Fred Mandel

Last updated

Fred Mandel
Born Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada
Origin Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres Rock
OccupationsSession musician
Instruments
  • Keyboards
  • piano
  • guitar
Formerly of
Website fredmandelmusic.com

Frederick Lawrence Mandel is a Canadian session musician, keyboard player and guitarist. [1]

Contents

Career

Born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Mandel started playing the piano at four and picked up the guitar aged eight. Growing up in an Orthodox Jewish household, he found his parents less than encouraging of his musical endeavors. [2] Nevertheless, in 1964, at the age of 11, with his family having moved to Toronto, he became immersed in the local music scene.

Mandel made his first appearance on record courtesy of Domenic Troiano (whose band he was in at the time). Troiano was invited to record on Alice Cooper's first solo record and got Mandel to play keyboards on the record. [3] This led to Alice Cooper inviting Mandel to join his live band. Mandel did this for four years (1977–1980) progressing from keyboards to lead guitar and finally ending up working as the musical director. [1]

During his work with Alice Cooper, Mandel played keyboards on the Pink Floyd album The Wall and this was followed up by some recordings with Cheap Trick. [1]

In the 1980s, Mandel performed with Queen on their 1982 tour supporting their album Hot Space (the Hot Space Tour). He struck up a good working relationship with the band and was later invited to be a contributing musician on their 1984 album The Works . Mandel performed on "Man on the Prowl" and three of the album's singles, "Radio Ga Ga", "Hammer to Fall", and "I Want to Break Free" (the synthesizer solo on the latter is played by Mandel on a Roland Jupiter-8). Mandel also played on two Queen spinoffs: Brian May's 1983 mini album Star Fleet Project and Freddie Mercury's 1985 album Mr. Bad Guy . [3]

Following this, Mandel went on tour with Supertramp who were performing their last gigs with their classic line up on a tour named Famous Last Words.

Later on, Mandel recorded with his teen idol Elton John, [4] whom Mandel states as being "...to this day, one of the most bad-ass rock and roll piano players around!"

In 2013, Mandel worked with thrash band Anthrax on the track "Smokin'", originally by Boston, ultimately released on Anthrax's album Anthems , an EP principally featuring covers from some of the band's favorite acts of the 1970s, along with two versions of "Crawl", a song from their previous studio album. [3]

In 2024, Mandel released his first solo album, Part-Time Rebel.

Selected discography

Musician:

Solo:

Film:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen (band)</span> British rock band

Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, and Roger Taylor, later joined by John Deacon (bass). Their earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock, and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freddie Mercury</span> British rock musician; frontman of Queen (1946–1991)

Freddie Mercury was a British singer and songwriter who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of rock music, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range. Mercury defied the conventions of a rock frontman with his theatrical style, influencing the artistic direction of Queen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Use Your Illusion Tour</span> 1991–93 concert tour by Guns N Roses

The Use Your Illusion Tour was a concert tour by American rock band Guns N' Roses which ran from January 20, 1991, to July 17, 1993. It was not only the band's longest tour, but one of the longest concert tours in rock history, consisting of 194 shows in 27 countries. It was also a source of much infamy for the band, due to riots, late starts, cancellations and outspoken rantings by Axl Rose.

Bush was an early 1970s Canadian rock band. It evolved from the club act Mandala, which had a minor Canadian hit with the song "Love-Itis".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Cooper</span> English musician

Raymond Cooper is an English musician who has worked as a session and road-tour percussionist. During his career, Cooper has worked and toured with numerous musically diverse bands and artists including Elton John, Harry Nilsson, Billy Joel, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Art Garfunkel. Cooper absorbed the influence of rock drummers from the 1960s and 1970s such as Ginger Baker, Carmine Appice and John Bonham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spike Edney</span> English keyboard player

Philip "Spike" Edney is an English musician who, since the 1960s, has performed with a number of bands, most notably with Queen in their live concerts, where his participation started in 1984 during Queen's The Works tour. During the mid-1970s, he recorded and toured with The Tymes and Ben E. King. He is primarily known for playing keyboards but also plays bass, guitar, trombone and contributes backing vocals. Subsequently, in the late 1970s, he was musical director for Edwin Starr and, during the early 1980s, worked with Duran Duran, The Boomtown Rats, Dexys Midnight Runners, Bucks Fizz, Haircut One Hundred and The Rolling Stones. He also appeared with Peter Green on his comeback tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Davey Johnstone</span> British guitarist

David William Logan Johnstone is a Scottish rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band.

The Amazing Kornyfone Record Label (TAKRL) was one of the first bootlegging record labels in America. Kornyfone was based in Southern California in the 1970s. The label released albums from such artists as The Beatles, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Pink Floyd, Genesis, and others. Kornyfone was known for their packaging, with interesting artwork and informative covers.

<i>Sleeping with the Past</i> 1989 studio album by Elton John

Sleeping with the Past is the 22nd studio album by English musician Elton John, released on 29 August 1989. It is his best-selling album in Denmark and is dedicated to his longtime writing partner Bernie Taupin. The album features "Sacrifice" and "Healing Hands", which were issued as a double A-side and became John's first solo number-one single in his home country of the UK. The single's success helped the album also hit number one there, his first since 1974's Elton John's Greatest Hits. It also became his first platinum album in the UK since 1985's Ice on Fire. In the US it was certified gold in October 1989 and platinum in April 1990 by the RIAA. Sleeping with the Past became John's best selling album of the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hammer to Fall</span> 1984 single by Queen

"Hammer to Fall" is a 1984 song by the British rock band Queen. Written by guitarist Brian May, the song is the eighth track on their 1984 album The Works. It was the fourth and final single to be released from that album, although the single version was edited down by thirty seconds from the version on the album. Different sleeves were used to package this single and the live picture sleeve is now a collector's item. The song harks back to the old roots of the band, being built around a hard angular and muscular riff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knebworth Festival</span> Open-air rock and pop concert

The Knebworth Festival is a recurring open-air rock and pop concert held on the grounds of the Knebworth House in Knebworth, England. The festival first occurred in July 1974 when The Allman Brothers Band, The Doobie Brothers and other artists attracted 60,000 people.

<i>The Works</i> (Queen album) 1984 studio album by Queen

The Works is the eleventh studio album by the British rock band Queen. It was released on 27 February 1984 by EMI Records just shortly after recording for the album had been completed in the United Kingdom and it is the band's first studio album to be released by Capitol Records in the United States. After the synth-heavy Hot Space (1982), the album saw the re-emergence of Brian May and Roger Taylor's rock sound, while still incorporating the early 80s retro futuristic electronic music and New York funk scenes. Recorded at the Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California, and Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, from August 1983 to January 1984, the album's title comes from a comment Taylor made as recording began – "Let's give them the works!".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandala (band)</span>

Mandala was a Canadian R&B and soul band from the 1960s. The band was formed in 1965 in Toronto, Ontario as The Rogues and changed their name prior to their first Canadian Top 40 hit "Opportunity".

Prakash John is a Canadian rock and rhythm & blues bassist. He is known as one of the originators of the 'Toronto sound'.

Caleb Quaye is an English rock guitarist and studio musician best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with Elton John, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, Hall & Oates and Ralph McTell, and also toured with Shawn Phillips in the 1970s. He is the son of singer/pianist Cab Kaye, younger brother of musician Terri Quaye, and elder half-brother of singer Finley Quaye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hot Space Tour</span> 1982 concert tour by Queen

The Hot Space Tour was the ninth headlining concert tour by the British rock band Queen in support of their 1982 album Hot Space. The tour started on the 9th of April in Gothenburg, Sweden and ended, after sixty-nine concerts, in Tokorozawa, Japan on the 3rd of November.

Pentti "Whitey" Glan was a Finnish-Canadian rock drummer, best known for his work with Alice Cooper and Lou Reed.

The Too Low for Zero Tour was a concert tour by English musician and composer Elton John, in support of his 17th studio album Too Low for Zero. The tour consisted in 24 shows across Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

English rock singer Elton John played eight concerts in the Soviet Union between 21 and 28 May 1979. The two-city tour was a significant event amid Cold War tensions between the USSR and the West, and a sign of the Communist authorities' emerging tolerance towards Western popular culture. The shows were among the first performed in the USSR by a pop act, following visits by Cliff Richard and Boney M. Billboard magazine said that the shows were "significant and successful" and described John as "the first out-and-out rock artist to appear in the U.S.S.R."

Shawne Jackson is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actress.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bernardin & Stanton (1996)
  2. Fred Mandel – Profile at Jewish Telegraph Retrieved January 12, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "Fred Mandel | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  4. Bernardin & Stanton (1996 , p. 159)
Bibliography