George Terry (born 1950) is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and

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 ...

guitarist and songwriter best known for his work with

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

in the 1970s and as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

with other artists, including

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

, the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

Andy Gibb Andrew Roy Gibb (5 March 1958 – 10 March 1988) was an English singer, songwriter, and actor. He was the younger brother of Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin and Maurice Gibb, Maurice, who went on to form the Bee Gees. Gibb came to pr ...

Freddie King Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Mos ...

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...

, and

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

Career

George Terry is a

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

guitarist, bassist, and songwriter, who began playing with several bands in the late 1960s, including GAME who released two albums in 1970 and 1971. Terry was the group's featured lead guitarist and bassist, and wrote several songs on both albums. In 1974, while working on the album that would become ''

461 Ocean Boulevard ''461 Ocean Boulevard'' is the second studio album by English musician Eric Clapton. The album was released in late July 1974 for RSO Records, shortly after the record company released the hit single "I Shot the Sheriff" in early July the same y ...

'',

hired Terry as a full-time member of his band. While the band recorded the album, Terry brought the

Bob Marley and the Wailers Bob Marley and the Wailers (previously known as The Wailers, and prior to that The Wailing Rudeboys, The Wailing Wailers and The Teenagers) were a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae band. The founding members, in 1963, were Bob Marley (Robert ...

album '' Burnin''' to Clapton, stating he really liked the song "I Shot the Sheriff". He persuaded Clapton to record his own version of the song, which the band convinced Clapton to include on the album because they felt it had commercial potential. Terry also wrote the last track on the album, "Mainline Florida", which "breaks away from the established tone of the record" and features Clapton using a

talk box A talk box (also spelled talkbox and talk-box) is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the sou ...

during his outgoing solo. Terry's work with Clapton as a guitarist and songwriter continued through the 1970s, with Terry co-authoring the 1977 song "

Lay Down Sally "Lay Down Sally" is a song performed by Eric Clapton, and written by Clapton, Marcy Levy, and George Terry. It appeared on his November 1977 album ''Slowhand'', and reached No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Background "Lay Down Sally" i ...

". Terry worked as a

with numerous artists, including ABBA, the Bee Gees, Joe Cocker, Andy Gibb, Freddie King, Diana Ross, Stephen Stills, and Kenny Rogers. Some of this work came through Terry's association with Bee Gees member

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popul ...

. In 1979 he played guitar on Italian singer Ivano Fossati's album "La Mia Banda Suona Il Rock", recorded at

Criteria Studios Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and ...

in Miami. In 1981, Terry and Kitty Woodson released the album ''Life''. Its song "Cool Down" was released as a single. In 1983, "E.T. Phone Home", a song co-authored by Terry and Woodson, reached number 84 in the UK singles chart."E.T. Phone Home"
at In 2001, the song "What'll I Do" written by Terry, was included on and released as a single from

The Bellamy Brothers The Bellamy Brothers are an American pop and country music duo consisting of brothers David Milton Bellamy (born September 16, 1950) and Homer Howard Bellamy (born February 2, 1946), from Dade City, Florida. The duo had considerable musical succ ...

album ''The 25 Year Collection''. Terry also co-produced four new tracks with the band. In 2004, Terry released a solo album entitled ''Guitar Drive''.

References

External links

George Terry discography on Discogs.com
* American rock guitarists American male guitarists 1950 births Living people 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians {{US-rock-guitarist-stub