Paul Speer (born 1952 in Lewiston,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

) is a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

nominated

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 ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. He has released several solo albums,

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

albums, and collaborations with other artists such as pianist

David Lanz David Howard Lanz (born June 28, 1950 in Seattle, Washington) is a Grammy-nominated pianist and composer. His album '' Cristofori's Dream'' topped the New Age music charts in 1988. Early years Lanz attributes his interest in the piano to experien ...

, drummer

Scott Rockenfield Scott Rockenfield (born June 15, 1963), also known as SRock, is an American drummer and composer. He is best known as the drummer for the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, which he co-founded in 1982, and the hard rock band Slave to the Syste ...

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup ...

, Paul Lawler, and vocalist Satine Orient.

Early years

Paul Speer took up guitar at the age of nine and played his first paid gig at age twelve in a trio with brothers Neal and Gary. In 1969, the expanded group now known as the Stone Garden, recorded the single "Oceans Inside Me" and pressed 300 copies, a rare collector item today. Speer 0076s

Speer attended music school at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

in Moscow before moving to

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 regio ...

to play in nightclub bands. In the mid 1970s, he took up residence in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

where his interest expanded into audio production and engineering. Speer returned to Seattle in the late 1970s and began producing records in local recording studios and in his own studio.

Career highlights

Catero Records (

Fred Catero Fred Catero (February 4, 1933 – October 6, 2022) was an American record producer and engineer. Catero was originally from New York City, where he worked for CBS Records/Columbia, recording artists such as Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Invit ...

) of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

signed Speer and released his first solo album ''Collection 983: Spectral Voyages'' in 1984. That was followed by two very successful music and video collaborations with

and director

Jan Nickman Jan Nickman (born October 17, 1950) is an American film and television director, producer, cinematographer and writer. As the co-founder of Miramar Images, Inc. and Sacred Earth Pictures, Nickman's career in film and television spans three decades. ...

, for the films ''Natural States'' (1985) and ''Desert Vision'' (1987). Speer and Scott Rockenfield, drummer for the metal band Queensrÿche, teamed in 1997 to create another music and video work, the Grammy nominated ''TeleVoid''. They also recorded ''Hells Canyon'' in 2000, a progressive rock opus inspired by places and events in the spectacular

Hells Canyon Hells Canyon is a canyon in the Western United States, located along the border of eastern Oregon, a small section of eastern Washington and western Idaho. It is part of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area which is also located in p ...

region of Idaho. ''Oculus'', a music and video album inspired by places in Italy, was released by Speer's imprint label Rainstorm Records in 2008. In 2009, he collaborated with British musician Paul Lawler and French vocalist Satine Orient on the album ''Wonders''. In addition to his own productions, Paul Speer has been a prolific record producer with more than 250 albums to his credit.

Discography

Solo *''Collection 983: Spectral Voyages'' - 1984 - Catero Records (re-released on Rainstorm Records 2000) *''Collection 991: Music+Art'' - 1992 - Miramar Recordings *''Quiet Thoughts'' - 1998 - Rainstorm Records *''Oculus'' - 2008 - Rainstorm Records *''Ax Inferno'' - 2013 - Rainstorm Records *Sonoran Odyssey - 2020 - Rainstorm Records Collaborations *Stone Garden (band member) - "Oceans Inside Me" single - 1969 - Angelus Bell Records *''Natural States'' (with David Lanz) - 1985 - Narada/EMI Record

*''Desert Vision'' (with David Lanz) - 1987 - Narada/EMI Records *''Shades of Shadow'' (with Leroy Quintana) - 1990 - Miramar Recordings *''Bridge of Dreams'' (with David Lanz) - 1993 - Narada/EMI Record

*''TeleVoid'' (with Scott Rockenfield) - 1997 - Miramar Recordings *Stone Garden (band member) - 1998 (full album of music recorded 1965-1972) - Rockadelic Records *''Hells Canyon'' (with Scott Rockenfield) - 2000 - Rainstorm Records *''Wonders'' (with Paul Lawler and Satine Orient) - 2009 - Rainstorm Records

References

* Paul Speer Interview https://mwe3.com/reviews/PaulSpeer2013/ * Review https://bluewolf-reviews.com/music/electronica/sonoran-odyssey/ *Magazine - ''New Age and New Sounds'', September 2008, vol 188, pgs 86-88, www.agendo.it, Italy *Magazine - '' Shindig! magazine, Shindig'', January–February 2009, Vol 2, no 8, pgs 28-29, UK

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Speer, Paul 1952 births Living people People from Lewiston, Idaho New-age guitarists Guitarists from Idaho 20th-century American guitarists