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Biography
for|the English cricketer|Leslie West (cricketer)BLP sources|date=June 2009Infobox musical artist| name = Leslie West| image = Leslie west-2.jpg| caption = Leslie West live at the Florida Theatre in 2008.| image_size =| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Leslie Weinstein| birth_date = Birth date and age|1945|10|22|mf=y|birth_place = New York City | death_date =| alias =| genre = Rock music|Rock , hard rock , blues-rock , Heavy metal music|heavy metal | occupation = Musician , songwriter | instrument = Guitar , Singing|vocals | associated_acts = Mountain (band)|Mountain , West, Bruce and Laing , The Vagrants | label = Sony Records|Sony , Blues Bureau International , Lightyear| years_active = 1965–present| website =| notable_instruments = Gibson Les Paul Junior Dean Soltero|Dean Leslie West signature model Westone (guitars)|Electra signature MPC model Leslie West (born Leslie Weinstein on October 22, 1945) is an American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known as a member of the hard rock band Mountain (band)|Mountain .
Biography
West was born in New York City , grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey , and in East Meadow, New York|East Meadow , Forest Hills, New York|Forest Hills and Lawrence, Nassau County, New York|Lawrence .Fischler, Marcelle S. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html? res=950DE7DC1030F936A25753C1A9609C8B63 "Nascent Hall of Fame to Welcome First Honorees"., The New York Times , October 15, 2006. Accessed November 26, 2007. "Dee Snider of Stony Brook, the shock-rocker from the 1980's heavy metal band Twisted Sister, known for his defiant metal anthem ''We're Not Gonna Take It,'' and Leslie West of the band Mountain, who grew up in East Meadow, Lawrence and Forest Hills, are also being inducted..." After his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West. His musical career began with The Vagrants , an R& B / Blue-eyed soul - rock music|rock band influenced by the likes of The Rascals that was one of the few teenage garage rock acts to come out of the New York metropolitan area itself (as opposed to the Bohemianism|Bohemian Greenwich Village scene of artist s, poet s and affiliates of the Beat Generation , which produced bands like The Fugs and The Velvet Underground ). The Vagrants had two minor hits in the Eastern United States|Eastern US : 1966's "I Can't Make a Friend" and a Cover song|cover of Otis Redding 's " Respect (song)|Respect " the following year.
Some of the Vagrants' recordings were produced by Felix Pappalardi , who was also working with Cream (band)|Cream on their album Disraeli Gears . In 1969, West and Pappalardi would form the pioneering hard rock act Mountain (band)|Mountain , which was also the title of West's debut solo album. This was the second great "power trio" of the period, after Cream ; Rolling Stone identified the band as a 'louder version of Cream'.Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, p674, Mountain, Rolling Stone Press, U.S., 2001. The group's name is widely believed to have been inspired by West's then-considerable physical bulk, although he subsequently lost a lot of weight. Initially the group did not feature a keyboardist, but one was later added to the band to keep them from seeming like a Cream imitation. With Steve Knight (musician)|Steve Knight on keyboards and original drummer N. D. Smart , the band appeared on the second day of the Woodstock Festival on Saturday, August 16, 1969 starting an 11-song set at 9PM.
The band's original incarnation saw West and Pappalardi sharing vocal duties and playing guitar and bass, respectively. New drummer Corky Laing joined the band shortly after Woodstock. They had success with " Mississippi Queen ", which reached #21 on the Billboard charts and #4 in Canada. It was followed by the Jack Bruce -penned "Theme For an Imaginary Western". Mountain is one of the bands considered to be forerunners of heavy metal music .cite book |last=Ingham |first=Chris |title=The Book of Metal |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |isbn=978-1-56025-419-5 |pages=204 |year=2002
After the breakup of Mountain, West and Laing would produce two studio albums and a live release with Cream (band)|Cream bassist Jack Bruce under the name West, Bruce and Laing . Mountain reformed in 1973 only to break up again in late 1974. But since 1981 it has continued to reform, tour and record on a regular basis.
West, along with keyboard player Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears , recorded with The Who during the March 1971 '' Who's Next '' New York sessions. Tracks included a cover of Marvin Gaye 's "Baby Don't You Do It," and early versions of "Love Ain't For Keepin'" and The Who's signature track " Won't Get Fooled Again ". Though the tracks were not originally included on the album (recording restarted in England a few months later without West or Kooper), they appear as bonus tracks on the Who's Next#Bonus tracks on 1995 remastered CD|1995 and Who's Next#Deluxe edition .282003.29|2003 reissues of ''Who's Next and on the 1998 reissue of Odds & Sods .
West also played guitar for the track "Bo Diddley Jam" on Bo Diddley 's 1976 ''20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album.
Leslie West and Joe Bonamassa recorded Warren Haynes ' "If Heartaches Were Nickels" together. West released it on Guitarded (2005), and Bonamassa on A New Day Yesterday (2000).
West contributed the music and co-wrote the lyrics to the song "Immortal" on Clutch (band)|Clutch's 2001 album Pure Rock Fury , which was a reworked cover of the song "Baby I'm Down" on Leslie West's first album.
In 2005 he contributed to Ozzy Osbourne 's Under Cover (Ozzy Osbourne album)|Under Cover album, performing guitar on a remake of "Mississippi Queen"
In addition to fronting Mountain, West continues to record and perform on his own. His latest solo album, entitled Blue Me , was released in 2006 on the Blues Bureau International label. In 2007 Mountain released Masters of War on Big Rack Records, an album featuring 12 Bob Dylan covers that sees Ozzy Osbourne providing guest vocals on a rendition of the title track.
West was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006. http://www.limusichalloffame.org Home of the L.I. Music Hall of Fame
West married his fiancée Jenni Maurer on stage after Mountain's performance at the Heroes_of_Woodstock_Tour#August_15.2C_2009_-_Bethel_Woods_Center_for_the_Arts.2C_Bethel.2C_New_York|Woodstock 40th anniversary concert in Bethel, New York (August 15, 2009). Over 15,000 people were present and the couple walked through a bridge of guitars held by Levon Helm , Larry Taylor and Corky Laing among others. West now lives in New Jersey . http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/ny-etwest1712978080jul16,0,5276384.story Leslie West to get married onstage at Woodstock Newsday July 16, 2009.
Johnny Ramone , a fan of West, has called him, "one of the top five guitar players of his era". http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/mountain/articles/story/5928296/johnny_ramone
West continues to make occasional appearances on radio, notably on Howard Stern 's radio show.
In May 1987, West played the band leader in a series of late night pilot shows for Howard Stern on the FOX network. He taped a total of 5 shows with Stern, which never aired. Stern went on to form a new show dubbed the Channel 9 show without Leslie.
West was affectionately nicknamed "The King of Tone" by his legions of fans, referring to his influential and world renowned guitar tone. West was also nicknamed "The Fattest Fingers in Rock N' Roll", due to his large build.
On June 20, 2011 West had his lower right leg amputated as a result of complications from diabetes .cite news|url= http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/21/us-lesliewest-idUSTRE75K00V20110621|title=Rock guitarist Leslie West's lower leg amputated|date=21 June 2011|work=Reuters|accessdate=27 August 2011 Leslie made his 1st public appearance after his surgery on August 13, 2011 http://www.bmansbluesreport.com/2011/11/leslie-west-is-back-1st-public.html#links
Equipment
West is renowned for helping popularize use of the Gibson Les Paul Jr. guitar with P90 pickups, along with the use of Sunn|Sunn Amplifiers , to create a tone which became his trademark sound.
Guitars
West frequently used two Les Paul Juniors, one "TV Yellow" and the other a sunburst.cite journal|last=Gress|first=Jesse|date=July 2009|title=10 Things You Gotta Do To Play Like Leslie West|journal= Guitar Player |volume=43|issue=7|pages=78–86|accessdate=2 February 2010 West also used a modified Gibson Flying V , with the neck pickup removed (he used the hole for an ashtray) and a P90 fitted at the bridge position, West also had a two-pickup Flying V which he used after the ash tray vee broke (the s/n of that flying vee is s/n 906965).Clarify|date=July 2010 West also used a plexiglass Dan Armstrong for slide guitar .
From 1977 to 1982, he used a signature http://www.rivercityamps.com/electra/west_1.jpg on-board effects MPC model guitar, created by the Japanese company Westone (guitars)|Electra . He currently uses a signature model from Dean Guitars , the USA Soltero Leslie West Signature model, fitted with a custom-designed Dean pickup called "Mountain of Tone."
West has also long favored Steinberger|"headless" guitars , and can be seen playing them on some of the videos he has appeared in. In an interview segment on "Night Of The Guitars - Live!" West stated that he had narrowed his commonly played instruments down to two: an off-the-shelf Steinberger and an Ed Roman LSR with DiMarzio pickups. So impressed was he with the LSRs that he agreed to serve as spokesperson and defacto salesman, the specific styles with his name on them available only directly from Ed Roman or else from West himself. http://www.edroman.com/guitars/lsr/leslie.htm
Amplifiers
In 2005, West received a sponsorship with Carlsbro amplifiers, and could frequently be seen playing through "Carlsbro 50 Top" valve heads. His studio amplifier is a Marshall JMP. Live, he used Marshall JCM 900s. He started endorsing and using Budda Amplification in 2008. He was also associated with Sunn amplifiers, and used a Sunn Coliseum PA head, when it was shipped to him by accident. He claims that this is the amp that gave him his signature sound in this http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/mountains-leslie-west-608/ Gibson Interview with West.
Effects
West uses Guitar effects#Octaver|octaver , Chorus effect|chorus and Delay (audio effect)|delay effects.
Discography
For his work with Mountain (band)|Mountain and West, Bruce and Laing , see their pages.
A compilation of singles recorded in the 1960s by The Vagrants was released as The Great Lost Album in 1986. Mountain also recorded a live album entitled 'Mountain - Live' (1972 Island Music - ZCI 9199) The B-side features an 18 minute version of "Nantucket Sleighride".
References
Reflist
External links
http://www.mountainrockband.com/ Mountain Official site
http://www.guitarjamdaily.com/index.php? option=com_content& task=view& id=821& Itemid=47 Audio Interview with Leslie West on Guitar Jam Daily
http://home.comcast.net/~gv0000/Mountain_Tour_Archive.htm Mountain Tour Archive
Mountain (band) Persondata | NAME =West, Leslie | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American musician | DATE OF BIRTH =October 22, 1945 | PLACE OF BIRTH = New York City | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:West, Leslie Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singers Category:Living people Category:1945 births Category:Mountain (band) members Category:People from Forest Hills, Queens Category:People from Five Towns, New York Category:Lead guitarists
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