Gary Grainger (born 20 October 1950) is an English rock, blues, jazz and pop songwriter and guitarist, most known for his work with
Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...
.
Career
1970–1999
Gary Grainger's professional career took off with the formation of Strider. After two albums – ''Misunderstood'' and ''Exposed'' and two extensive tours with
The Faces
Faces are an English rock band formed in 1969 by members of Small Faces after lead singer and guitarist Steve Marriott left to form Humble Pie. The remaining Small Faces—Ian McLagan (keyboards), Ronnie Lane (electric bass, vocals), and Kenne ...
in 1974, Grainger got his big break with
Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...
in 1976. The formation of the Rod Stewart group, including
Jim Cregan
James Cregan (born 9 March 1946) is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a ...
,
Phil Chen
Phillip David Chen (21 October 1946 – 14 December 2021) was a Jamaican bassist. He was one of England's most utilized session bassists during the 1970s and 1980s, including Jeff Beck, and the Rod Stewart band from 1977 to 1980, but is prob ...
,
Carmine Appice
Carmine Appice ( , born December 15, 1946) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his associations with Vanilla Fudge; Cactus; the power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice; Rod Stewart; King Kobra; and Blue Murder. He is also Vinny Appice's ...
and
Billy Peek, saw Grainger write key songs for the albums ''
Foot Loose & Fancy Free
''Foot Loose & Fancy Free'' is the eighth studio album by Rod Stewart, released in November 1977 on Riva Records in the UK and Warner Bros in the US.
The album is the second-to-last album of Stewart's acclaimed 1970s albums, beginning with ' ...
'', ''
Blondes Have More Fun
''Blondes Have More Fun'' is Rod Stewart's ninth album, released in November 1978. As was the popular musical trend at the time, it is Stewart's foray into disco music. The album was commercially successful, reaching number 3 in the UK and numbe ...
'', and ''
Foolish Behaviour
'' Foolish Behaviour '' is Rod Stewart's tenth studio album, released on 21 November 1980 on the Riva label in the United Kingdom (RVLP 11) and on Warner Bros. Records in both The United States (HS 3485) and Germany (WB 56 865). The tracks we ...
''.
Throughout 1986 and 1987, Grainger worked with Roger Daltrey, with UK TV appearances on ''
No. 73
''No 73'', later retitled ''7T3'', is a British 1980s children's TV show produced by Television South (TVS) for the ITV network. It was broadcast live on Saturday mornings and ran from 1982 to 1988. The show had an ensemble cast amongst others ...
'' and ''Saturday Live''. He played on Daltrey's 1987 album, ''
Can't Wait to See the Movie''. When Daltrey resumed activity with The Who and suspended solo work, Grainger formed a band with
Jimmy Copley
James Frank Copley (29 December 1953 – 13 May 2017) was an English rock drummer.
Copley was largely a session musician and worked with Jeff Beck, Graham Parker, Upp, Paul Young, Magnum, Roger Glover, Ian Gillan and Glenn Hughes of Deep ...
and
Jaz Lochrie
Jaz Lochrie (born 18 April 1970) is a Scottish bass guitarist born in Paisley, Scotland, UK.
Career
Lochrie has played variously in his career live or recording with Pete Townshend, Bad Company, Slash, Paul Rodgers, Roger Daltrey, Joe Satrian ...
.
Grainger performed live and on TV appearances with
Nick Lowe
Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and new wave,[Party of One
''Party of One'' is an album by English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe. Produced by Dave Edmunds, it was released in 1990 by Reprise Records and reissued with altered cover art and two bonus tracks in 1995 by Upstart Records.
''Party of One'' i ...]
'' album in 1990. He also appeared on Lowe's 1994 album ''
The Impossible Bird
''The Impossible Bird'' is an album by British singer-songwriter Nick Lowe. Produced by Lowe and Neil Brockbank, it was released in the United Kingdom in 1994 on Demon Records and elsewhere by Upstart Records.
Reception
In a contemporary review ...
''.
In 1991, Grainger formed The Humans with
Jess Roden
Jess Roden (born 28 December 1947) is an English rock singer, songwriter and guitarist.
Biography
Roden's first band was The Raiders followed by The Shakedown Sound which also included the guitarist, Kevyn Gammond, and keyboard player, August E ...
,
Jim Capaldi
Nicola James Capaldi (2 August 1944 – 28 January 2005) was an English singer-songwriter and drummer. His musical career spanned more than four decades. He co-founded the progressive rock band Traffic in 1967 with Steve Winwood with whom he co ...
, Bill Burke and Nick Graham. The Humans recorded their first batch of songs at
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician who was the bassist for the rock band The Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band's only member ...
's Hammerhead studios, with
Bob Pridden
Bob Pridden (born 1946) is an English audio engineer, roadie, and record producer, best known for his long-standing position as principal sound engineer for the rock band the Who. He has also worked with a number of other rock musicians and wi ...
as producer and engineer, with
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...
on
Hammond Organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
. Only "Railroad of Desire" was released from these recordings on 1995's self-titled album. The band performed regularly throughout the UK and Europe until the late 1990s.
In the mid-nineties Grainger was recruited to produce and play guitar for the Brit Pop band The Face at the request of The Who's long-time crew member
Bob Pridden
Bob Pridden (born 1946) is an English audio engineer, roadie, and record producer, best known for his long-standing position as principal sound engineer for the rock band the Who. He has also worked with a number of other rock musicians and wi ...
. He played on the original recordings, during which time he recommended
Zak Starkey
Zak Richard Starkey (born 13 September 1965) is an English rock drummer who has performed and recorded with English rock band the Who since 1996. He is also the third drummer to have appeared with English rock band Oasis. In 2020, Starkey toure ...
for the sessions. For live shows, Grainger opted out and The Face used Gary Nuttall, who went on to become long-time guitarist for
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...
.
In 1998 Grainger formed Blues Club with Alan Rogan.
Peter Hope-Evans
Medicine Head were a British blues rock band – initially a duo – active in the 1970s. Their biggest single success was in 1973 with " One and One Is One", which reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The group recorded six original album ...
of
Medicine Head
Medicine Head were a British blues rock band – initially a duo – active in the 1970s. Their biggest single success was in 1973 with " One and One Is One", which reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The group recorded six original albums ...
was on mouth organ and
Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...
drummer Mick Avery joined. They were initially recorded and produced by
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s.
Townsh ...
with
Jess Roden
Jess Roden (born 28 December 1947) is an English rock singer, songwriter and guitarist.
Biography
Roden's first band was The Raiders followed by The Shakedown Sound which also included the guitarist, Kevyn Gammond, and keyboard player, August E ...
on vocals. When Avery had other commitments,
Chris Slade
Chris Slade (born Christopher Slade Rees; 30 October 1946) is a Welsh musician, best known for playing for the Australian rock band AC/DC. He drummed for the band from 1989 to 1994, performing on their 1990 album '' The Razors Edge'' along with ...
(AC/DC) joined on drums up until 2000. It was this line-up of Blues Club that appeared on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' programme. Blues Club continued for another decade, with Grainger's son Chris replacing Avery and Slade on drums.
In 2000, Grainger received a call to work with Kenney Jones. Initially collaborating for some charity gigs, the band proved popular and formed a more solid line-up featuring
on vocals. Formula One racing champion
joined the band on many of the early gigs. Their first recording was the charity single "It's All About the Children" and was produced by the legendary
. The single also featured
on vocals.
Grainger played at the Ronnie Lane 2004 Tribute at the Royal Albert Hall onstage with Kenney Jones,
, Ronnie Wood and Pete Townshend.
In 2007, Roger Daltrey played corporate shows in Canada. Grainger was asked to join, playing Townshend's parts along with The Who's touring band of
played bass.
From 2010 to 2012, Grainger resumed working with Rod Stewart bandmate Jim Cregan in a project called "Apart From Rod". Touring the UK and Europe, Apart From Rod was a presentation of duo's large catalogue of hits that they had written for Stewart, including Grainger's songs "Hot Legs", "Passion", and "I Was Only Joking".