Early life and career

After learning guitar at the age of 12, he met Steve Miller at St. Mark's. In 1959, he became the vocalist for Miller's band, The Marksmen. The pair later attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison together, playing in blues bands like The Ardells and The Fabulous Knight Trains.

Leaving school, Scaggs briefly joined the burgeoning rhythm and blues scene in London. After singing in bands such as The Wigs and Mother Earth, he traveled to Sweden as a solo performer, and in 1965 recorded his solo debut album, ''Boz'', which was not a commercial success. Scaggs also had a brief stint with the band The Other Side with Mac MacLeod and fellow American Jack Downing.

Returning to the U.S., Scaggs promptly headed for the booming psychedelic music center of San Francisco in 1967. Linking up with Steve Miller again, he appeared on the Steve Miller Band's first two albums, ''Children of the Future'' and ''Sailor''. After being spotted by ''Rolling Stone'' publisher Jann Wenner, Scaggs secured a solo contract with Atlantic Records in 1968, releasing his second album, "Boz Scaggs" in 1969.

1970s

The Atlantic album (SD-8239) eventually went out of print and in 1977, it was completely remixed and reissued on Atlantic (SD-19166). This remix brought out Duane Allman's guitar in a more up-front way, which changed the original mix, drowning backing voices and keyboards (not to mention a weird volume drop at the final 30 second of "Finding Her"). This remix is the version that's currently available on CD.

In 1976, he linked up with session musicians who would later form Toto and recorded his smash album ''Silk Degrees''. The album reached #2 on the US Billboard 200, and #1 in a number of countries across the world, spawning three hit singles: "Lowdown", "Lido Shuffle", and "What Can I Say", as well as the MOR standard "We're All Alone," later recorded by Rita Coolidge and Frankie Valli. "Lowdown" sold over one million copies in the US.

After ''Other Roads'', Scaggs took another hiatus and then came back with ''Some Change'' in 1994. He released ''Come On Home,'' an album of blues, and ''My Time,'' an anthology in the late 1990s. He garnered good reviews with ''Dig'' although the CD, which was released on September 11, 2001, was lost in the post-9/11 melée. In May 2003, Scaggs released ''But Beautiful'', a collection of jazz standards that debuted at #1 on the jazz chart. In 2008 he released "Speak Low" which the artist described in the liner notes as "a sort of progressive, experimental effort ... along the lines of some of the ideas that Gil Evans explored."

He tours each summer, has a loyal cadre of fans, remains popular in Japan, and released a DVD and a live CD in 2004. Other releases followed. In 2008, Scaggs undertook an expanded tour across the US.

In the summer of 2010, Scaggs began a tour with Donald Fagen and Michael McDonald. They are performing together as one band billed as The Dukes of September Rhythm Revue. The show includes classic rock, soul/R&B; songs by various artists and personal repertoire songs from all three headliners.

Family

Discography

With The Steve Miller Band

Solo

References

External links

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ABB were formed in 1969 and, unusually for the time, based in the Southeastern United States. In the early 1970s the band was hugely successful. Duane is best remembered for his brief but influential tenure in that band and in particular for his expressive slide guitar playing and inventive improvisational skills. In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked Allman at #2 in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, second only to Jimi Hendrix and in 2011 he was ranked #9. His tone (achieved with a Gibson Les Paul and two 50-watt bass Marshall amplifiers) was named one of the greatest guitar tones of all time by ''Guitar Player''.

A sought-after session musician both before and during his tenure with the band, Duane Allman performed with such established stars as King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Herbie Mann. He also contributed heavily to the 1970 album ''Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'' by Derek and the Dominos.

Duane Allman’s skills as a guitarist were complemented by personal qualities such as his intensity, drive and ability to draw the best out of others in making music. He is still referred to by his nickname "Skydog".

Early years

While the family were living near Norfolk, Virginia, his father was murdered by a fellow veteran hitchhiker. In order to retrain as an accountant, Geraldine "Mama A" Allman sent Duane and Gregg to Castle Heights Military Academy in Lebanon, Tennessee, which they both disliked intensely. In 1957, the family moved to Daytona Beach, Florida where the boys attended Seabreeze High School.

The boys returned to Nashville to spend summers with their grandmother where Gregg learned guitar basics from a neighbour. In 1960, Gregg had saved enough money to buy his first guitar, a Japanese-made Teisco Silvertone while Duane acquired a Harley 165 motorbike which he soon wrote off. So Duane began to take an interest in the guitar leading to fights over it and eventually their mother bought Duane a Gibson Les Paul Junior.

A group date in Miami, also that August, gave Allman the chance to participate in Eric Clapton's ''Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs''. Clapton had long wanted to meet Allman; when he heard that the Allman Brothers were due to play in Miami, where he had just started work on ''Layla'' with producer Tom Dowd, he insisted on going to see their concert, where he met Allman. At one point, Allman approached Clapton, fully admiring his ability to play guitar as much as Clatpon admired his, and cautiously asked Clapton if he could come by the studio to watch. Clapton was in no way reluctant to say yes, as he knew that his masterful playing combined with Allman's would be greater than the sum of its parts. After the show the two bands—the Allman Brothers Band and Derek and the Dominos—returned to Criteria, where Allman and Clapton quickly formed a deep rapport during an all-night jam session. Allman wound up participating on most of the album's tracks, contributing some of his best-known work. Allman never left the Allman Brothers Band, though, despite being offered a permanent position with Clapton. Allman never toured with Derek and the Dominos, but he did make three appearances with them on December 1, 1970 at the Curtis Hixon Hall in Tampa (''Soulmates'' LP) and the following day at Onondaga County War Memorial, and one appearance (or possibly just Delaney Bramlett or both Duane and Delaney) November 20, 1970 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, California.

In an interview, Duane told listeners how to tell who played what: Eric played the Fender parts and Duane played the Gibson parts. He continued by nonchalantly noting that the Fender had a sparklier sound, while the Gibson produced more of a "full-tilt screech".

The Allman Brothers went on to record ''At Fillmore East'' in March 1971. Meanwhile, Allman continued contributing session work to other artists' albums whenever he could. According to ''Skydog: the Duane Allman Story,'' Allman was in the habit of spontaneously dropping in at recording sessions and contributing to whatever was being taped that day. He received cash payments but no recording credits, making it virtually impossible to compile a complete discography of his works.

Allman was well known for his melodic, extended and attention-holding guitar solos. During this period two of his stated influences were Miles Davis and John Coltrane, having listened extensively to ''Kind of Blue'' for two years.

As Allman's distinctive electric bottleneck steel sound began to mature it evolved in time into the musical voice of what would come to be known as Southern Rock, being picked up and redefined in their own styles by slide guitarists that included bandmate Dickey Betts (after Duane's passing), Rory Gallagher, Derek Trucks and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Death

Memorial

After Allman's funeral and some weeks of mourning, the five surviving members of the Allman Brothers Band carried on, resuming live performances and finishing the recording work interrupted by Duane's death. They named their next album ''Eat a Peach'' for Duane's response to an interviewer's question: "How are you helping the revolution?" Allman replied: "There ain't no revolution, only evolution, but every time I'm in Georgia I 'eat a peach' for peace." Released in February, 1972, this double album contains a side of live and studio tracks with Allman, two sides of "Mountain Jam", recorded with Duane at the same ''At Fillmore East'' stand in March, and a side of tracks by the surviving five member band.

Bass guitarist Berry Oakley died less than 13 months later in a similar motorcycle crash with a city bus, three blocks from the site of Duane Allman's fatal accident. Oakley's remains were laid to rest beside Duane Allman's in Macon, Georgia's Rose Hill Cemetery.

The variety of Allman's session work and Allman Brothers Band bandleading can be heard to good effect on two posthumous Capricorn releases, ''An Anthology'' (1972) and ''An Anthology Volume II'' (1974). There are also several archival releases of live Allman Brothers Band performances from what the band calls "Duane's Era".

Shortly after Duane's death, Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd dedicated the song "Free Bird", to the memory of Duane Allman. Van Zant would sometimes allude to this in concert; in the "Free Bird" performance at Skynyrd's famed 1976 appearance at Knebworth, England, Van Zant says to pianist Billy Powell, "Play it for Duane Allman." Many people assume the song was written about Duane. However, it had actually been written well before Duane died. (Allen Collins wrote the song after his then girlfriend asked him the question "if I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?")

In 1973, fans carved the very large letters "REMEMBER DUANE ALLMAN" in a dirt embankment along Interstate Highway 20 near Vicksburg, Mississippi. A photograph was published in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine and in the ''Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll''; the carving itself lasted for over ten years.

Country singer Travis Tritt, in the song "Put Some Drive In Your Country" on his debut album, sings "Now I still love old country/I ain't tryin' to put it down/But damn I miss Duane Allman/I wish he was still around."

Equipment

Allman Joys, Hour Glass

Early session work

Allman Brothers Band, "Layla", later session work

Other

Discography

References

Further reading

External links

Category:1946 births Category:1971 deaths Category:American rock guitarists Category:American blues guitarists Category:Lead guitarists Category:Slide guitarists Category:American session musicians Category:The Allman Brothers Band members Category:Derek and the Dominos members Category:Delaney & Bonnie & Friends members Category:Motorcycle accident victims Category:Road accident deaths in Georgia (U.S. state) Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee Category:People from Volusia County, Florida Category:Musicians from Tennessee Category:Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductees

Porcaro wrote or co-wrote at least one song on each of Toto's first six albums, with the exception of ''Isolation''. Unlike most of his bandmates, he generally did not contribute lead or even backing vocals; he considered himself a weak singer, and sang lead on two of his compositions only because he felt that the vocal styles of his bandmates, with the exception of Joseph Williams, were not appropriate for his songs. He left Toto in 1986 after the ''Fahrenheit'' album in order to pursue a more full-time songwriting and composing career. Porcaro composed the music for the song "Human Nature" from Michael Jackson's album ''Thriller'', and also played with Gary Wright during his tour in 1977, supporting the latter's ''The Dream Weaver'' album.

However, Porcaro has continued working with Toto in various supporting capacities, assisting with keyboards, drum looping, synthesizers and arranging/composing. He has also done session musician work for many other acts, including Yes (on ''Union'') and Jefferson Airplane (on their self-titled 1989 reunion album). He was also a member of Chris Squire's short lived band, The Chris Squire Experiment, in 1992.

His two older brothers Mike and Jeff were Toto's bass player and drummer, while his father Joe is a prolific session percussionist.

Steve Porcaro is currently working on film scores. He collaborated with his daughter Heather Porcaro on her debut album, the Heartstring Symphony - released in 2009. He composes the music for the FX television show "Justified".

He also returned to play with Toto at live performances since 2010, when they decided to reform the band and tour in Europe to support Mike Porcaro. They have scheduled some more concerts in Europe.

References

External links

Category:1957 births Category:Living people Category:American keyboardists Category:Songwriters from Connecticut Category:People from Hartford, Connecticut Category:People from South Windsor, Connecticut Category:American session musicians Category:Musicians from Connecticut Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:Toto (band) members