laing and keyboardist Steve Knight. They had a success with "Mississippi Queen", which reached # 21 on the Billboard charts. It was followed by the Jack Bruce-penned "Theme For An Imaginary Western".
After the breakup of Mountain, West and Laing would form West, Bruce and Laing with Jack Bruce. Mountain reformed in 1974 and continues recording and performing today.
West also recorded with The Who on a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Baby Don't You Do It" in 1971. This track was not originally included on Who's Next, but has appeared on recent CD reissues. He also appears on demos for what became the group's signature rocker, "Won't Get Fooled Again" .
West continues to record and perform. His latest solo album entitled Blue Me was released in 2006 on the independent Blues Bureau International label.
He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on Oct 15, 2006. [2]
Equipment
West is renowned for helping pioneer the Gibson Les Paul Jr. guitar, along with the use of Sunn Amplifiers, to create a tone which became his trademark sound. There were at least two of them in his collection, one "TV Yellow" and the other a sunburst. He used these Les Paul Jrs. straight into Sunns from 1969 to 1975. In addition to the two Les Paul Jrs, he used a modified Gibson Flying V (with the neck pickup removed and a P90 fitted at the bridge position) circa 1971-1972, and also a Dan Armstrong Ampeg lucite (clear) for slide guitar. Currently, he favours guitars equipped with dual humbuckers, plugged into Marshall amplifiers. During 1977 to 1982, he used a signature on-board effects MPC model guitar, created by the Japanese company Electra. Leslie West also has another signature guitar model with Ed Roman Guitars, entitled the "Leslie West Rocket". He currently has a signature model from Dean Guitars, a USA Soltero Leslie West Signature fitted with a custom designed Leslie West DiMarzio pickup known as the Megadrive. In 2005, Leslie received a sponsorship with Carlsbro amplifiers, and can frequently be seen playing through "Carlsbro 50 Top" valve heads. Leslie's studio amplifier is a Marshall JMP. His live amps are Marshall JCM 900s. He is well regarded for his use of octaver, chorus and delay effects.
Discography
- 1969 Mountain
- 1975 The Great Fatsby
- 1976 The Leslie West Band
- 1988 Theme
- 1989 Alligator
- 1993 Live
- 1994 Dodgin' the Dirt
- 1999 As Phat as It Gets
- 2003 Blues to Die For
- 2005 Guitarded
- 2005 Got Blooze
- 2006 Blue Me
Videotaped performances
- "Night of the Guitar", Hammersmith Odeon, London, November 26, 1988 CD: (IRSD-83000), VHS (Vol. 2)
References
- ^ Fischler, Marcelle S. "Nascent Hall of Fame to Welcome First Honorees"., The New York Times , October 15, 2006. Accessed November 26, 2007. "Dee Snider of Stony Brook, the shock-rocker from the 1980's heavy metal band Twisted Sister, known for his defiant metal anthem We're Not Gonna Take It, and Leslie West of the band Mountain, who grew up in East Meadow, Lawrence and Forest Hills, are also being inducted..."
- ^ http://www.limusichalloffame.org