Brinsley Schwarz (musician)

Last updated

Brinsley Schwarz
Brinsley Schwarz.jpg
Background information
Born
Brinsley Ernst Peter Schwarz

(1947-08-15) 15 August 1947 (age 78)
Woodbridge, Suffolk, England
Genres
Instruments
  • Guitar
  • piano
  • organ
  • saxophone
  • vocals
Years active1965–1989–2010–present
WebsiteBrinsley Schwarz on Bandcamp

Brinsley Ernst Pieter Schwarz (born 15 August 1947) is an English guitarist and rock musician. He is best known for playing in his eponymous band, as well as Ducks Deluxe and The Rumour. He has also recorded and produced with Colin Scot, Ernie Graham, Frankie Miller, Al Stewart, Dr. Feelgood, The Kursaal Flyers, Dave Edmunds, Carlene Carter, Nick Lowe, Desmond Dekker, Garland Jeffreys, Any Trouble, Duncan Dhu, Rachel Sweet, Man, and Mikel Erentxun. [1]

Contents

Early life

His family's roots are Dutch. [2] His father was Wym Schwarz, a maths teacher, and his mother was Joan, who was English. Schwarz attended Woodbridge School with Nick Lowe. [3]

He "fell in love" with the guitar after hearing "Apache" by The Shadows on the radio. [4] The Shadows' lead guitarist, Hank Marvin, has been cited as one of Brinsley's influences, as well as The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Albert King, The Band, Bob Dylan, Little Feat, Steely Dan, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton and Amos Garrett.

Career

Brinsley Schwarz (band)

As a teenager, he formed his first band, Three's A Crowd with bass player Dave Cottam and drummer Pete Whale. [3] They changed their name to Kippington Lodge in 1967 and added Barry Landeman on keyboards. [3] [5] Cottom left and Nick Lowe joined and Landeman left to join Vanity Fare and was replaced by Bob Andrews and in 1969 changed their name to Brinsley Schwarz, named after Schwarz, which came around after he was the only member who voted not to change the band name. [3] [6] The band released six albums and only one single before breaking up in 1974.

Later career

After the band broke up, Schwarz briefly joined Ducks Deluxe on their final tour. [7] [8] [9] Ducks Deluxe ended the following year, which led to Schwarz forming The Rumour and going on to achieve success with Graham Parker as Graham Parker and the Rumour, having three UK top 40s between 1977 and 1978 before splitting in 1981. [10] He also toured with Carlene Carter and Garland Jeffreys. [11]

In the 1980s, Schwarz learned how to build and repair guitars at Chandler Guitars, and eventually, Schwartz retired from live performing in 1989, due to him growing tired of touring and because of an unusual disliking of flying and he became a fulltime Luthier. [4] [6] [12] He briefly returned to music in 2010 to perform with The Rumour again for a few reunion dates [12] and returned to music fulltime 2012 to re-join Ducks Deluxe for their last year before splitting up in 2013.

In 2016, he toured with Graham Parker. For nearly two decades (1980s—2000s), Schwarz rarely wrote songs, but after to Steely Dan's Two Against Nature album, became inspired to write again [4] [9] and has since released two albums: Unexpected, a self released album in 2016, on which he played all guitars and bass and sang all the vocals and Tangled, released by Fretsore records in 2021. [13]

Solo discography

References

  1. ↑ "Brinsley Schwarz Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio &..." AllMusic. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  2. ↑ "Perfect Sound Forever: Brinsley Schwarz". www.furious.com. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bayles, Rick (15 March 2021). "Forgotten Artists – Brinsley Schwarz". Americana UK. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 S, Jim (1 November 2021). "The ME Interview – Brinsley Schwarz". Music Enthusiast - At the junction of rock, blues, R&B, jazz, pop,and soul. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  5. ↑ Colin Larkin - The Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music 1997 - page 268
  6. 1 2 Zimmerman, Lee. "Brinsley Schwarz describes pub rock, his work with Graham Parker & the Rumour and more". Goldmine Magazine: Record Collector & Music Memorabilia. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  7. ↑ Ducks Deluxe - The Manband Archive Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 13 November 2008
  8. ↑ Colin Larkin - The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music 1992 - page 741
  9. 1 2 Berlyant, Matthew. "Brinsley Schwarz excerpt from issue 90". The Big Takeover. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  10. ↑ Martin C. Strong - The Great Rock Discography 2000 - page 727
  11. ↑ Breznikar, Klemen (26 December 2020). "Brinsley Schwarz | Interview". It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  12. 1 2 Slate, Jeff (10 September 2021). "Brinsley Schwarz: New Album 'Tangled' Out Now (Q&A)". Rock Cellar Magazine. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
  13. ↑ Sleeve notes to the CD Unexpected
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