Gerry Beckley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gerald Linford "Gerry" Beckley (born September 12, 1952 in Fort Worth, Texas) is a founding member of the rock band America.

Beckley was born to an American father, and an English mother. He began playing the piano at the age of three, and the guitar a few years later. By 1962, he was playing guitar in The Vanguards — an instrumental surf music band in Virginia. He spent every summer in England and soon discovered 'British invasion' music.

In 1967 Beckley's father became the commander at the U.S. Air Force base at West Ruislip, near London. Gerry attended London Central High School in Bushey, Hertfordshire, where he played in various school bands, and met his soon to be band members, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. Originally, they played on Friday nights at the local American teen club, mostly doing acoustic covers of Crosby, Stills and Nash tunes. The original drummer was a fellow classmate, Dave Atwood. This formed the core of the band that was to become known as 'America' and which got a recording contract under the auspices of former Beatles producer Sir George Martin. No doubt some of the inspiration for the name of their band derived from the interesting fact that they were all Americans (Although Beckley and Bunnell said it was inspired from an "Americana" jukebox on the base where they lived when they were forming the band -from PRI, Bob Edwards Weekend interview of Beckley and Bunnell, March 17, 2007) living in England.

When Gerry was younger, America toured with Jimi Hendrix. Beckley has worked with a wide variety of musicians on many projects. One of the most notable is the recording Like a Brother, done with Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys (now deceased), and Robert Lamm of Chicago. Beckley-Lamm-Wilson released Like a Brother in 2001.

America, (largely Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek), is one of the more popular bands from the 1970s. Their songs from that era continue in their appeal, especially "A Horse With No Name", their debut single which went to number one on the Billboard charts; "Sister Golden Hair" (also #1 on Billboard in 1975); "Tin Man", "I Need You", "Ventura Highway", "You Can Do Magic" and "Daisy Jane", amongst others.

Beckley continues to write and record music both as a solo artist and with other musicians well into the first decade of the 21st century. With Dewey Bunnell, Beckley continues touring worldwide as "America".

In May 2006, Gerry Beckley released another solo album Horizontal Fall which is a steady seller thanks in part to a loyal fan base and Beckley's uncanny ability to find the hook and the harmony; this denotes an amazing longevity for an artist who has had a lasting and significant influence on the music scene for 35 years.

In March 2007, Gerry appeared as a guest on the Australian musical quiz TV show Spicks and Specks on the ABC network.

On April 14 2007, Gerry appeared as a special guest at a Ben Kweller show at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Australia. Gerry, Ben and the band performed "Sister Golden Hair" together.