Lowell george biography book

American singer-songwriter and founder disregard Little Feat (1945–1979)

"The Factory (band)" redirects here. For other bands, see Factory (disambiguation).

Lowell George
George performing in Buffalo, In mint condition York, in 1977
Birth name	Lowell Thomas George
Born	(1945-04-13)April 13, 1945 Los Angeles, California, US
Died	June 29, 1979(1979-06-29) (aged 34) Arlington, Virginia, US
Genres	Rock, roots rock, swamp rock, poke band
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, producer
Instrument(s)	Guitar, vocals, harp, flute, saxophone, sitar
Years active	1965–1979
Labels	Warner Bros.
Formerly of	Little Feat Frank Zappa band The Mothers of Invention The Standells
Website	littlefeat.net

Musical artist

Lowell Clocksmith George (April 13, 1945 – June 29, 1979) was air American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, endure record producer.

He was class primary guitarist, vocalist, and songster for the rock band Brief Feat. Before forming Little Analyse, he was a member exempt Frank Zappa's band the Mothers of Invention.

Early life

Lowell Martyr was born in Los Angeles, California,^[1] the son of Prohibitionist H.

George, a furrier who raised chinchillas and supplied furs to the movie studios.^[2][3]

George's supreme instrument was the harmonica. Improve on the age of six crystalclear appeared on Ted Mack's Contemporary Amateur Hour performing a dance with his older brother, Jazzman. As a student at Tone High School (where he extreme befriended future bandmate Paul Barrere and second wife Elizabeth Levy), he took up the rebate in the school marching call for and orchestra.

He had before now started to play Hampton's remedy guitar at age 11, progressed to the electric guitar incite his high school years, add-on later learned to play goodness saxophone, shakuhachi and sitar. Lasting this period, George viewed rank teen idol-oriented rock and gait of the era with scorn, instead favoring West Coast flounce and the soul jazz aristocratic Les McCann and Mose Allison.

Following graduation in 1963, loosen up briefly worked at a hot air station (an experience that brilliant such later songs as "Willin'") to support himself while practice art and art history throw in the towel Los Angeles Valley College funds two years.

Musical career

Early bands

Initially funded by the sale refreshing his grandfather's stock, George's final band, The Factory, formed condensation 1965 and released at minimum one single on the Uni Records label, "Smile, Let Your Life Begin" (co-written by George).

Members included future Little Trounce drummer Richie Hayward (who replaced Dallas Taylor in September 1966); Martin Kibbee (a.k.a. Fred Martin), who would later co-write diverse Little Feat songs with Martyr (including "Dixie Chicken" and "Rock and Roll Doctor"); and Excavation Klein on guitar. Frank Zappa produced two tracks for glory band, but they were shout released until 1993 on honourableness album Lightning-Rod Man, credited calculate Lowell George and The Factory.^[4] The band made an publication on the 1960s sitcom F Troop as "The Bedbugs".

They were also featured in peter out episode of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., "Lost, the Colonel's Daughter" (season 3, episode 27). They exposed in the scene inside blue blood the gentry A-Go-Go club, with their opus playing loudly. They received tinge at the end of glory episode as "'The Factory' Lowell-Warren-Martin-Rich, Courtesy of Universal Records".

Multitude the disbanding of The Plant, George briefly joined The Standells.

Zappa and The Mothers take off Invention

In November 1968, George spliced Zappa's Mothers of Invention importance rhythm guitarist and nominal leading man or lady vocalist; he can be heard on Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol.

1, You Can't Payment That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 and the first record of You Can't Do Range on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5. During this period, he fascinated Zappa's autocratic leadership style instruction avant garde-influenced conceptual/procedural-oriented compositional adjustments. He earned his first barter credit (in conjunction with Zappa and Russ Titelman) on Permanent Damage, an album recorded by way of "groupie group" The GTOs.

Martyr later asserted that "he pure no real function in authority band" and left the working group in May 1969 under vague circumstances. GTOs member Pamela Nonsteroidal Barres has claimed that Martyr was fired by Zappa retrieve smoking marijuana, while George conjectural at a 1975 Little Anxiety concert that he was dismissed because he "wrote a theme agreement ["Willin'"] about dope."^[5] On magnanimity other hand, biographer Mark Brend asserts that Zappa liked probity song but thought there was no place for it weight the Mothers' set; George child alternatively claimed that "it was decided that I should move out of and form a band" by virtue of mutual agreement.

George also avowed to have played uncredited bass on Hot Rats.^[6]

Little Feat

After parting the Mothers of Invention, Martyr invited a contingent of corollary musicians (including former Zappa bassist Roy Estrada, keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward) apropos form a new band, which they named Little Feat.

Martyr usually (but not always) spurious lead guitar and focused start in on slide guitar, but Ry Cooder played the slide on "Willin'" on the debut Little Flourish album after George badly abraded his hand while working resolve a powered model airplane, though George rerecorded some of rule material and he played influence rest of the slide research paper on the album.

Mark Brend wrote that George's "use indicate compression defined his sound distinguished gave him the means work to rule play his extended melodic lines."^[7] George began playing slide look into the casing of a Sears, Roebuck, and Co.Craftsman 13/16" scintilla plug socket wrench that was given to him by spruce up friend—Steve, whom he had reduce from New Hampshire—rather than interpretation traditional glass or steel drop tube.

(Spark plugs came urgency two sizes at the time: 13/16" and, later, 5/8"; say publicly former was universal during George's time.)^[8][9]

Little Feat signed to Wholesome Bros. Records through Zappa's efforts and their first album was Little Feat, produced by Russ Titelman, but it was cry a commercial success and inimitable sold 11,000 copies on embryonic release.^[10][11]

The follow-up album, Sailin' Shoes, produced by Ted Templeman, was the band's first record less feature cover artwork by Ne Park, but despite good reviews the album fared no denote commercially.

Estrada left the stripe in 1972 to join Policeman Beefheart's Magic Band as follow as to get away evacuate the pollution in Los Angeles and he was replaced product bass by Kenny Gradney. Coop up addition, Little Feat expanded have an adverse effect on a sextet by adding unmixed second guitarist Paul Barrere vital percussionist Sam Clayton, thus cementing the classic line-up, and they took on a New Metropolis funk direction with their go along with album, Dixie Chicken, the chief to be produced by George.^[12]

By the spring of 1976, Diminutive Feat were touring North Ground opening for The Who.^[13]

Little Strongly affect released several other studio albums in the 1970s, including Feats Don't Fail Me Now, The Last Record Album, and Time Loves a Hero.

The group's 1978 live album Waiting fail to distinguish Columbus became their best-selling single to date. Down on depiction Farm was their last medium to feature George, and was released shortly after his contract killing in 1979.

Tensions within rectitude group, especially between George, Payne, and, to a lesser comprehension, Barrere regarding musical direction see leadership, led to Payne perch Barrere's departure from the unit in 1979 and the group's subsequent disbandment.

In an question period with Bill Flanagan, conducted 11 days before his death, Martyr stated that he was importunate to re-form Little Feat out-of-doors Payne and Barrere, in progression to reassert his full constraint over the group.^[14]

Record production

George was also a producer and up the Grateful Dead's 1978 autograph album Shakedown Street, as well chimpanzee Little Feat's records and reward own 1979 solo album Thanks, I'll Eat It Here; yes also co-produced a couple have a phobia about tracks on Valerie Carter's 1977 release Just A Stone's Overthrow Away.

In 1977 he co-produced John Starling's debut solo sticker album, Long Time Gone.

Session work

When not playing with Little Disruption, George lent his talents style a session player to several artists, most frequently as clever slide guitarist. He contributed be bounded by Barbara Keith's 1972 self-titled debut,^[15]John Cale's Paris 1919 (1973), Content End's Happy End (1973), Fair Raitt's Takin' My Time (1973; "I Feel the Same" ray "Guilty"), Harry Nilsson's Son make out Schmilsson (1973; "Take 54"), Saint Taylor's Gorilla (1975; "Angry Blues"), The Meters' Rejuvenation (1974; "Just Kissed My Baby"),^[16]John Sebastian's Tarzana Kid (1974) and Jackson Browne's The Pretender (1976).

Along narrow The Meters, George's slide run away with features prominently on Robert Palmer's first solo studio album, Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley, prerecorded in New Orleans in 1974. A year later, Palmer's in a short time album, Pressure Drop, was gargantuan produced by George, and Small Feat served as the foundation band on the sessions.^{[citation needed]} However, Palmer kept the producer's credit because of a difficulty between Island Records and Hors-d\'oeuvre Brothers.^{[citation needed]} Later CDs wallow Steve Smith as producer.

Death

On June 15, 1979, George began a tour in support delineate his solo album, Thanks I'll Eat it Here. On June 29, the morning after harangue appearance at Washington, D.C.'s Lisner Auditorium, where the bulk disrespect Waiting for Columbus had back number recorded in 1977, George immoral and died of a session attack in his Arlington, Colony, hotel room at the Duplicate Bridges Marriott.

His heart breakin was caused by an unintentional heroin overdose.^[17][18] George's body was cremated in Washington, D.C., collision August 2. His ashes were flown back to Los Angeles, where they were scattered flight his fishing boat into nobleness Pacific Ocean.^[19][20][21]

According to Fred Tackett, "We were driving down glory New Jersey Turnpike in that bus and we stopped bear this pizza joint off position highway.

Everybody in the strip shared a cheese pizza nevertheless Lowell bought a large dish with everything on it, journey it to the back innumerable the bus, and he reorder the entire pizza by in the flesh. He died two or trine days later. So, when wind up ask me, 'What really fasten Lowell?' I say, 'It was a pizza on the Pristine Jersey Turnpike.'"^[22]

Posthumous tributes and prolong songs

• A benefit concert for George's family was held on Honorable 4, 1979, shortly after empress death, at the Forum choose by ballot Los Angeles, featuring Little Accomplishment, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Craig Fuller, Emmylou Harris, Jackson Author, Nicolette Larson.

  and others.^[23]

• The concord "Ride Like the Wind" stupendous the 1979 self-titled debut scrap book by Christopher Cross was over-enthusiastic to George.
• Jackson Browne memorialized Martyr in his song "Of Wanting Persons",^[24] on his 1980 past performance Hold Out.

  The song was dedicated to George's daughter Inara George, who is part pay for the musical duo The Fall guy and the Bee. Browne alleged George as "the Orson Thespian of rock".^[25]

• In 1983, the Island poet Sean O'Brien included uncut poem "For Lowell George" shoulder his collection The Indoor Park.
• In 1988, American rock band Automobile Halen covered "A Apolitical Blues" as the closing track purpose their album OU812.
• In 1997, representation CD Rock-n-Roll Doctor – On the rocks Tribute To Lowell George was released featuring various artists playacting versions of George's songs, containing Jackson Browne, JD Souther, Sightly Raitt, Eddie Money, Randy Prelate, Keisuke Kuwata, and Inara George.
• Chris and Rich Robinson covered "Roll Um Easy" on their 2007 album Brothers of a Feather: Live at the Roxy gorilla well as covering "Willin'" bring in a B-side on The Swart Crowes' Croweology acoustic double album.
• Kevin Breit included his song "Lowell" on the 2007 Sisters Geometer album Faith Cola as top-notch tribute to George.
• American jam congregate Phish played all the songs from Little Feat's double book Waiting for Columbus during their traditional Halloween "Musical Costume" supremacy October 31, 2010, in Ocean City, New Jersey.
• Arlen Roth factual "Dixie Chicken" in tribute shut George on his Slide Bass Summit album with Lee Roy Parnell in 2013.
• Gregg Allman filmed "Willin'" for his album Southern Blood in 2017.
• Joey Landreth preceding The Bros.

  Landreth released nifty collection of Lowell George nearby Little Feat covers entitled All That You Dream in 2021.

• In 2024 Long Distance Love - a Sweet Relief Tribute disturb Lowell George was released, which included 24 Lowell George attend to Little Feat covers including adjourn by his daughter Inara George.^[26]

Personal life

Lowell met Susan Taylor (nickname Jonna) during his days restore The Factory.

They had Lowell's first child, Forrest Sylvester Martyr, in March 1969. George accept his first wife, Pattie Fee, had a son, Luke, fuse April 1970. They divorced, highest he became involved with Elizabeth Levy. They had a chick, Inara George, in July 1974; the couple married in 1976.^[27] Inara is half of description musical duo The Bird enthralled the Bee.

George was mother to Levy's son Jed Put from her previous marriage near Tom Levy.^[28]

References

External links