John Tilden Locke (September 25, 1943 – August 4, 2006) was an American keyboardist and a member of the rock group

Spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

. In the early 1980s, he was a member of the band

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

Biography

Locke was born in Los Angeles, California. His father was a classical violinist and his mother sang operas and was a composer. In 1967 he formed the Red Roosters with the guitarist

Randy California Randy Craig Wolfe (February 20, 1951 – January 2, 1997), known as Randy California, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967. Life and career California was bo ...

. A year later they had changed the name to Spirit and signed a deal with

Ode Records Ode Records (also known as Ode Sounds and Visuals) was an American record label, started by Lou Adler in 1967 after he sold Dunhill Records to ABC Records. It was distributed by CBS's Epic Records except between 1970 and 1976, when the label was ...

for four albums. He remained involved with the band during most of his career. Besides Spirit, he performed on the

Tom Rush Thomas Walker Rush (born February 8, 1941) is an American folk and blues singer, guitarist and songwriter who helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s and has continued his own singing career for 60 years. Life and ...

album ''Wrong End of the Rainbow''. In the period 1980–1982 he performed with the Scottish band Nazareth and appeared on three albums: ''

The Fool Circle ''The Fool Circle'' is the twelfth studio album by the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, released in February 1981. "Cocaine" was a live cover of the song written by J. J. Cale and recorded in 1977 by Eric Clapton. There are remastered editi ...

,'' ''' Snaz,'' and '' 2XS''. He also played keyboards on the

Stray Cats Stray Cats are an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in t ...

album ''

Gonna Ball ''Gonna Ball'' is the second studio album by American rockabilly band Stray Cats, first released in the UK by Arista Records in November 1981. The album was produced by the band and Hein Hoven. It went platinum in the U.K. Five of the album's t ...

,'' and on Randy California's solo albums ''Euro-American'' and ''Restless''.

Death

Locke died in

Ojai, California Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...

, at the age of 62.

References

External links

* * * 1943 births 2006 deaths American rock keyboardists Musicians from Los Angeles Spirit (band) members Nazareth (band) members 20th-century American keyboardists {{US-keyboardist-stub Deaths from cancer in California