- published: 29 Apr 2015
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Leslie West (born Leslie Weinstein; October 22, 1945) is an American rock guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is best known as a founding member of the hard rock and heavy metal band Mountain.
West was born in New York City, to a Jewish family. He grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, and in East Meadow, New York, Forest Hills, New York and Lawrence, New York. After his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West. His musical career began with The Vagrants, an R&B/Blue-eyed soul-rock band influenced by the likes of The Rascals that was one of the few teenage garage rock acts to come out of the New York metropolitan area itself (as opposed to the Bohemian Greenwich Village scene of artists, poets and affiliates of the Beat Generation, which produced bands like The Fugs and The Velvet Underground). The Vagrants had two minor hits in the Eastern US: 1966's "I Can't Make a Friend" and a cover of Otis Redding's "Respect" the following year.
Some of the Vagrants' recordings were produced by Felix Pappalardi, who was also working with Cream on their album Disraeli Gears. In 1969, West and Pappalardi formed the pioneering hard rock act Mountain, which was also the title of West's debut solo album. Rolling Stone identified the band as a "louder version of Cream". With Steve Knight on keyboards and original drummer N. D. Smart, the band appeared on the second day of the Woodstock Festival on Saturday, August 16, 1969 starting an 11-song set at 9 pm.
Actors: Mike Pniewski (actor), Marc Macaulay (actor), Richard Tyson (actor), Danny Vinson (actor), Jim Grimshaw (actor), Kevin Wayne (producer), Kevin Wayne (director), Kevin Wayne (actor), Kevin Wayne (writer), Bob Penny (actor), Bob Rubin (actor), Gabrielle Metz (actress), James Van Harper (producer), James Van Harper (actor), Greer Bishop (actress),
Genres: Drama,There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Risin' Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy.
And God, I know I'm one.
My mother was a tailor.
She sewed my new blue jeans.
My father was a gamblin' man
Down in New Orleans.
Now, the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk
And the only time that he's satisfied
Is when he's all a-drunk.
Oh, Mother, tell your children
Not to do what I have done.
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the house of the risin' sun.
Well, I've got one foot on the platform.
And the other's on the train.
I'm goin' back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain.
Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Risin' Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy.