Randy Hansen (born December 8, 1954) is an American
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
ist best known for his "Rock Tribute Act" honoring
Jimi Hendrix.
[Artist Bio's](_blank)
Gen-X Entertainment Intl. Inc. Accessed 6 October 2008. He composed 17 minutes of the soundtrack for the 1979 movie ''
Apocalypse Now
''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr, is loosely based on the 1899 novella '' Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph C ...
'',
(1980 Academy Award Winner for Best Sound). His debut
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
was released in 1980 on
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
and was recorded at the
Automatt Studios
The Automatt was a sound recording studio in San Francisco, California, promoted for its early mix automation system. During its eight active years, 1976 to 1984, it was one of the top recording studios in the region. The Automatt was founded by ...
in San Francisco with Scott Rosburg on bass and vocals and Charles Tapp on drums and vocals. That group played two North American tours which included several coliseum shows with
Bob Seger
Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and The Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, break ...
,
Sammy Hagar
Samuel Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose and subsequently launched a successful solo ca ...
,
REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. T ...
,
Head East,
Triumph,
Poco
Poco was an American country rock band originally formed in 1968 after the demise of Buffalo Springfield. Guitarists Richie Furay and Jim Messina, former members of Buffalo Springfield, were joined by multi-instrumentalist Rusty Young, bass ...
and
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles " (Don't Fear) The Reaper", " Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla". The ba ...
.
In 1984, Hansen impersonated Jimi Hendrix in the music video for
Devo
Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau ...
's cover of "
Are You Experienced?
''Are You Experienced'' is the debut studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released in 1967, the LP was an immediate critical and commercial success, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. The album feature ...
". That same year, he also co-wrote the song "
State of Shock" with
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
. He played with comedian
Sam Kinison
Samuel Burl Kinison ( ; December 8, 1953 – April 10, 1992) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. A former Pentecostal preacher, he performed stand-up routines that were characterized by intense sudden tirades, punctuated with his distinc ...
in 1991.
Hansen's Hendrix act first came to prominence with Randy Hansen's Machine Gun (1977–80),
with Larry Epperly on bass guitar and Tim Kelliher on drums. All three had previously been in a band called Kid Chrysler and the Cruisers.
Hansen's Machine Gun performed on bills with
Heart
The heart is a muscular organ found in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon diox ...
,
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...
, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and others, and were written up by ''Rolling Stone'' and ''Guitar Player''.
Randy Hansen's Machine Gun
Pacific Northwest Bands. Accessed 6 October 2008.
After his debut album, Hansen's emphasis continued to be on original releases of the Jimi Hendrix style of composition, in addition to including large numbers of Hendrix compositions in his live shows. One of the high points of Hansen's career was when he played a short series of concerts with a band that included the original Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer, Mitch Mitchell
John Graham "Mitch" Mitchell (9 July 194612 November 2008)In his book about the Experience, Mitchell states he celebrated his 21st birthday while on tour on 9 July 1967, which makes his birth year 1946.Mitchell's obituaries in '' Billboard' '' ...
and also with Buddy Miles
George Allen "Buddy" Miles Jr. (September 5, 1947February 26, 2008) was an American composer, drummer, guitarist, vocalist and producer. He was a founding member of the Electric Flag (1967), a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys (1969–1 ...
from Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsys
''Band of Gypsys'' is a live album by Jimi Hendrix and the first without his original group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was recorded on January 1, 1970, at the Fillmore East in New York City with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on dru ...
. Since 1991, Hansen has toured Europe almost every year with Manni von Bohr on drums and Ufo Walter on bass, in addition to performing at outdoor music festivals. He continues to perform as a solo artist in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere in the United States.
Hansen has four self-released CDs of original music in print, all available online - ''Old Dogs New Tricks'', ''Good Intentions'', ''Tower of Love'' and ''Funtown'' which was released on the German Jazzhaus records label. He continues to live in Seattle. As of 2008, Hansen is on the roster of Gen-X Entertainment Intl. Inc., who also represent bands ranging from the Amazing Rhythm Aces
Amazing may refer to:
Music Performers
* The Amazing, a Swedish indie rock band
Albums
* ''Amazing'' (Banaroo album), 2006
* ''Amazing'' (Elkie Brooks album), 1996
* ''Amazing'' (Marcia Hines album) or the title song, 2014
* ''Amazin'' (Tri ...
to the current incarnation of Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio album ...
.
Discography
* ''Randy Hansen'', (Now Hear This, 1971)
* ''Randy Hansen'' (Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
, 1980)
* ''Monster
A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...
'' (Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he hel ...
album) (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 ...
, 1980)
* ''Astral Projektion'' (Shrapnel Records, 1983)
* ''Classics Live - "A tribute to Jimi Hendrix"'' (Ananaz Records, 1992)
* ''Hendrix by Hansen'' (Grooveyard / Affengeil Records, 1993)
* ''Old Dogs New Tricks'' (Grooveyard / Green Tree Records, 1997)
* ''Thinking Of You' ' (Rudolf Music 2000)
* ''Tower Of Love'' (Grooveyard / Manni v. Bohr, 2000)
* ''Good Intentions'' (Grooveyard / Manni v. Bohr, 2003)
* ''Alter Ego'' (Randy Hansen, 2004)
* ''Live in Berlin'' DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
(Grooveyard, 2005)
* ''European Tour 2008 - Hendrix Live''
* ''Live In Boston - December 1980'' (Rudolf Music, 2008)
References
External links
*
Randy Hansen
at RudolfMusic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Randy
Living people
1954 births
Musicians from Seattle
American rock guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians