Robin Leonard Trower (born 9 March 1945) is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single " A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for ...

throughout 1967–1971, and then again as the bandleader of his own

power trio A power trio is a rock and roll band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit (drums and cymbals), leaving out a second rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quart ...

known as the Robin Trower Band.

Biography

Robin Trower was born in

Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green and Catford South wards. The population of Catford, includ ...

, London, England, and grew up in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

, Essex. In 1962, he formed a band that became

the Paramounts The Paramounts were an English beat group based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. They had one hit single with their cover version of " Poison Ivy", which reached No. 35 on the UK Singles Chart in 1964, but are primarily known as the forerunner to Proc ...

, later including Westcliff High School pupil

Gary Brooker Gary Brooker (29 May 1945 – 19 February 2022) was an English singer and pianist, and the founder and lead singer of the rock band Procol Harum. Early life Born in Hackney Hospital, East London, on 29 May 1945, Brooker grew up in Hackney ...

. The Paramounts disbanded in 1966 to pursue individual projects. During this time, Trower created a local three-piece band called the Jam (not to be confused with the later group with Paul Weller). Trower then joined Brooker's new band

following the success of their debut single "

A Whiter Shade of Pale "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is a song by the English rock band Procol Harum that was issued as their debut record on 12 May 1967. The single reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 8 June and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, i ...

" in 1967, remaining with them until 1971 and appearing on the group's first five albums. Before launching his

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

band, he joined singer

Frankie Miller Francis John Miller (born 2 November 1949) is a Scottish rock singer-songwriter and actor. Miller wrote for and performed with many recording artists and is best known for his 1977 album ''Full House'', the singles "Be Good To Yourself", " D ...

, ex-

Stone the Crows Stone the Crows were a Scottish blues rock band formed in Glasgow in late 1969. They are remembered for the onstage electrocution of guitarist and founding member Les Harvey. History The band were formed after Maggie Bell was introduced to L ...

bassist/singer

James Dewar Sir James Dewar (20 September 1842 – 27 March 1923) was a British chemist and physicist. He is best known for his invention of the vacuum flask, which he used in conjunction with research into the liquefaction of gases. He also studied a ...

, and former Jethro Tull drummer

Clive Bunker Clive William Bunker (born 30 December 1946) is a British drummer. Bunker is best known as the original drummer of the rock band Jethro Tull, playing in the band from 1967 until 1971. Never a self-professed technical drummer, Bunker engage ...

to form the short-lived combo Jude. This outfit did not record and soon split up. Trower retained Dewar as his bassist, who took on lead vocals as well, and recruited drummer

Reg Isidore Reg Isidore (4 April 1949 – 22 March 2009) was a rock drummer best known for his work with Robin Trower. Isidore was Trower's first drummer and he played on the Robin Trower Band's first two albums ''Twice Removed from Yesterday'' (1973) and '' ...

(later replaced by

Bill Lordan Bill Lordan (born May 22, 1947 in Minneapolis, MN), is an American rock music drummer who has been in a number of bands, such as The Mystics, Gypsy, Robin Trower Band and Sly & The Family Stone. He began playing in sixth grade when his teacher ...

) to form the Robin Trower Band in 1973. In 1974, the group released ''

Bridge of Sighs The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: ''Ponte dei Sospiri'', vec, Ponte de i Sospiri) is a bridge in Venice, Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone, has windows with stone bars, passes over the Rio di Palazzo, and connects the New Priso ...

''. This album, along with his first and third solo albums, was produced by his former Procol Harum bandmate, organist Matthew Fisher. His early power trio work was noted for Jimi Hendrix influences. Trower is an influential guitarist who has inspired other guitar legends such as

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

, who praised him for his

string bending String bending is a guitar technique where fretted strings are displaced by application of a force by the fretting fingers in a direction perpendicular to their vibrating length. This has the net effect of increasing the pitch of a note (or notes ...

and the quality of his sounds, and took lessons from him. In the early 1980s, Trower teamed up with former

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

bassist

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of British rock band Cream. After the group disband ...

and his previous drummers Lordan and Isidore for two albums, ''

BLT A BLT is a type of sandwich, named for the initials of its primary ingredients, bacon, lettuce, and tomato. It can be made with varying recipes according to personal preference. Simple variants include using different types of lettuce, toastin ...

'' (Bruce, Lordan, Trower) and ''

Truce A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...

'' (Trower, Bruce, Isidore). After those albums, he released another album with

on vocals titled '' Back It Up'' in 1983. Robin Trower was dropped from Chrysalis Records afterwards. Robin Trower 3 - Robin Trower Band - 1975

Trower was also a part of the Night of the Guitars II European tour in 1991, organized by Sting and

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

manager Miles Copeland. The tour featured

Ronnie Montrose Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison, Herbie H ...

Rick Derringer Rick Derringer (born Richard Dean Zehringer; August 5, 1947) is an American guitarist, vocalist, producer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the 1960s as founding member of his band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was ...

, Saga's Ian Crichton, Dave Sharman,

Jan Akkerman Jan Akkerman (born 24 December 1946) is a Dutch guitarist. He first found international commercial success with the band Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. After leaving Focus, he continued as a solo musician, adding jazz fusion in ...

and

Laurie Wisefield Laurence Mark Wisefield (born 27 August 1952) is an English guitarist, best known for his contributions to Wishbone Ash during the 1970s and 1980s. Early career Prior to his stint in Wishbone Ash, Wisefield performed with the progressive rock b ...

. Thirteen albums later, Trower's album ''Living Out of Time'' (2004) featured the return of veteran bandmates Dave Bronze on bass, vocalist

Davey Pattison Davey Pattison (born November 18, 1945 in Scotland) is a San Francisco Bay Area based rock vocalist. Pattison recorded his first music in 1969, and his career took off after arrival in the United States in 1979, on invitation from Bill Graham ...

(formerly with

's band Gamma) and

Pete Thompson Pete Thompson (born 1952) is an English rock drummer who has played with Silverhead, Robin Trower, Robert Plant, Pete Haycock, Eric Bibb, Ken Hensley, and David Byron. He has been a professional touring, recording and session drummer through ...

on drums—the same line-up as the mid-1980s albums ''Passion'' and ''Take What You Need''. With the same bandmates, Trower gave a concert on his 60th birthday in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, Germany. The concert was recorded by the German television channel WDR. It was then released on DVD and subsequently on CD throughout Europe and later the US under the title ''Living Out of Time: Live''. Trower toured the United States and Canada in the summer and autumn of 2006. In 2007, Trower released a third recording with Jack Bruce, ''Seven Moons'', featuring Gary Husband on drums. A 2008 world tour began in Ft. Pierce, Florida, on 16 January 2008. Joining Davey Pattison and Pete Thompson was

Glenn Letsch Glenn Letsch (born June 23, 1949) is an American bass guitarist. He was in a Los Angeles band with Mitchell Froom called "Bullet Park" . After Ronnie Montrose produced their demo, he asked Letsch to join his band Gamma, where Letsch became friend ...

(formerly of Gamma) playing bass. European dates began in April. The show of 29 March 2008 at the Royal Oak Music Theater in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236. Royal Oak is located along t ...

, was released as a double album on V12 Records. Trower has described James Brown as his "big hero", particularly Brown's early work "where blues is crossing over into rock and roll". In 2016, he enjoyed a successful tour of the US. On 20 March 2018, Trower played a show at the

Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts The Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts is a multi-disciplinary arts center in Annapolis, Maryland which offers opportunities in the arts for individuals of all ages, skill levels and backgrounds. It was founded in 1979 to promote art apprecia ...

in Annapolis, Maryland. Ten minutes later (approximately 9:00PM EDT) after playing back-to-back songs "Day of The Eagle" and "Bridge of Sighs", he announced on his microphone that he was not feeling well (he had

flu Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

symptoms), handed his guitar to a stage crew, walked backstage and collapsed. He was transported by ambulance to the hospital for treatment. In 2019, it was announced that Trower had signed to

Mascot Label Group Mascot Label Group is an independently-owned record label. Founded in 1989 in The Netherlands under the name Mascot Records, the company was renamed Mascot-Provogue in 1999 and since 2010 has been known as the Mascot Label Group. The company is ba ...

, alongside the announcement of a new studio album ''Closer To The Day.'' Regarding the album's title, he told Guitar World, "I'm not thinking about dying — far from it. What I'm saying is, 'If I'm nearer the end than the beginning, then I've got to get going.'" The album was released on 22 March 2019, while its supporting tour was canceled as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. On 18 February 2022, Trower announced his latest studio album, ''No More Worlds To Conquer,'' alongside its title track. The record was released on 29 April 2022.

Equipment

During a 1971 tour with Jethro Tull, Robin Trower arrived early for a sound check and found

Martin Barre Martin Lancelot Barre (; born 17 November 1946) is an English guitarist best known for his longtime role as lead guitarist of British rock band Jethro Tull, with whom he recorded and toured from 1968 until the band's initial dissolution in 201 ...

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuousl ...

(which Barre used for slide playing) propped up against an amplifier. Trower picked up the guitar, plugged it in, and with a shout that resounded around the auditorium he yelled, "This is it!" "I then switched to Strat" he says. "Up to then I had been playing Les Pauls." Since then Trower has been an ongoing proponent of the Fender Stratocaster. He currently uses his custom-built Strat (made by the

Fender Custom Shop The Fender Custom Shop is a division of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, housed within their headquarters complex in Corona, Riverside County, California. The Fender Custom Shop produces special-order guitars for customers through a Custom ...

) which comes in black, white, and burgundy. The guitar is equipped with a 1950s reissue pick-up in the neck position, a 1960s reissue in the middle position, and a Texas Special at the bridge. Other features included a custom C-shaped maple neck featuring a large headstock with a Bullet truss-rod system, locking machine heads and a maple fingerboard with narrow-spaced abalone dot position inlays and 21 jumbo frets. The Strats he plays live are an exact model of his signature guitar, which is entirely unmodified. For his first two albums, his guitar was tuned in Standard Tuning EADGBE. Starting from the third album, he detuned the strings a semitone to an

Eb Tuning Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By ...

(Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb). It is reported that during live performances, his guitar is tuned a full step down to a DGCFAD tuning. This long-established practice of detuning may have been prompted by his preference for very heavy gauge guitar strings. Trower's three top strings measure, high E, B and G = .12, .15 and .17 gauge. By comparison, the most common choice of rock and roll lead players is .09, .11, .15. The width and weight of Trower's string set are similar to common acoustic guitar strings, and that weight makes vibrating and bending the strings more difficult, especially with the full tension of a standard tuning. Detuning them a half-step or more lower eases the tension and provides greater control. Trower told Guitar Player Magazine in a July 1980 interview that he recommends every young player try a thicker set of strings. "The thicker sound alone is worth it, but they also help keep you from forming bad habits." (String gauge measurement: .12 = .012 inches diameter). Robin Trower Liri Blues 2005

Trower uses between one and three 100-watt

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

heads with four to six cabinets on stage. While he usually uses two JCM 800s and a JCM 900, he also links 100-watt Marshall Plexi heads. In studio sessions, Trower uses a mix of amplifiers, such as a Fender Blues Junior and Cornell Plexi Amplifiers models to acquire different tonality. He has recently been using Fulltone pedals and effects. He favors the OCD, Distortion Pro, Fat Boost, CLYDE Deluxe Wah, Deja Vibe 2, Soul-Bender, and a BOSS Chromatic Tuner. He runs his Deja Vibe into his distortion pedal to get his famous tone. He was given his own signature Fulltone Robin Trower Overdrive in late 2008. For his 2009 and 2011 US tours Trower was using his Fender Custom Shop Signature Stratocaster into a Fulltone Deja Vibe 2, Fulltone Wahfull, Fulltone Clyde Standard Wah, Fulltone Full Drive, Fulltone Robin Trower Overdrive, and Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner into two Marshall Vintage Modern 2466 heads. On his 2018 tour he used the same gear but through two 50 watt Marshall Plexi Reissue Heads, the 1987X.

Discography

With Procol Harum

* 1967 ''

'' * 1968 ''

Shine on Brightly ''Shine On Brightly'' is the second studio album by English rock band Procol Harum, released in 1968 by record labels Regal Zonophone and A&M. It is considered an early example of progressive rock. The album's single, "Quite Rightly So", fail ...

'' (Trower sings backup on "Wish Me Well") * 1969 ''

A Salty Dog ''A Salty Dog'' is the third studio album by English rock band Procol Harum, released in 1969 by record labels Regal Zonophone and A&M. Content ''A Salty Dog'' has an ostensibly nautical theme, as indicated by its cover (a pastiche of the ...

'' (Trower sings lead on "Crucifiction Lane") * 1970 '' Home'' * 1970 ''

Ain't Nothin' to Get Excited About ''Ain't Nothin' to Get Excited About'' is an album of rock and roll songs recorded in 1970 by the members of Procol Harum under the name Liquorice John Death. It was not released until 1997. History Strictly speaking, this is not a Procol Harum ...

'' (a vintage rock'n'roll side-project by members of Procol Harum, recording as 'Liquorice John Death') * 1971 '' Broken Barricades'' (Trower sings lead on "Song for a Dreamer" and "Poor Mohammed") * 1991 '' The Prodigal Stranger'' * 1995 '' The Long Goodbye''

With Robin Trower Band

Studio albums

Live albums

* 1976: ''

Robin Trower Live Robin Trower Live is a live album by Robin Trower. Recorded at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Sweden on 3 February 1975 for the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, it was released on vinyl in 1976, and re-released on CD in 1990, 2000, and 2004. ...

!'' (recorded 2/3/75, Stockholm) – UK #15, US #10, AUS #73 SWE #40 CAN #52 * 1985: '' Beyond the Mist'' (recorded April 1985 at The Marquee Club, London) * 1992: ''BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert'' (recorded 1/29/75) * 1996: ''King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Robin Trower in Concert'' (recorded 10/18/77, New Haven, CT) * 1999: ''This Was Now '74–'98'' (recorded 1974, Pittsburgh, PA; 1998, Seattle, WA) -2-CD set * 2006: ''Living Out of Time: Live'' (recorded 9/3/05, Bonn, Germany) ote: also available on DVD* 2009: ''

RT@RO.08 Robin Leonard Trower (born 9 March 1945) is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum throughout 1967–1971, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio known as the Robin Trower Band. Biography Robin Trowe ...

'' (recorded 3/29/08, Royal Oak, MI) * 2011: ''Robin Trower at The BBC 1973–1975'' (recorded 3/26/73 ohn Peel Session 9/26/73 ob Harris Session 2/20/74 ob Harris Session 3/5/74 ohn Peel Session 1/28/75 ohn Peel Session and 1/29/75 'BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert'', omitting 2 songs but adding 2 others -2-CD set * 2013: ''State To State: Live Across America 1974–1980'' (recorded 1974, Philadelphia; 1974, California; 1976, Illinois; 1977, Oklahoma; 1980, Missouri) -2CD * 2015: ''

Rock Goes To College ''Rock Goes to College'' (RGTC) was a BBC series that ran between 1978 and 1981 on British television. A variety of up-coming rock oriented bands were showcased live from small venues and broadcast simultaneously on television and radio during ...

1980'' (recorded 2/25/80, London)

Compilations

* 1987: ''The Robin Trower Portfolio'' * 1991: ''Essential Robin Trower'' * 1991: ''Robin Trower: The Collection'' * 1994: ''Robin Trower Anthology'' * 2002: ''Speed Of Sound: The Best of Robin Trower'' * 2004: ''Dreaming the Blues'' -2-CD set * 2008: ''Day of The Eagle: The Best of Robin Trower'' * 2010: ''A Tale Untold: The Chrysalis Years 1973–1976'' -3-CD set * 2012: ''Farther On Up The Road: The Chrysalis Years 1977–1983'' -3-CD set * 2014: ''Compendium 1987–2013'' -2-CD set * 2014: ''Original Album Series'' (contains ''Twice Removed from Yesterday'', ''Bridge of Sighs'', ''For Earth Below'', ''Robin Trower Live!'', ''Long Misty Days'') -5-CD set * 2015: ''Original Album Series, Vol. 2'' (contains ''In City Dreams'', ''Caravan to Midnight'', ''Victims of the Fury'', ''B.L.T.'', ''Truce'') -5-CD set * 2019: ''The Studio Albums 1973–1983'' (contains all 10 Chrysalis studio albums presented in card-sleeves housed in a clamshell box) -10-CD set

With Jack Bruce

* 1981: '' B.L.T.'' – US #37 * 1982: ''

'' – US #109 * 1989: ''No Stopping Anytime'' (compilation of ''B.L.T.'' and ''Truce'') * 2007: ''

Seven Moons Robin Leonard Trower (born 9 March 1945) is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum throughout 1967–1971, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio known as the Robin Trower Band. Biography Robin Trowe ...

'' * 2009: ''Seven Moons Live'' (recorded 2/28/09, Nijmegen, Holland) ote: also available on DVDre-released as ''Songs from the Road''

With Bryan Ferry

* 1993: ''

Taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

'' * 1994: ''

Mamouna ''Mamouna'' is the ninth solo album by Bryan Ferry, released on Virgin Records first on 31 August 1994 in Japan and then on 5 September in the UK. It was Ferry's first album of original material in seven years and he spent six years writing and ...

'' * 2007: ''

Dylanesque ''Dylanesque'' is the twelfth studio album by English singer Bryan Ferry, released on 5 March 2007 by Virgin Records. The album consists of cover versions of ten Bob Dylan songs and one traditional song that Dylan himself covered on his first ...

References

External links

* * * *
Robin Trower albums to be listened
on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Robin Trower songs & albums to be listened
on

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Robin Trower profile

NPR.org National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from othe ...

"Funky" Paul Olsen's album cover artwork for Robin Trower
OlsenArt.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Trower, Robin 1945 births Procol Harum members Living people English rock musicians 20th-century British guitarists 21st-century British guitarists Blues rock musicians English rock guitarists Lead guitarists Musicians from Essex Chrysalis Records artists Atlantic Records artists The Paramounts members