Elliot Easton | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Elliot Steinberg |
Born | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | December 18, 1953
Genres | |
Occupation | Guitarist |
Years active | 1976–present |
Elliot Easton (born Steinberg, [1] December 18, 1953) [2] is an American musician who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the American new wave band the Cars. His melodic guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. Easton has also recorded music as a solo artist, and has played in other bands. He is a left-handed guitarist. [2] In 2018, Easton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars.
Born Elliott Steinberg in Brooklyn, New York, Easton attended Massapequa High School in Massapequa NY, and studied music at the Berklee College of Music. Easton has been married twice. As of 2018, he is married to Jill Easton. [3] He has a daughter, Sydney, from his first marriage. [4] He lives in Bell Canyon, California. [5]
Easton is a founding member of the Cars and was its lead guitarist. [6] The band was formed in 1976. [7] Its debut album, The Cars (1978), contained the hit single "Just What I Needed". The band went on to release five more albums over the next nine years before breaking up in 1988.[ citation needed ] Easton was the youngest member of the band. Easton released one solo album, Change No Change (1985), featuring songs co-written with Jules Shear. [8] One single, "(Wearing Down) Like a Wheel", was released and became a moderate hit on the rock charts. In the mid-1990s, Easton produced and played on the first two albums by Amy Rigby. He was also the lead guitarist on Jules Shear's 1994 album 'Healing Bones'. [9] Easton was a founding member of Creedence Clearwater Revisited, a Spin-off group consisting of Stu Cook and Doug Clifford of Creedence Clearwater Revival. [10] He was in the Clearwater Revisited group from 1995 to 2004.
Easton was a member of the New Cars, [11] along with original Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes, singer/songwriter Todd Rundgren, former Utopia bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton, and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince. [10] In June 2006, the band released a live album, It's Alive! , that includes three new studio tracks. [12] Easton was featured and played the solo in the Click Five song "Angel to You (Devil to Me)". [13] [14] In 2010, Easton reunited with the surviving original members of the Cars to record their first album in 24 years, entitled Move Like This . The album was released in 2011, [15] and the band toured in support of it. Easton next became a founding member of the Empty Hearts supergroup formed in 2014. The band also included the Chesterfield Kings bassist Andy Babiuk, Blondie drummer Clem Burke, the Romantics guitarist and vocalist Wally Palmar, and Faces pianist Ian McLagan. [16]
Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash has cited Easton as one of his musical influences, [17] praising Easton's concise and melodic solos. In 2013, the Gibson Guitar Company launched the Elliot Easton "Tikibird" Firebird guitar, which is a modified version of their Firebird model. [18] In 2018, Easton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars. [19]
Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, his brother, rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford. These members had played together since 1959, first as the Blue Velvets and later as the Golliwogs, before settling on Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1967. The band's most prolific and successful period between 1969 and 1971 produced fourteen consecutive Top 10 singles and five consecutive Top 10 albums in the United States, two of which – Green River (1969) and Cosmo's Factory (1970) — topped the Billboard 200 chart. The band performed at the 1969 Woodstock festival in Upstate New York, and was the first major act signed to appear there.
Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. including "Stray Cat Strut", "(She's) Sexy + 17", "Look at That Cadillac", "I Won't Stand in Your Way", "Bring It Back Again", and "Rock This Town", which the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has listed as one of the songs that shaped rock and roll.
John Cameron Fogerty is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty, he founded the swamp rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), for which he was the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter. CCR had nine top-10 singles and eight gold albums between 1968 and 1972, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek, Benjamin Orr, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes (keyboards), and David Robinson (drums). Ocasek and Orr shared lead vocals, and Ocasek was the band's principal songwriter and leader.
Benjamin Orr was an American musician. He was best known as the bassist, co-lead vocalist, and co-founder of the band the Cars. He sang lead vocals on several of their hits, including "Just What I Needed", "Let's Go", "Moving in Stereo", and "Drive". He also had a moderate solo hit with "Stay the Night".
Jules Mark Shear is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He wrote the Cyndi Lauper hit single "All Through the Night", the Bangles' hit "If She Knew What She Wants", and the Ignatius Jones and Allison Moyet hit "Whispering Your Name" and charted a hit as a performer with "Steady" in 1985.
Thomas Richard Fogerty was an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Peter Wolf is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of The J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983 and as a solo artist.
Stephen Hague is an American record producer most active with various British acts since the 1980s.
"Just What I Needed" is a song by American rock band the Cars from their self-titled debut album (1978). The song, which first achieved radio success as a demo, took inspiration from the Ohio Express and the Velvet Underground. The song is sung by bass player Benjamin Orr and was written by Ric Ocasek.
Gregory A. Hawkes is an American musician who is best known as the keyboardist and founding member of the American new wave band the Cars. Hawkes is credited with helping popularize new wave and synth-pop in American popular music as a member of the Cars.
The New Cars were a band formed in 2005 by two of the original members of the 1970s/1980s new wave band the Cars. The band was composed of original Cars members Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes, along with vocalist/guitarist Todd Rundgren, bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton, and drummer Prairie Prince. The band performed the Cars' songs, some new material, and selections from Rundgren's career.
Roger Fisher is an American guitarist primarily known as one of the founding members of the band Heart. His tenure lasted from 1967 until 1980. In 2013 Fisher was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Heart.
Anthony Christopher Hicks is an English guitarist and singer who has been a member of the British rock/pop band the Hollies since 1963, and as such was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. His main roles within the band are lead guitarist and backing singer.
"You Might Think" is a song by American rock band the Cars from their fifth studio album, Heartbeat City (1984). The track was written by Ric Ocasek and produced by Mutt Lange and the Cars, with Ocasek also providing the lead vocals.
Bernard Bamford Calvert is an English former musician who played bass guitar with The Hollies from 1966 until 1981.
This Side of Paradise is the second solo studio album released by Ric Ocasek, lead singer and songwriter of the Cars. It was released in 1986 by Geffen Records. Though it was a solo album, other members of the Cars played significant roles. Greg Hawkes plays keyboards and bass throughout the album, and also co-wrote "Hello Darkness". Benjamin Orr is on backing vocals for three songs. Along with Hawkes and Orr, the track "True to You" also features Elliot Easton on guitar. Both production and drumming were by Chris Hughes. Hughes had been the recent producer of Tears for Fears most popular two albums. Steve Stevens from Billy Idol's band plays guitar on over half of the album.
Change No Change is the first and only solo album released by Elliot Easton of The Cars. It was originally released in 1985 by Elektra Records, re-released in 1996 by Elektra Traditions/Rhino Records, and again released by Wounded Bird in 2006.
"You're All I've Got Tonight" is a song by the American rock band the Cars, from their debut album, The Cars. Like "Bye Bye Love" and "Moving in Stereo", two other songs from the album, it continues to receive airplay on classic rock stations today despite never having been released as a single.
"Tonight She Comes" is a 1985 song by American rock band the Cars from their Greatest Hits album. It was released as a single in October 1985, reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1986. The song reached number one on the Top Rock Tracks chart, where it stayed for three weeks.