Leslie West

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Leslie West, live 2008

Leslie West (* 22. October 1945 in New York as Leslie Weinstein ) is the founder, singer and guitarist of the rock band Mountain .

Life

West was born in New York and raised in Hackensack, New Jersey . After his parents' divorce, he changed his last name from Weinstein to West. He learned to play classical guitar at the age of 12 . Later he was particularly interested in Cream and The Beatles . He was first a member of The Vagrants , which became successful in 1967 with the cover version of the song Respect by Otis Redding. The releases of the band The Vagrants were partly produced by Felix Pappalardi .

Mountain was founded in 1969 by West and Pappalardi. West had previously released his first solo album of the same name. Mountain was often compared to Cream , with whom Pappalardi had worked. The Rolling Stone called Mountain "a louder version of Cream". West's guitar playing always pointed towards rock , while Eric Clapton was still clearly stuck in blues rock at that time . Not only because of this, Mountain was often referred to as the first hard rock band in the world. It should be noted that Led Zeppelin's debut album was also released in 1969. Leslie West was later named by some guitarists from the hard & heavy sector such as Eddie Van Halen or Zakk Wylde as a role model or youth idol.

On Saturday, August 16, 1969, the band performed at the Woodstock Festival , complemented by keyboardist Steve Knight . The band had their greatest hits with Mississippi Queen and the Jack Bruce- written Theme for an Imaginary Western .

After the separation from Mountain, West and Mountains drummer Corky Laing released two studio and one live album together with Jack Bruce under the name West, Bruce & Laing . In 1974 Mountain reunited, but it did not last until the end of the same year. During this time, the last studio album "Avalanche" recorded with Pappalardi's participation was released. Mountain then appeared sporadically from time to time until today.

West worked musically in the 1970s with The Who on their album Who's Next and Bo Diddley's 1976 album. At the end of 1975, West was under discussion for some time as a replacement for Ed King, who had left Lynyrd Skynyrd . There were also joint publications and guest appearances with Joe Bonamassa and Ozzy Osbourne . West now counts Eric Clapton as one of his greatest musical influences.

In June 2011, West had part of his lower right leg amputated due to life-threatening complications from his diabetes. His first public appearance two months after the operation was the Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp at Gibson Studios on August 13, 2011 in New York.

Equipment

Gibson Les Paul Junior

Although in the further course of his life he used numerous other instruments and amplifiers that corresponded to his changed ideas about sound, today Leslie West is mainly associated with a Gibson Les Paul Junior. During the Mountain period, he favored one in the shade "sunburst" and one in "TV Yellow". As an amplifier he used Sunn amplifiers at the time . The sound of this combination is directly associated with Leslie West in the guitar scene today and has become his trademark. There is a Leslie West signature model from the Dean Guitars company, which except for the pickup is very reminiscent of a Les Paul Junior.

The Rolling Stone listed West in 2011 as 66th of the 100 best guitarists of all time .

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Mountain
  US 72 October 18, 1969 (14 weeks)
The Great Fatsby
  US 168 05/24/1975 (6 weeks)
Unusual suspects
  DE 51 07/10/2011 (1 week)
  AT 59 07/10/2011 (1 week)
Still climbing
  US 198 11/16/2013 (1 week)

Solo albums

  • 1969 Mountain
  • 1975 The Great Fatsby
  • 1976 The Leslie West Band
  • 1988 theme
  • 1989 alligator
  • 1989 Night of the Guitar - Live!
  • 1993 Live
  • 1994 Dodgin 'the Dirt
  • 1999 As Phat as It Gets
  • 2002 Mystic Fire
  • 2003 Blues to Die For
  • 2005 Guitarded
  • 2005 Got Blooze
  • 2006 Blue Me
  • 2011 Unusual Suspects
  • 2013 Still Climbing
  • 2015 sound check

Mountain

  • 1970 Climbing!
  • 1971 Nantucket Sleighride
  • 1971 Flowers of Evil , partly live
  • 1972 Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On , live
  • 1974 Twin Peaks , live
  • 1974 Avalanche
  • 1985 Go for Your Life
  • 1996 Man's World
  • 2002 Mystic Fire
  • 2007 Masters of War

West, Bruce and Laing

  • 1972 Why Dontcha
  • 1973 Whatever Turns You On
  • 1974 Live ´n´ Kickin´

swell

  1. ↑ Report to reuters.com
  2. ↑ Report to bmansbluesreport.com
  3. ↑ Signature model at deanguitars.com
  4. ↑ 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Rolling Stone , December 18, 2015, accessed August 8, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT US

Web links

personal data
SURNAME West, Leslie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weinstein, Leslie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH new York