Gary Myrick is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist.

Career

Born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Texas, Gary Myrick played guitar and sang in Dallas and neighboring Fort Worth starting as a teenager. Eventually, he built a significant enough reputation to be asked to join

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

band Krackerjack, replacing

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

who had left to begin his solo career. After relocating to Los Angeles, California, he formed Gary Myrick & the Figures, releasing a self-titled album in 1980 which included the hit "She Talks in Stereo", which peaked at number 56 in Australia. The band then released the LP ''Living in a Movie'' (1981) before breaking up in 1982. Myrick released the solo EP ''Language'' (1983), which featured the percussive single "Guitar, Talk, Love & Drums" and an MTV hit "Message is You". His combination of

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, rock and new wave won him airplay on

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

radio stations in the United States and exposure on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

throughout the 1980s. Two of his songs, "She Talks in Stereo" and "Time to Win", were used in the 1983 film ''

Valley Girl A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, fr ...

''. Myrick took a break from his solo work to write four songs and play guitar on

John Waite John Charles Waite (born 4 July 1952) is an English musician. As a solo artist, he has released ten studio albums and is best known for the 1984 hit single " Missing You", which reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the top ten on ...

's '' No Brakes'' album, which included Waite's biggest solo hit " Missing You" and reached the top spot on the Billboard album chart in 1984. The following year came Myrick's LP ''Stand for Love'' with the single "When Angels Kiss" and a re-recording of "She Talks in Stereo." For the next few years, Myrick concentrated on work as a session and touring guitarist before joining his next group. Paul Simonon (former bassist of

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

), Nigel Dixon (former lead singer of Whirlwind) and Myrick united to form Havana 3 am. The band released a self-titled album in 1991, melding

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

traditions. After Simonon left the band, Myrick began work on the next Havana 3 am album with Dixon. Dixon, however died of cancer in 1993. Myrick rebuilt Havana 3 am and completed the ''Texas Glitter and Tombstone Tales'' album in 1996 with Tom Felicetta and Jamie Chez. Moving towards

roots rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid subgenres from the later 1960s, including blues rock, country rock, Southern rock, ...

, Myrick switched to a stripped down, acoustic approach for his 2001 solo release, ''Waltz of the Scarecrow King''. ''Reinvent the Gods'', featuring a cover of

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

' " As Tears Go By," was self-released in 2004. Myrick continues to play solo but also performs as a session and touring guitarist. He has worked with

Big Audio Dynamite Big Audio Dynamite (later known as Big Audio Dynamite II and Big Audio, and often abbreviated BAD) were an English band, formed in London in 1984 by Mick Jones, former lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the Clash. The band mixed various mu ...

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

, members of

the Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s ...

, Steve Jones (former guitarist of the

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, Queen Ida,

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

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and others. He has also done some work scoring films. Gary Myrick and the Figures reunited in 2010 with their first concert in Hollywood, California at The Roxy on June 22. Myrick played guitar and sang on the 2013 album by Carla Olson, ''Have Harmony, Will Travel''. Myrick contributed "Train Kept A-Rollin'" to the 2021 Renew / BMG album ''Americana Railroad''.

Discography

Albums

*''Gary Myrick & the Figures'' (1980) No. 203 US *''Living in a Movie'' (1981) *''Language'' (1983) No. 138 US *''Stand for Love'' (1985) *'' Havana 3 am'' (as member of Havana 3 am) (1991) No. 169 US *''Texas Glitter and Tombstone Tales'' (1996) *''Waltz of the Scarecrow King'' (2001) *''Reinvent the Gods'' (2004) *''Guitarista'' (2013) *''Gary Myrick's Bluestrash'' (2015)

References

External links

* Gary Myrick at allmusic.com*Official website Dead link {{DEFAULTSORT:Myrick, Gary Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Dallas American session musicians American rock guitarists American male guitarists Guitarists from Texas