Bernie Tormé (born Bernard Joseph Tormey; 18 March 1952 – 17 March 2019) was an Irish
rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, record label and recording studio owner. Tormé is best known for his work with
Gillan, as well as his brief stints with
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...
. He also wrote and recorded with
Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and " I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated wit ...
singer
Dee Snider
Daniel "Dee" Snider (born March 15, 1955)Tayler, LettaTwisted Sister's Dee Snider remembers his challenging Long Island upbringing "Newsday", March 15, 2016Archived here/ref> is an American singer, songwriter, radio personality, and actor. He w ...
and toured with
Atomic Rooster
Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member and w ...
.
Early career
The
Ranelagh
Ranelagh ( , ; ) is an affluent residential area and urban village on the Southside of Dublin, Ireland in the postal district of D06.
History
The district was originally a village known as Cullenswood just outside Dublin, surrounded by lan ...
-born Tormé
was inspired by the likes of
Jimi Hendrix,
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock music, rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, ...
,
Rory Gallagher
William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Due to his virtuosic playing, but relative lack of fame compared to some others, he has been referred to as "the greatest ...
, and
Gary Moore
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...
. He formed his first band at a young age. His first paid performance came when Don Harris, a 14-year-old drummer he played alongside when he was 17, secured a gig at the local
Girl Guides' dance in
Kilmainham
Kilmainham (, meaning " St Maighneann's church") is a south inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland, south of the River Liffey and west of the city centre. It is in the city's Dublin 8 postal district. The area was once known as Kilmanum.
History
In ...
in Dublin.
[Ten questions with Bernie Tormé]
. Retrieved 24 January 2007. Tormé then played in Dublin band The Urge in the early 1970s, before relocating to London in 1974, where he initially played with
heavy rockers Scrapyard,
whose bass player,
John McCoy would later be re-united with Tormé in
Gillan. Inspired by England's burgeoning mid-1970s
punk rock scene, Tormé formed the Bernie Tormé Band in 1976.
With this group, Tormé toured with successful groups of that period such as
The Boomtown Rats
The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", " Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original li ...
and
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...
's
Generation X
Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years and the late 1970s to early 1980s ...
, among many others. Tormé later revealed that his band secured the supporting slot with the Boomtown Rats, by agreeing to go around London putting up posters advertising the tour.
[Bernie Tormé interview]
. Retrieved 24 January 2007.
In 1977 the band were asked to contribute two tracks to the ''Live at the Vortex'' album, "Streetfighter" and "Living for Kicks".
This led to them being signed to the
Jet Records
Jet Records was a British record label started by Don Arden in 1974, featuring musicians such as Lynsey de Paul, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Alan Price, Adrian Gurvitz, Riot and Magnum.
History
Th ...
label, who "...paid us forty
quid a week each for the next 18 months... Apart from that they just sat on us pretty much, they were more into
ELO."
Gillan and Ozzy Osbourne
Tormé accepted the invitation of former
Deep Purple vocalist
Ian Gillan
Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice.
Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...
in 1979 to join his band
Gillan.
Over the next four years, Gillan enjoyed three Top Ten UK albums (''
Mr. Universe'', ''
Glory Road'', and ''
Future Shock
''Future Shock'' is a 1970 book by American futurist Alvin Toffler, written together with his spouse Adelaide Farrell, in which the authors define the term "future shock" as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. Th ...
''), in addition to extensive worldwide tours of Europe, Japan, and the United States.
In 1981 Tormé left Gillan, citing frustration over a lack of money despite the success the band was seeing. He was replaced by guitarist
Janick Gers
Janick Robert Gers (; born 27 January 1957) is an English musician who is best known as one of the three guitarists in heavy metal band Iron Maiden. He initially joined to replace Adrian Smith, but remained in the band after Smith rejoined. ...
. He played as a live session man for
Atomic Rooster
Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member and w ...
and was hired in March 1982 by
Jet Records
Jet Records was a British record label started by Don Arden in 1974, featuring musicians such as Lynsey de Paul, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Alan Price, Adrian Gurvitz, Riot and Magnum.
History
Th ...
, to replace the recently deceased
Randy Rhoads
Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo a ...
in
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...
's band. Tormé flew from England to Los Angeles with the promise that the job was his, even being paid an advance by Jet before leaving England. Although Osbourne had already settled on
Robert Sarzo to replace Rhoads, he was forced to abide by the record company's decision and Tormé began rehearsing with the band. After only a handful of shows it became apparent that Tormé's bluesy style was not a good match for Osbourne's brand of heavy metal, and he elected to return to England to continue work on a solo album.
[Sarzo, Rudy (2017). Off the Rails (third edition). CreateSpace Publishing. ] He was quickly replaced by
Brad Gillis
Bradley Frank Gillis (born 15 June 1957) is a guitarist most famous for playing with the band Night Ranger. He was in the band Rubicon (American band), Rubicon during the 1970s before Night Ranger. Since forming in 1979, Gillis and drummer Kelly ...
and the tour continued.
Later career
Beginning in 1982, Tormé led his own band under various names and line-ups (including a version of
Tormé
Tormé were a band featuring Irish guitarist Bernie Tormé, whom the band was named after. Tormé's singer was Phil Lewis (musician), Phil Lewis, who had previously been in the bands Girl (band), Girl and Phil Lewis (musician), New Torpedos, a ...
with singer
Phil Lewis, formerly of
Girl
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a '' woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionar ...
and later with
L.A. Guns).
Tormé spent several years with the band
Desperado with former
Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and " I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated wit ...
singer
Dee Snider
Daniel "Dee" Snider (born March 15, 1955)Tayler, LettaTwisted Sister's Dee Snider remembers his challenging Long Island upbringing "Newsday", March 15, 2016Archived here/ref> is an American singer, songwriter, radio personality, and actor. He w ...
.
Although the record saw limited release, Snider re-used a number of the songs for a subsequent project, Widowmaker (not to be confused with
the 1970s English band of the same name).
Tormé also played guitar on
René Berg
René Berg (born Ian Bruce, 24 February 1956 – 28 July 2003) was an English musician, vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, who recorded and performed in a number of bands in late 1970s until his death. His bands included Idle Flowers, Soh ...
's solo album, ''The Leather, The Loneliness And Your Dark Eyes'', released in 1992.
In addition to the continued release of new Tormé recordings and re-issuance of his back catalogue titles, Tormé also became involved with the 'Silver' project, which also included former
Michael Schenker Group
The Michael Schenker Group (often abbreviated as MSG) are a guitar-oriented hard rock band, formed in London in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker. In 1986, Schenker and vocalist Robin McAuley formed the McAuley Sc ...
vocalist
Gary Barden
Gary John Barden (born 27 August 1955, Royal Tunbridge Wells, England) is an English singer-songwriter, best known for his work with Michael Schenker Group.
Barden was discovered by Schenker upon the guitarist's hearing a demo of Barden's pr ...
.
In 2006, Tormé announced the formation of
Guy McCoy Tormé (aka "G.M.T"), with former Gillan bassist
John McCoy and drummer Robin Guy. In 2007, Tormé contributed lead guitar and sitar parts to "Smile in Denial", track No. 4 of ''
Yoni
''Yoni'' (; sometimes also ), sometimes called ''pindika'', is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu goddess Shakti. It is usually shown with ''linga'' – its masculine counterpart. Together, they symbolize the merging of micr ...
'', a solo album from
Wildhearts frontman
Ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of ...
.
Bernie successfully released 4 albums via the Pledgemusic platform between 2014 and 2018, and his last album 'Shadowland', featuring drummer Mik Gaffney (The Last Resort) and Sy Morton on bass was released in November 2018, followed by the 'Final Fling' UK tour starting on 22 November. Unfortunately Pledgemusic did not honour their outstanding payments to Bernie Tormé on his last release.
Tormé also ran his own record label, Retrowrek Records, and recording studios, Barnroom Studios in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
.
Personal life
In February 2019, it was reported that Tormé was "extremely ill with virulent double pneumonia".
He died on 17 March 2019, a day before he would have turned 67.
He is survived by his wife Lisa Valder, and their children Jimi, Eric and Tuli, and his sister, Cliodna Murphy.
Discography
Solo
*Bernie Tormé Band ― ''Live at the Vortex Vol.1'' (2 tracks contributed to compilation) (1977)
*Bernie Tormé Band ― "I'm Not Ready" (7") (1978)
*Bernie Tormé Band ― ''Bernie Tormé Band'' (EP) "Weekend"/"Secret Service"/"All Night"/"Instant Impact" with
Phil Spalding
Philip Spalding (born 19 November 1957, London, England) is an English bass player. He is best known as a session musician and player of Fender Precision Bass guitars. He has played and appeared with performing artists such as Mick Jagger, Se ...
and Mark Harrison (1979)
*Bernie Tormé And The Electric Gypsies ― ''Turn Out The Lights'' (1982) –
UK No. 50
*Bernie Tormé And The Electric Gypsies ― ''Electric Gypsies'' (1983)
*
Tormé
Tormé were a band featuring Irish guitarist Bernie Tormé, whom the band was named after. Tormé's singer was Phil Lewis (musician), Phil Lewis, who had previously been in the bands Girl (band), Girl and Phil Lewis (musician), New Torpedos, a ...
- ''
Back To Babylon
''Back to Babylon'' is the first album by the band Tormé and was released in 1985. The cover was designed by Lisa Valder. It was re-issued on CD by Metal Blade Records in 1989 with "Love, Guns And Money" added. In 2004 it was re-issued again o ...
'' (1986, With
Phil Lewis)
*Tormé - ''
Die Pretty, Die Young
''Die Pretty, Die Young'' is the second album by the band Tormé
Tormé were a band featuring Irish guitarist Bernie Tormé, whom the band was named after. Tormé's singer was Phil Lewis (musician), Phil Lewis, who had previously been in th ...
'' (1987, With
Phil Lewis)
*Tormé – ''Demolition Ball'' (1993, With ex-
Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution ...
singer ''Gary Owen'')
*Bernie Tormé – ''Wild Irish'' (1997, A project with
Anti-Nowhere League
Anti-Nowhere League are an English punk rock band, formed in 1979 by lead singer Animal (Nick Culmer), guitarist Magoo (Chris Exall), Bones (Tony Shaw) on drums and Chris Elvy on bass.
Career Early days
The band first played at the 1980 Cha ...
members Chris Jones and John Pearce)
*Bernie Tormé – ''White Trash Guitar'' (1999, A project with
Anti-Nowhere League
Anti-Nowhere League are an English punk rock band, formed in 1979 by lead singer Animal (Nick Culmer), guitarist Magoo (Chris Exall), Bones (Tony Shaw) on drums and Chris Elvy on bass.
Career Early days
The band first played at the 1980 Cha ...
members Chris Jones and John Pearce)
*Bernie Tormé Band ― ''Punk Or What'' (recordings from 1976 to 1978 unreleased until 1999)
*Bernie Tormé – ''Flowers & Dirt'' (2014)
*Bernie Tormé – ''Blackheart'' (2015)
*Bernie Tormé – ''Dublin Cowboy'' (2017)
*Bernie Tormé – ''Shadowland'' (2018)
Live albums
*Bernie Tormé – ''Live'' (1984)
*Tormé – ''Official Live Bootleg'' (1997)
*Bernie Tormé And The Electric Gypsies ― ''Scorched Earth Live 1999–2000'' (2001)
*Bernie Tormé – ''Live in Sheffield 1983'' (2002)
With ''Gillan''
*''
Mr. Universe'' (1979)
*''
Glory Road'' (1980)
*''
Future Shock
''Future Shock'' is a 1970 book by American futurist Alvin Toffler, written together with his spouse Adelaide Farrell, in which the authors define the term "future shock" as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. Th ...
'' (1981)
*''
Double Trouble'' (1981)
*''The Gillan Tapes Vol. 1'' (1997)
*''The Gillan Tapes Vol. 2'' (1999)
*''The Gillan Tapes Vol. 3'' (2000)
*''Triple Trouble'' (2009) (Recorded live 1981/1982)
With ''Atomic Rooster''
*''
Headline News
HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming.
The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News ...
'' (1983)
*''
Live in Germany 1983'' (released 2000)
With ''Desperado''
*''Demo I + III'' (Demo) (1990)
*''
Bloodied But Unbowed
''Bloodied but Unbowed'' is a 2010 Canadian documentary film detailing the rise and influence of the punk music scene in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
History
''Bloodied but Unbowed'' was produced and directed by independent filmmake ...
'' (1996)
*''Ace'' (2006)
With René Berg
*''The Leather, The Loneliness And Your Dark Eyes'' (1992)
With Silver (band fronted by Gary Barden)
*''Silver'' (2001)
*''Dream Machines'' (2002)
*''Intruder'' (2003)
With ''GMT''
*''Cannonball'' (2006, EP)
*''Bitter And Twisted'' (2006)
*''Evil Twin'' (2008)
*''Raw – Live'' (2011)
References
External links
Bernie Tormé official website Interview at Skylight Webzine Photo galleries of Bernie live (GMT and The Electric Gypsies)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torme, Bernie
2019 deaths
Irish rock guitarists
Irish male guitarists
Tormé members
The Ozzy Osbourne Band members
1952 births
Atomic Rooster members
Samson (band) members
Gillan (band) members
Musicians from Dublin (city)
Deaths from pneumonia in England
Quatermass (band) members