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DUANE EDDY (ARTIST BIOGRAPHY)

Duane Eddy (b. 26 April 1938, Corning, New York, USA). The legendary simple "twangy" guitar sound of Duane Eddy has made him one of rock 'n' roll's most famous instrumental Grammy Award-winning guitarist. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, he is acclaimed as one of the most successful rock and roll instrumentalist of all time.

Born in Corning, New York, in 1938, he began playing the guitar at the age of five, emulating his cowboy hero, Gene Autry. His family moved west to Arizona in 1951. In early 1954, in Coolidge, Arizona, Eddy met local disc jockey, Lee Hazlewood, who would become his longtime partner, co-writer and producer. They moved to Phoenix and

together created a successful formula based upon Eddy's unique style and approach to the guitar, and Lee's experimental vision with sound in the recording studio. The sound was created after hearing Bill Justis' famous "Raunchy" (the song that George Harrison first learned to play). His first album, Have Twangy Guitar Will Travel, contained six hit singles, and remained on the charts for an astounding 82 weeks.

Together with producer Lee Hazlewood, Eddy co-wrote a deluge of hits mixed with versions of standards, using the bass strings of his Gretsch guitar recorded through an echo chamber. The debut "Movin' 'N' Groovin'" made the lower end of the US chart, and for the next six years Eddy repeated this formula with greater success. His backing group, the Rebel Rousers was a tight, experienced band with a prominent saxophone sound played by Jim Horn and Steve Douglas, completed by pianist Larry Knechtel. Among their greatest hits were "Rebel-Rouser", "Shazam", "Peter Gunn", "The Ballad Of Paladin" and "Theme From Dixie". The latter was a variation on the Civil War standard written in 1860. One of Eddy's most memorable hits was the superlative theme music for the film Because They're Young, brilliantly combining his bass notes with evocative strings. The song has been used by UK disc jockey Johnny Walker as his theme music for over 25 years and this classic still sounds fresh. Eddy's "(Dance With The) Guitar Man" was another major hit, which was unusual for the fact that the song had lyrics, sung by a female group. Eddy's albums played heavily on the use of "twang" in the title, but that was exactly what the fans wanted.

The hits dried up in 1964 at the dawn of the Beatles' invasion, and for many years his sound was out of fashion. An attempt in the contemporary market was lambasted with Duane Goes Dylan. Apart from producing Phil Everly's excellent Star Spangled Springer in 1973, Eddy travelled the revival circuit, always finding a small but loyal audience in the UK. Tony Macaulay wrote "Play Me Like You Play Your Guitar" for him in 1975, and after more than a decade he was back in the UK Top 10. He slipped back into relative obscurity but returned to the charts in 1986 when he was flattered to be asked to play with the electro-synthesizer band Art Of Noise, all the more complimentary was that it

was his song, "Peter Gunn". The following year Jeff Lynne produced his first album for many years, being joined by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ry Cooder, all paying tribute to the man who should have legal copyright on the word "twang".

In the spring of 1994, Eddy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside fellow artists Elton John, Rod Stewart, John Lennon, Bob Marley and The Grateful Dead. Later that year, film soundtracks introduced Eddy's music to millions as they watched Forrest Gump being chased by a pickup truck full of rednecks as he runs across a football field to the sound of "Rebel Rouser". Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers used "The Trembler", a track written by Eddy and Ravi Shankar, to help create a spine-chilling scene set against a violent thunderstorm in the desert.

Asked by Musician magazine how he felt about influencing generations of musicians, Eddy commented that it "is an unexpected bonus. It makes me feel more important than I otherwise would. It's a confirmation, many years later, that it was the right thing. And we had no way of knowing at the time. We got confirmation in the fact that the records were hits. That's the first big joy. But after it dies down, then suddenly somebody comes along and says, 'You started me in the business.'" Among those who openly acknowledge his influence are George Harrison, Dave Davies (The Kinks), Hank Marvin (The Shadows), The Ventures, John Entwistle (The Who), Bruce Springsteen, Adrian Belew, Bill Nelson (Bebop Deluxe), and Mark Knopfler.

(info various mainly New Musical Express)