Stan Penridge

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Stan Penridge (born January 9, 1951 in Port Chester , † May 11, 2001 in Austin ) was an American producer , musician and songwriter . His most famous song is Beth , released by Kiss in 1976 .

Musical career

Penridge was a student at the New York School of Music. From the age of 13 he was also paid for making music. He moved to New York in the late 1960s and played in Greenwich Village a . a. as support for Jimmy James & the Blue Flames , The Lovin 'Spoonful , The Blues Magoos and The Raves. At the age of 17 he worked as a studio musician for the group Pacheco & Alexander produced by John Oates .

In 1970 he became a member of the five-piece rock band Chelsea, which also included Peter Criss . He replaced guitarist Chris Aridas there after the group released their only album on MCA Records . In the new line-up, the band recorded a few demos , but did not create a full album. However, Penridge wrote the song Beck during this time . The lyrics came after Penridge simply wrote down guitarist Mike Brand's answers, which he gave to his wife Becky on the phone when she called during Chelsea rehearsals and asked him to come home and not spend so much time with his bandmates .

Chelsea broke up in August 1970 after the second guitarist and singer appeared late for a concert at the Yellow Front Saloon in Fort Lee, forcing the remaining three musicians to perform as a trio. Penridge later said:

“Everything that didn't work in Chelsea made LIPS great. The strong rhythm that Peter complimented freed Mike to fly. It fell together so naturally. Peter would roll off his toms into a crash and I'd solo, somewhere in the heavens, and I'd open my eyes just as Pete would come around to reel me in for the next verse. It was a magical group - and things like that just don't last long. "

“Anything that didn't work at Chelsea made Lips great. The strong rhythm Peter played inspired Mike. It came together so naturally. Peter could switch from his toms to the crash (pool) and I could go into a solo, lifted off somewhere in heaven, and I would open my eyes the moment Peter caught up with me for the next verse. It was a magical group - and things like that don't last long. "

- Stan Penridge

The three musicians continued together and called themselves Lips. On February 22, 1972, the group was given the opportunity to record five songs in the RCA studio. Another five songs were recorded at Bell Sound Recording Studios . The latter were test recordings for the label Kama Sutra Records, led by Neil Bogart . The company therefore also paid the studio costs. However, the band was not signed. When bassist Michael Benvenga got the impression that the work was going nowhere, he too left the band. Criss teamed up with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons to form Kiss.

During the 1970s, Penridge remained affiliated with Criss and wrote songs for Kiss use. Older songs that had been written for Lips were also used or rewritten, such as Baby Driver ( Rock and Roll Over , 1976) or Beck, which Penridge, producer Bob Ezrin and Peter Criss rearranged for the album Destroyer in 1976 and - was written. The text was adapted, the music orchestrated , and Kiss landed with the ballad, now called Beth , their first top ten hit in the USA and the People's Choice Award in 1977 in the Favorite New Song category . Penridge had co-wrote seven of the ten songs on the solo album released by Peter Criss in 1978 . In 1979 the song Dirty Livin ', written by him and Peter Criss in 1972, was part of the Kiss album Dynasty in a version edited by Vini Poncia .

After Criss left Kiss in 1980, Penridge wrote with him for his first album Out of Control and played guitar. After Criss' solo career flopped, he formed The Criss-Pendridge Alliance with Penridge in the spring of 1984. The group consisted of six musicians who went on tour as headliners , but also with other bands and artists such as Ratt , Eddie Money , The Atlanta Rythm Section, the Greg Allman Band and Alcatrazz . Penridge produced two demos for the group, after the recording of the second demo Peter Criss left the band under a pretext and broke off contact with Penridge. Penridge moved to Texas and became a music producer for jazz and country artists in the area around his new hometown, Austin.

Private life

Penridge was married and had a son.

Others

On February 28, 2000, Penridge filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles over outstanding royalty payments . It was directed against Kiss, the members of the group, the record company Universal Music Group and the music publishers involved . In March 2001, Penridge bought the contract that Peter Criss had signed to become a member of Kiss again on eBay for US $ 4,050 . He stated that information from this contract contradicts statements that had been submitted by the defense in the proceedings, so that he wanted to use the contract as evidence in his favor.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Interview with Stan Penridge (English), accessed on April 6, 2020
  2. ↑ a b c Musician / Songwriter Stan "Doc" Penridge Dead at 50, Dale Sherman's obituary for Stan Penridge , kissasylum.com (English), accessed April 6, 2020
  3. ↑ PETER CRISS And PAUL STANLEY Spar Over 'Beth' Songwriting Credits, blabbermouth.net (English), accessed April 6, 2020
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Information on lips from KISS Related Recordings , accessed on April 6, 2020
  5. ↑ lawsuit overview on plainsite.com (English) retrieved on April 6, 2020
  6. ↑ News archive from Blabbermouth.net (English), accessed on April 6, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Penridge, Stan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American producer, musician, and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Port Chester
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 2001
Place of death Austin