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Gregg Alan Rolie (born June 17, 1947) is an American singer and keyboardist. Rolie served as lead singer of the bands Santana and Journey – both of which he co-founded. He also helmed rock group The Storm, performed in
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band is a live rock supergroup founded in 1989 with shifting personnel, led by former Beatles drummer and vocalist Ringo Starr. History and description Since 1989, Starr has toured with fourteen variations of the b ...
, and currently performs with his Gregg Rolie Band. Rolie is a two-time inductee of the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...
, having been inducted both as a member of Santana in 1998 and as a member of Journey in 2017.


Career

Rolie was born in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, United States. Prior to Santana, he played with a group called William Penn and His Pals while attending
Cubberley High School Ellwood P. Cubberley High School (1956–1979) known locally as "Cubberley", was one of three public high schools in Palo Alto, California. The site of the closed school is now named Cubberley Community Center and used as a community center and us ...
in
Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...
, circa 1965. A year after graduating from high school in 1965, Rolie joined
Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound feature ...
and others to form the Santana Blues Band, which was later shortened simply to Santana. As a co-founding member of Santana, Rolie was part of the band's first wave of success, including an appearance at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival in 1969 and central roles in several hit albums. He was their original lead vocalist, with his voice appearing on well-known Santana songs such as "
Black Magic Woman "Black Magic Woman" is a song written by British musician Peter Green, which first appeared as a single for his band Fleetwood Mac in 1968. Subsequently, the song appeared on the 1969 Fleetwood Mac compilation albums '' English Rose'' (US) and ...
" (US #4), "
Oye Como Va "Oye Cómo Va" is a 1962 cha-cha-chá by Tito Puente, originally released on ''El Rey Bravo'' ( Tico Records). The song achieved worldwide popularity in 1970, when it was recorded by American rock group Santana for their album ''Abraxas''. This ...
", " No One To Depend On" and "
Evil Ways "Evil Ways" is a song made famous by Mexican-American rock band Santana from their 1969 self-titled debut album. It was written by Clarence "Sonny" Henry and originally recorded by jazz percussionist Willie Bobo on his 1967 album ''Bobo Motio ...
". He also became well known for his skill on the
Hammond B3 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 ...
, with solos on many of the aforementioned hits. He has song-writing credits on many tracks from this period. However, persistent differences with Carlos Santana regarding the musical direction of the band led Rolie to leave in 1972. In 1973 Rolie joined a new band with ex-Santana guitarist
Neal Schon Neal (Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hon ...
. This became Journey. Starring in a lineup that featured Schon,
Aynsley Dunbar Aynsley Thomas Dunbar (born 10 January 1946) is an English drummer. He has worked with John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Journey, Jefferson Starship, Nils Lofgren, Eric Burdon, Shuggie Otis, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mick Ronso ...
, George Tickner, and
Ross Valory Ross Lamont Valory (born February 2, 1949) is an American musician who is best known as the original bass player for the rock band Journey from 1973 to 1985 and again from 1995 to 2020. Valory was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as ...
, he was keyboardist for the band's first six albums. On '' Journey'' and ''
Look into the Future ''Look into the Future'' is the second studio album by Journey. It was released in January 1976 by Columbia Records. For their second album, the members of Journey toned down the overt progressiveness of their first, self-titled release, in fa ...
'', he was lead vocalist, and on ''
Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...
'' he shared those duties with guitarist Neal Schon. After
Steve Perry Stephen Ray Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Journey during their most commercially successful periods from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He also wrote/co ...
joined the band in 1977, Rolie sang co-lead vocals on several songs on the albums ''
Infinity Infinity is that which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol . Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosophical nature of infinity was the subject of many discussions am ...
'', ''
Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
'', and '' Departure''. After leaving Journey in 1980, Rolie released several solo albums, including the eponymous ''Gregg Rolie'' in 1985. This album featured the song "
I Wanna Go Back "I Wanna Go Back" is a 1984 song by American rock band Billy Satellite, written by band members Monty Byrom, Danny Chauncey, and Ira Walker, that achieved major popularity when recorded by Eddie Money in 1986. Another version was recorded by ...
", which later became a hit for
Eddie Money Edward Joseph Mahoney (March 21, 1949 – September 13, 2019), known professionally as Eddie Money, was an American singer and songwriter who, in the 1970s and 1980s, had eleven Top 40 songs, including "Baby Hold On", " Two Tickets to Par ...
, and included contributions from
Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound feature ...
,
Peter Wolf Peter Wolf (born March 7, 1946) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of the J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983 and as a solo artist. Early life and education Peter Wolf was born Peter Walter Blankfield on March 7, 1946 in The ...
,
Neal Schon Neal (Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hon ...
, and
Craig Chaquico Craig Clinton Chaquico (or Chaquiço, ; born September 26, 1954) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and composer. From 1974 to 1990 he was lead guitarist for the rock bands Jefferson Starship and Starship. In 1993, he started a solo career as ...
. A second solo effort, ''Gringo'', was released in 1987. Rolie formed The Storm in 1991 with Steve Smith and
Ross Valory Ross Lamont Valory (born February 2, 1949) is an American musician who is best known as the original bass player for the rock band Journey from 1973 to 1985 and again from 1995 to 2020. Valory was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as ...
of Journey. Similar to his work with Journey and Steve Perry, Rolie played keyboards and was a co-lead vocalist on several tracks of the band's first, eponymous, album, which spent 17 weeks on the ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...
'' albums chart peaking at #133 and spawned the hit singles "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love," and "Show Me the Way." Despite this success,
Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner ...
shelved the band's second album, which was recorded in 1993. It was finally released in 1996 on another label. In 1998, Rolie and other former members of Santana, including Neal Schon, briefly reunited as
Abraxas Pool ''Abraxas Pool'' is a 1997 album by ex- Santana members Mike Shrieve, Neal Schon, Gregg Rolie, José "Chepito" Areas, Alphonso Johnson, and Mike Carabello. Track listing # "Boom Ba Ya Ya" ''(Michael Shrieve, Gregg Rolie, Neal Schon, Michael C ...
, releasing one album. When Schon left to lead a re-formed Journey later that year, Rolie and Ron Wikso began work in 1999, on a Gregg Rolie solo CD, titled ''Roots'', which eventually led to the forming of the Gregg Rolie Band. Besides Rolie and Wikso, ''Roots'' featured appearances by
Neal Schon Neal (Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hon ...
,
Alphonso Johnson Alphonso Johnson (born February 2, 1951) is an American jazz bassist active since the early 1970s. Johnson was a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 1973 to 1975, and has performed and recorded with numerous high-profile rock and ...
, Dave Amato, Adrian Areas, Michael Carabello. The Gregg Rolie Band saw Kurt Griffey taking over guitar duties and the addition of Wally Minko as a second keyboardist. They recorded a live CD at Sturgis called ''Rain Dance'', which was released in 2009. In 2010, Rolie released ''Five Days'' and subsequently formed a duo with Alan Haynes, which eventually led to the formation of the Gregg Rolie Quartet, with the addition of long time collaborator/drummer, Ron Wikso and bassist Evan "Sticky" Lopez. From 2012 to 2021 he toured as a member of
Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
and his All Starr Band performing Santana hits "
Black Magic Woman "Black Magic Woman" is a song written by British musician Peter Green, which first appeared as a single for his band Fleetwood Mac in 1968. Subsequently, the song appeared on the 1969 Fleetwood Mac compilation albums '' English Rose'' (US) and ...
", "
Evil Ways "Evil Ways" is a song made famous by Mexican-American rock band Santana from their 1969 self-titled debut album. It was written by Clarence "Sonny" Henry and originally recorded by jazz percussionist Willie Bobo on his 1967 album ''Bobo Motio ...
" and "Everybody's Everything". The band also included Toto guitarist
Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...
,
Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...
,
Richard Page Richard Lewis Page (born 22 February 1941) is a former Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and from December 1979 to 2005. Early life Born the son of Victor Charles Page, he went to the independent Hu ...
,
Mark Rivera Mark Rivera (born May 24, 1953) is an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, musical director and corporate entertainment provider who is mostly known for his work with Billy Joel. In addition to playing soprano, alto, tenor and b ...
and
Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette (born June 9, 1959) is an American jazz and rock drummer and vocalist. He is the brother of bassist Matt Bissonette, with whom he frequently collaborates. He has played on albums by dozens of recording artists, including David ...
. On February 2, 2013 Carlos Santana confirmed that he would reunite his classic lineup, most of whom played Woodstock with him in 1969. Santana said of Rolie, "I'm pretty sure Gregg's going to do it." Speaking in 2012 of such a reunion, Rolie told Radio.com "it's just a matter of putting it together and going and doing it. I would do it. I think it's a great idea. People would love it. It could be great!" In 2016, as part of Santana's original line-up they released their fourth album, titled ''
Santana IV ''Santana IV'' is the twenty-fourth studio album (thirty eighth album overall) by American rock band Santana, released in April 2016. Overview The album reunited most of the surviving members from the early 1970s lineup of the band (includin ...
''. On February 9, 2018, Rolie reunited with Schon for a charity show at San Francisco's The Independent, benefiting North Bay Fire Relief. The group also featured former Journey drummer
Deen Castronovo Deen J. Castronovo (born August 17, 1964) is an American drummer and singer, best known for being a member of classic rock band Journey and hard rock acts Bad English and Hardline. He currently plays drums and shares lead vocals for the bands ...
(who also sang some of the vocals) and bassist Marco Mendoza of The Dead Daisies. In 2019 Rolie reunited with Schon, Castronovo and Mendoza for four more concert dates.


Philanthropy

Rolie is a proponent of music education for children. In 2005, he signed on as an official supporter of
Little Kids Rock Music Will, formerly known as Little Kids Rock (LKR), is a nonprofit charity based in Montclair, New Jersey, that encourages and enables children to play popular music. It provides free music instruction and instruments to public school districts ...
, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved public schools throughout the US. He sits on the organization's Honorary board of directors.


Personal life

Rolie and his wife, Lori, reside near
Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
.


Discography


Solo discography

(Also as Gregg Rolie Band) * ''Gregg Rolie'' – 1985 * ''Gringo'' – 1987 * ''Rough Tracks'' – 1997 * ''Roots'' – 2001 * ''Rain Dance (Live)'' – 2007 * ''Five Days EP'' – 2011 * ''Sonic Ranch'' - 2019


with Santana

* '' Santana'' – 1969 * ''
Abraxas Abraxas ( grc-x-biblical, ἀβραξάς, abraxas, variant form romanized: ) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the "Great Archon" (), the princeps of the 365 spheres (). The word is foun ...
'' – 1970 * ''
Santana III ''Santana'' is the third studio album by the American rock band Santana. The band's second self-titled album, it is often referred to as ''III'' or ''Santana III'' to distinguish it from the band's 1969 debut album. The album was also known a ...
'' – 1971 * ''
Caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...
'' – 1972 * '' Shangó'' – 1982 * ''
Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...
'' – 1987 * ''
Santana IV ''Santana IV'' is the twenty-fourth studio album (thirty eighth album overall) by American rock band Santana, released in April 2016. Overview The album reunited most of the surviving members from the early 1970s lineup of the band (includin ...
'' - 2016


with Journey

* '' Journey'' – 1975 * ''
Look into the Future ''Look into the Future'' is the second studio album by Journey. It was released in January 1976 by Columbia Records. For their second album, the members of Journey toned down the overt progressiveness of their first, self-titled release, in fa ...
'' – 1976 * ''
Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...
'' – 1977 * ''
Infinity Infinity is that which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is often denoted by the infinity symbol . Since the time of the ancient Greeks, the philosophical nature of infinity was the subject of many discussions am ...
'' – 1978 * ''
Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
'' – 1979 * '' Departure'' – 1980 * '' Dream, After Dream'' – 1980 * '' Captured'' – 1981


with The Storm

* ''The Storm'' – 1991 * ''Eye of The Storm'' – 1995


with Abraxas Pool

* ''
Abraxas Pool ''Abraxas Pool'' is a 1997 album by ex- Santana members Mike Shrieve, Neal Schon, Gregg Rolie, José "Chepito" Areas, Alphonso Johnson, and Mike Carabello. Track listing # "Boom Ba Ya Ya" ''(Michael Shrieve, Gregg Rolie, Neal Schon, Michael C ...
'' – 1997


Collaboration

* '' Postcards from Paradise'' from Ringo Starr (2015) - Organ on "Island in the Sun", a song on which he participated on composing.


References


Bibliography

*


External links


Gregg Rolie's official site




* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolie, Gregg 1947 births Living people 20th-century American musicians American rock keyboardists American organists American male organists American male singers American rock singers Musicians from Seattle Singers from Washington (state) American people of Norwegian descent Journey (band) members Santana (band) members 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century American musicians 21st-century organists The Storm (American band) members 20th-century American keyboardists Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band members