Brian Setzer

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Brian Setzer (Salzburg, 2006)

Brian Robert Setzer (* 10. April 1959 in Massapequa , Long Iceland , New York ) is an American rockabilly - musicians , who with the formation of the band Stray Cats in 1979, an important contribution to rockabilly revival or neo Rockabilly wave of the 1980s performed.

Life and musical career

Beginnings

Setzer grew up in Massapequa, a small town on New York's Long Island. At the age of eight he started playing the tuba-like instrument euphonium and only discovered his passion for the guitar a little later . In the late 1970s Setzer played in the New York New Wave formation Bloodless Pharaohs and founded the rockabilly trio Brian Setzer and the Tomcats with Leon Drucker ( Lee Rocker ) and James McDonell ( Slim Jim Phantom ) , which later became Stray Cats renamed. In the summer of 1980 the three flew to London to seek their fortune as musicians.

Career

After a multitude of appearances in a wide variety of London clubs, they received their first record deal towards the end of the year and landed a top ten hit with their debut single Runaway Boys . With Rock This Town and Stray Cat Strut , two more placements followed in the top ten of the British charts. The band's debut album also hit the charts.

After the second less successful European album Gonna Ball , the Stray Cats returned to the USA. The US album Built For Speed , a compilation of the first two European albums from 1982, topped the Billboard charts and sold over two million times.

Another successful album Rant N Rave With The Stray Cats - produced again in Europe - followed before the band split up in 1984 and only released their US album Rock Therapy in 1986 for contractual reasons .

In the meantime, Setzer was involved in his solo projects and in 1986 released the mainstream rock album The Knife Feels Like Justice . Another solo album by Setzers followed in 1988, Live Nude Guitars , which was much more oriented towards rockabilly than its predecessor. In the same year there was a reunion of the Stray Cats, which in the following time released four more albums, undertook several tours and finally broke up again in 1994.

Brian Setzer with his orchestra at a concert at the White House .

Setzer remembered his childhood passion - the big band sound - and founded the "Brian Setzer Orchestra", a big band, which he prefixed with a guitar as a leading instrument and which sounded rockier than the usual big bands. After starting difficulties, two moderately successful albums, the breakthrough came in 1998 with the third album The Dirty Boogie . The album sold over three million copies and also brought Setzer two Grammys . The follow-up album Vavoom! couldn't keep up with its predecessor, but still received another Grammy.

It was only with the Christmas album Boogie Woogie Christmas from 2002 that Setzer was able to build on old successes in the orchestra area. Despite his work with the big band, Setzer remained true to his musical roots and occasionally releases rockabilly albums. So in 2001 ( Ignition ) and 2003 ( Nitro Burnin 'Funny Daddy ). In 2004, for the 25th anniversary of the Stray Cats, the band was reunited, which was followed by an extensive European tour.

In July 2005 Brian Setzer went on a European tour again and released the CD Rockabilly Riot as a tribute to Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins , Johnny Cash and other Sun artists ! Vol.1: A Tribute To Sun Records , with which he entered the German album charts.

In September 2007 the Brian Setzer Orchestra released its first new and regular studio album after seven years, which is entitled Wolfgang's Big Night Out . With this album, Setzer ventures into unknown territory and reworks classics by Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and others in a swing rockabilly style.

Others

  • Brian Setzer mainly uses Gretsch guitars .
  • In 1987 Setzer played his musical role model Eddie Cochran in the film La Bamba .
  • In the episode It's only Rock 'n' Roll (English original title How I spent my Strummer Vacation ) of the television series The Simpsons , Setzer has a guest appearance in which he dubbed himself alongside other music greats such as Lenny Kravitz and the Rolling Stones .
  • In 1998 he appeared in the sitcom The Nanny (season 5 episode 3) together with his orchestra.
  • The German Association of Journalists criticizes gagged contracts for photojournalists and highlights Brian Setzer as a particularly bad example

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
The Knife Feels Like Justice
  US 45 04/26/1986 (18 weeks)
Live nude guitars
  US 140 06/11/1988 (8 weeks)
The Brian Setzer Orchestra
  US 158 04/09/1994 (4 weeks)
The dirty boogie
  DE 55 03/22/1999 (5 weeks)
  US 9 10/03/1998 (43 weeks)
Vavoom!
  DE 33 08/14/2000 (5 weeks)
  US 62 August 19, 2000 (7 weeks)
Ignition!
  US 152 06/30/2001 (1 week)
Boogie Woogie Christmas
  US 141 12/28/2002 (3 weeks)
Rockabilly Riot Vol. 1: A Tribute to Sun Records
  DE 44 08/01/2005 (3 weeks)
Dig That Crazy Christmas
  US 56 12/17/2005 (8 weeks)
Wolfgang's Big Night Out
  US 141 10/13/2007 (2 weeks)
The Ultimate Christmas Collection
  US 180 December 20, 2008 (3 weeks)
Songs from Lonely Avenue
  US 123 October 31, 2009 (1 week)
Rockabilly Riot! All original
  DE 56 08/22/2014 (1 week)
  US 91 08/30/2014 (1 week)
Singles
Jump Jive An 'Wail
  UK 34 04/03/1999 (3 weeks)
  US 94 05.12.1998 (3 weeks)

Solo albums

  • 1986 - The Knife Feels Like Justice
  • 1988 - Live Nude Guitars
  • 1998 - Rockin 'By Myself
  • 2003 - Nitro Burnin 'Funny Daddy
  • 2005 - Rockabilly Riot Volume 1
  • 2006 - 13
  • 2014 - Rockabilly Riot! All original

Brian Setzer Orchestra

  • 1994 - Brian Setzer Orchestra
  • 1995 - Guitar Slinger (Japanese edition)
  • 1996 - Guitar Slinger
  • 1997 - MOM 2 (compilation)
  • 1998 - The Dirty Boogie
  • 2000 - Vavoom!
  • 2001 - Jumpin 'East of Java (Live, Japan edition)
  • 2002 - Best of the Big Band (Japan Edition)
  • 2002 - Boogie Woogie Christmas
  • 2004 - The Ultimate Collection (2 CDs, Live)
  • 2004 - Boogie Woogie Christmas (re-release)
  • 2005 - Dig That Crazy Christmas
  • 2007 - Wolfgang's Big Night Out
  • 2008 - The Ultimate Christmas Collection
  • 2009 - Songs from Lonely Avenue
  • 2010 - Don't Mess with a Big Band (Live)
  • 2011 - It's Gonna Rock (Live DVD)

Brian Setzer 68 Comeback Special

  • 2001 - Ignition!

Brian Setzer & The Nashvillains

  • 2007 - Red Hot & Live

Participation in soundtracks and compilations

[ in square brackets indicate whether as a solo performer (BS Solo), represented with the Brian Setzer Orchestra (BSO) or as Brian Setzer 68 Comeback Special (BS 68 CS) ]

  • 1987 - La Bamba (Soundtrack) [BS Solo]
  • 1994 - The Mask (Soundtrack) [BSO]
  • 1995 - Blue Suede Sneakers (compilation) [BS Solo]
  • 1996 - The Songs of West Side Story (Compilation) [BS Solo]
  • 1996 - Songs from the Aristocats (Soundtrack EP) [BS Solo]
  • 1996 - Jingle all the Way (Soundtrack) [BSO]
  • 1996 - MOM 1 (compilation) [BS Solo]
  • 1999 - MOM 3 (compilation) [BS Solo]
  • 1999 - Stuart Little (Soundtrack) [BSO]
  • 1999 - Three To Tango (Soundtrack) [BSO]
  • 2000 - Me, Myself & Irene (Soundtrack) [BSO]
  • 2001 - Disney's House of Mouse (TV soundtrack) [BSO]
  • 2002 - The Country Bears (Soundtrack) [BS 68 CS]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ IMBD: The Nanny: The Bobbi Flekman Story (1997) , accessed April 12, 2013
  2. ↑ No photos without gag , accessed on July 19, 2017
  3. ↑ a b Chart sources: DE UK US

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Setter, Brian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Setzer, Brian Robert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American rock and roll musician and actor
DATE OF BIRTH April 10, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Massapequa , Long Island , New York