John Lilley (born March 3, 1954) is an American

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, guitar teacher and

landscape gardener Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

, best known for being a member of rock band

The Hooters The Hooters are an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The band combines elements of rock, reggae, ska, and folk music to create its sound. The Hooters first gained major commercial success in the United States in the mid-1980 ...

Early life

John Lilley learned to play the guitar at nine years old after he saw

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 ...

perform on

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

on February 9, 1964. He initially learned to play

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

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, with his first teacher being folk and bluegrass expert

Jerry Ricks Gerald Lawrence "Jerry" Ricks (May 22, 1940December 10, 2007), often billed as "Philadelphia" Jerry Ricks, was an American country blues guitarist and singer. Life and career Ricks was born and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, playing trumpe ...

. He eventually studied jazz improvisation with Dennis Sandole and then jazz, theory, orchestration, composition and arranging with Calvin Harris. Lilley also participated in visual arts, drawing voraciously while in school and mostly painting as an adult. In his twenties during the mid-1970s, Lilley got involved in the local

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

scene, as the manager and guitarist of the Get Right Band and later became the guitarist for Robert Hazard and the Heroes, who went on to write

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

's hit "

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is a song written, recorded and performed by American musician Robert Hazard, who released it as a single in 1979. It is best known for the version of American singer Cyndi Lauper, who covered the song in 1983. It ...

." For a brief time in the late 1970s, Lilley sold ads for a local monthly periodical, ''County Lines'' magazine.

Tenure with The Hooters

After a sudden and unexpected departure from the Heroes, Lilley joined another local Philadelphia band,

, in 1983. The band combined

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

, and rock'n'roll in their music. ''

Nervous Night ''Nervous Night'' is a 1986 film starring American rock band The Hooters and directed by John Jopson, John Charles Jopson. Background As a follow-up to The Hooters' 1985 Columbia Records debut album ''Nervous Night (album), Nervous Night'', a f ...

'',

' 1985 debut on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, sold in excess of 2 million copies and included ''

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 advertise ...

'' Top 40 hits "Day By Day" (#18), "And We Danced" (#21) and "Where Do The Children Go" (#38). After releasing six albums,

obtained a large global following throughout the 1980s and 1990s. As a result, they were asked to open three major musical events of the late 20th century:

Live Aid Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...

in 1985,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

Concert at

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted sp ...

in 1986, and

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-so ...

The Wall Concert in Berlin ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

in 1990. In 1995, The Hooters went on hiatus. Lilley reunited with The Hooters on successful headlining European summer tours in 2003, 2004 and 2005. 2007 saw the release of ''

Time Stand Still ''Time Stand Still'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band the Hooters, released in Europe on September 14, 2007, and released in the US on February 5, 2008. Background The Hooters gathered in October 2006 at keyboard player Rob Hyman ...

'', their first album of new material since 1993.

Other musical projects

When Lilley has not worked with The Hooters, he has composed and performed several

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

scores. ''

Sister Carrie ''Sister Carrie'' (1900) is a novel by Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) about a young woman who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream. She first becomes a mistress to men that she perceives as superior, but later ...

'', adapted by Louis Lippa and based on

Theodore Dreiser Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser (; August 27, 1871 – December 28, 1945) was an American novelist and journalist of the naturalist school. His novels often featured main characters who succeeded at their objectives despite a lack of a firm mora ...

's novel, was performed at the People's Light and Theatre Company in

Malvern, Pennsylvania Malvern is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania. It is west of Philadelphia. The population was 3,419 at the 2020 census. The borough is bordered by Paoli Pike on the south, Sugartown Road on the west, Willistown Township on the east, and ...

in 1991 and included over 125 musical moments and themes throughout the 6 hour play that Lilley contributed to. At the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in 1992, Lilley contributed to ''Collecting Gravity'' by the Terry Beck Dance Troupe. Lilley has also worked on

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

for

Raisin Bran Raisin bran (sultana bran in some countries; see sultana grape) is a breakfast cereal containing raisins and bran flakes. Raisin bran is manufactured by several companies under a variety of brand names, including the popularly known Kellogg's R ...

Clinique Clinique Laboratories, LLC () is an American manufacturer of skincare, cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances, usually sold in high-end department stores. It is a subsidiary of the Estée Lauder Companies. As of 2019, Clinique has over 22,000 cus ...

and

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

. Currently, Lilley is teaching guitar lessons to students in the Philadelphia area. His solo debut CD ''Lucky Kinda Guy'', which he described "as a blend of rock and country with an Americana edge," was released on October 6, 2009. He also put out an EP album out with John Lilley as Guitar Composer Producer , Daniel Gallery as the Composer and Keyboards and Brent Edmondson the bassist Composer Engineer

Avantgardeners

When The Hooters went on hiatus in 1995, Lilley left the music business and concentrated on a career in

landscape gardening Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

. He started his own company in the

area, Avantgardeners, which evolved from a one-man operation to a full-time business employing several workers and having its own nursery.

External links

*
John Lilley
official MySpace page {{DEFAULTSORT:Lilley, John Living people 1954 births American male singers American rock singers American rock guitarists American male guitarists Guitarists from Philadelphia The Hooters members 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians