Role Musical Artist Spouse Kathy Beckley | Years active 1967–present Name Gerry Beckley | |
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Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, musician Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, harmonica Children Matthew Beckley, Joe Beckley Similar People | ||
Birth name Gerald Linford Beckley | ||
Dan peek recording doer of the word with gerry beckley chris christian in la
Gerald Linford "Gerry" Beckley (born September 12, 1952, in Fort Worth, Texas) is a founding member of the band America.
Contents
- Dan peek recording doer of the word with gerry beckley chris christian in la
- Gerry beckley dewey bunnell of the band america with hpr s dave lawrence part 1
- Start of America
- Solo projects
- Personal life
- Discography
- Sessions selection
- References
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, Beckley 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.
Gerry beckley dewey bunnell of the band america with hpr s dave lawrence part 1
Start of America
In 1967, Beckley's father became the commander at the United States 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 bandmates, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. Originally, the group 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 classmate, Dave Atwood.
America signed a recording contract with the British division of Warner Bros. Records and found success in 1972 with "A Horse with No Name."
Beckley wrote and sang America's 1972 top ten hit "I Need You" and its 1975 number one hit "Sister Golden Hair" (also number one on Billboard, in 1975) as well as its top 20 followup "Daisy Jane." He also sang their 80s top ten hit "You Can Do Magic."
Beckley continues to write and record music both as a solo artist and with other musicians along with Bunnell. With Bunnell, Beckley continues touring worldwide as "America".
Solo projects
In the 1990 John Waters film Cry-Baby, Beckley, Andrew Gold, and Timothy B. Schmit appeared as Baldwin and the Whiffles, performing "Mister Sandman", "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane," and "Sh-Boom".
Beckley has worked with a wide variety of musicians on many projects. In the mid 1970s, he collaborated with David Cassidy on Cassidy's critically acclaimed RCA albums; co-writing and dueting and even co-producing. One of the most notable is the 2001 recording Like a Brother, performed with Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys, and Robert Lamm of Chicago.
In May 2006, Beckley released another solo album, Horizontal Fall.
In March 2007, Beckley appeared as a guest on the Australian musical quiz TV show Spicks and Specks.
On April 14, 2007, Beckley appeared as a special guest at a Ben Kweller show at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne, Australia. Beckley, Kweller, and the band performed "Sister Golden Hair" together.
Beckley debuted his 2016 Blue Elan Records solo album Carousel on September 7, 2016 with a live performance at the Whisky A-Go-Go in Hollywood, California.
Beckley is also a member of Les Deux Love Orchestra.
Personal life
Beckley, who is twice divorced, has two sons, Matthew and Joe. Matthew is also a musician; he has toured with Katy Perry and has worked with other artists, including Ke$ha, Britney Spears. Joe is an aspiring photographer in the Los Angeles area. Beckley now splits his time between homes in Venice, California and Sydney, Australia.