Joe Gooch (born 3 May 1977) is an English musician who was known as the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of Ten Years After from 2003 to 2014.

Biography

Gooch was introduced to

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

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 ...

at an early age. By thirteen, taking his music seriously, he enrolled on a course of classical guitar lessons. The disciplines he learned were good grounding for him, but he soon realised his interest lay outside of the classical sphere, and moved towards

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. At first he was influenced by his childhood heroes,

Larry Carlton Larry Eugene Carlton (born March 2, 1948) is an American guitarist who built his career as a studio musician in the 1970s and 1980s for acts such as Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell. He has participated in thousands of recording sessions, recorde ...

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from live ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

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 ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

, Buddy Guy and later

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

. Gooch replaced Alvin Lee in Ten Years After, with limited success, and later formed Hundred Seventy Split with bassist Leo Lyons. In January 2014, it was announced that both Gooch and Lyons had left Ten Years After.

Album discography

SiRO *''SiRO'' – 1999 Ten Years After *''Now'' – 2004 *''Roadworks (Live)'' – 2005 *''Evolution'' – 2008 *''Live at Fiesta City'' (DVD) – 2009 Hundred Seventy Split *''The World Won't Stop'' – 2011 *''Hundred Seventy Split'' – 2014

References

External links

Ten Years After website

Hundred Seventy Split website
1977 births Living people English rock singers English blues singers English rock guitarists English blues guitarists English male guitarists English male singer-songwriters English rock musicians English blues musicians Blues singer-songwriters Electric blues musicians Blues rock musicians British blues (genre) musicians Lead guitarists People from Highbury Singers from London Ten Years After members 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century English singers 21st-century British male singers {{UK-guitarist-stub