Birth name Lawrence Gowan Role Musician · gowan.org Name Lawrence Gowan | Also known as Gowan, Larry Gowan Spouse Janice Gowan | |
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Origin Scarborough, Ontario, Canada Instruments Vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, guitar Movies Let it Rock: At the Crossroads of Rock and Roll Similar People Tommy Shaw, James Young, Chuck Panozzo, Todd Sucherman, Ricky Phillips | ||
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter | ||
2009 lawrence gowan a criminal mind
Lawrence Henry Gowan (born 22 November 1956) is a Scottish-born Canadian musician. Gowan has been both a solo artist and the current lead vocalist and keyboardist of the band Styx since May 1999. His musical style is usually classified in the category of progressive rock.
Contents
- 2009 lawrence gowan a criminal mind
- Behind the vinyl strange animal with lawrence gowan
- Career
- Styx
- Awards and nominations
- Members
- Personal life
- Live albums
- Live DVD
- With Styx
- References
Behind the vinyl strange animal with lawrence gowan
Career
At the age of 19, he earned an ARCT in classical piano performance from The Royal Conservatory of Music, in Toronto, Ontario. Upon graduation, he enjoyed modest local success with the band Rhinegold in 1976.
After the band broke up five years later, Gowan began a solo career under the stage name Gowan, releasing his first album under that name in 1982, which was produced by Rob Freeman and featured Kim Mitchell of Max Webster on guitar. This album contained the singles "Victory", "Give In" and "Keep Up the Fight". His 1985 album Strange Animal was his commercial breakthrough in Canada, produced by British producer David Tickle and featuring a more 'theatrical' Gowan, backed by Peter Gabriel's rhythm section players Tony Levin and Jerry Marotta. The album spawned the hit singles "A Criminal Mind", "(You're a) Strange Animal", "Guerilla Soldier" and "Cosmetics". That year he won a CASBY Award for most promising male artist.
His 1987 follow up Great Dirty World gave him another hit single with "Moonlight Desires," featuring Jon Anderson (from Yes) on backing vocals, as well as "Dedication".
1990's Lost Brotherhood, recorded at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario, had a harder rock sound, and featured such players as Red Rider member Ken Greer, former Coney Hatch guitarist Steve Shelski and Rush's Alex Lifeson. It produced the singles "Lost Brotherhood", "All the Lovers in the World", and "Out of a Deeper Hunger". This was Gowan's first album for Anthem Records and his first US release.
A few bars from "The Dragon" was heard playing on a car radio in the 1990 movie "Navy Seals" and appears on the original motion picture soundtrack.
He released the more acoustic ...but you can call me Larry in 1993 under his full name, returning to the Canadian pop charts with "When There's Time for Love", "Soul's Road" and "Dancing on My Own Ground". He subsequently released The Good Catches Up in 1995, which featured the single "Guns and God", which received moderate airplay in Canada. Also that same year, Gowan was part of an all-star lineup at Toronto's Massey Hall to celebrate Ronnie Hawkins' 60th birthday, as documented on the album Let It Rock, sharing the stage with veteran rockers Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and The Band. In 1997, Gowan released two live CDs: Sololive – No Kilt Tonight containing a rendition of Ragtime's classic "King Chanticleer Rag", and Au Québec with a cover of Harmonium's "Pour un instant" as well as his first composition in French, "Stéphanie", for his fan base in Quebec.
In 1997, Gowan released "Healing Waters" as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales after her death. "Healing Waters" was officially an unreleased song from Gowan, though it was used in its original form in the 1995 Jeff Wincott movie, When the Bullet Hits the Bone.
In 1998, Gowan was the recipient of the National Achievement Award at the annual SOCAN Awards in Toronto.
His song "A Criminal Mind" was covered in 2005 by Canadian hip-hop artist Maestro; Gowan appears in the video and his vocals are sampled on the track. The song was also covered by Canadian gypsy jazz music group The Lost Fingers. The song was sampled in a song performed by Akon and Freck Billionaire.
He also guest-starred on the Canadian animated comedy series Chilly Beach.
In February 2006, Gowan did four orchestra-accompanied concerts in London, Ontario and Kitchener, Ontario. Also in 2006, his home was featured on MTV's Cribs.
In March 2010, Gowan released "Return of the Strange Animal", a remastered version of 1985's "Strange Animal" plus a making-of documentary and music videos on DVD. In May 2010, Gowan performed two solo shows in support of the 25th anniversary of the "Strange Animal" album.
In May 2012, Gowan re-issued a remastered version of 1987's "Great Dirty World".
As of 2012, Gowan was recording a new solo album which he hoped to have completed sometime in 2013, but has yet to be released.
On 11 October 2012, Gowan appeared on episode 29 of John Wants Answers.
On 13 October 2013 Gowan played a solo concert, titled 'In Kilt Tonight' at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Canada. All proceeds were donated to McDermott House Canada, a charitable organization.
Styx
In 1997, during Styx's tour, Gowan performed as a supporting act for Styx at Montreal's Molson Centre and Quebec City's Colisée.
Tommy Shaw admired his talent and vibrant stage charisma, and called him in May 1999 asking him to tour with them for 53 dates, replacing their lead singer Dennis DeYoung. Since then, Gowan's classic hit, "A Criminal Mind", is often played by Styx.
Styx had long been plagued by differences in artistic inclination. DeYoung's absence created an opportunity for a more permanent restructuring of Styx. Gowan subsequently became the band's permanent vocalist.
Styx's 2003 album Cyclorama was Gowan's first studio album with the band. Gowan sings two songs on Cyclorama, "Fields of the Brave" and "More Love for the Money", both of which have an easily recognizable Gowan signature. He then continued recording with Styx for their 2005 album, Big Bang Theory.
Gowan continues with Styx to the present and is featured on many live releases from the band. The band released studio recordings of older Styx songs with the new line-up, titled Regeneration (released in two volumes in 2010 and 2011), and Gowan sings lead vocals on several tracks that were originally recorded by Dennis DeYoung.
In May of 2017, Styx announced their new album The Mission and revealed the first single "Gone, Gone, Gone" featuring Gowan on lead vocals.
Awards and nominations
The following are Gowan's Juno nominations:
In 1995, Gowan was presented with the SOCAN award for songs that have won major airplay in 1995 for his song, "Dancing on My Own Ground".
On 16 November 1998, Gowan received the National Achievement Award from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN).
In 2003, Gowan was presented with the SOCAN award (along with three other musicians) for songs that have surpassed the 100,000 radio-airplay mark for his song, "Moonlight Desires".
In 2011, Gowan was presented with a star on the Scarborough Walk of Fame – Entertainment.
In 2013, Gowan announced he was recording a new studio album, complete with new original material. The album is apparently in production in downtown Toronto at a private studio. According to Gowan, the album is based on an old concept album by Rhinegold, which was written and conceived in the mid-1970s, during their rounds of the Toronto club scene.
Members
Personal life
Gowan is married to Jan Gowan and has two children.