ABout me.
The son of a classical pianist and a psychiatrist, I first saw the light on February 9, 1964, when the Beatles played on The Ed Sullivan Show.
The next day I formed my first band, The Limestones, with whom I performed on Philadelphia’s ‘The Gene London Show’. Throughout the seminal 60s and 70s I was inspired by seminal and varied artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Jeff Beck, The Rolling Stones, Fairport Convention, The Strawbs, Traffic, The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, and less lauded but equally powerful influences such as Autosalvage and Quicksilver Messenger Service.
At 16 I started writing songs for my first band, "Evil Seed". I got hooked on performing as the band played all original music at "Be-ins" at Belmont Plateau, in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. By the mid 70s, while studying Physics at the University of Pennsylvania, I met my musical soul mates and closest friends. Rob Hyman, Rick Chertoff, with whom I bonded in a creative unit which remains strong to this day.
After two near-misses, Rob and I founded The Hooters in 1980. After dominating Philadelphia’s club and concert scene, we released an independent EB, “Amore”, which sold over 100,000 copies in Philadelphia alone. In 1982 we took a break from the stage to arrange and record Cyndi Lauper’s Rick Chertoff-produced groundbreaking debut, “She’s So Unusual”. During this process Rob and Cyndi wrote “Time After Time”, featuring some of my proudest moments as a guitarist.
After signing with Columbia in 1984 we released "Nervous Night", which sold in excess of 2 million copies and included Billboard Top 40 hits such as "Day By Day", “And We Danced”, and "Where Do The Children Go". As a result, The Hooters were asked to perform at three of the most important musical events of the century: The Live-Aid Concert, 1985 in Philadelphia, Amnesty International Concert at Giants Stadium in 1986, and Roger Waters’ extravaganza at The Wall in Berlin in 1990.
We followed our Columbia debut with “One Way Home” in 1987, containing “Johnny B”, which opened the door to Germany for us, and “Satellite”, which brought us to England’s “Top Of The Pops”. In 1989 we released “Zig Zag”, and our cover of “500 Miles” which brought us to Scandinavia and cemented our long-standing relationship with Germany.
The ever-shifting landscape of the Record Business saw the band move to MCA Records in 1993, and the release of “Out Of Body”, which achieved Gold and Platinum status in Sweden and Norway. Featured tracks were a duet with Cyndi Lauper entitled “Boys Will Be Boys”, and the ballad “Private Emotion”, later covered by Ricky Martin on his “La Vida Loca” album, produced by my legendary friend Desmond Child.
As a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer I’ve worn many hats. I got to wear all of them while involved with Joan Osborne’s debut project. "Relish" was nominated for 6 Grammy Awards in 1996 including Song Of The Year for "One Of Us", which I wrote one night to impress a girl (tack, Sarah).
Many doors were opened as a result of this, and I had to opportunity to write for (and sometimes produce) artists such as Billie Myers/"Kiss The Rain", Robbie Williams /"Old Before I Die", Amanda Marshall/"Believe In You", Ricky Martin/"Private Emotion" (as noted above) and “Lo Mejor Di Mi Vida Eres Tu, The Scorpions/”The Best Is Yet To Come”, and many others.
In the middle of all this, I somehow made time in 2000 to release my long-un-awaited debut solo album "The Optimist". "A Very Dull Boy", my sophomore effort, followed in May 2002.
In 2012 I released “What Shall Become Of The Baby”, an album with my good friend and long-term collaborator Mats Wester in Sweden. Since then I’ve been writing with and producing numerous artists in a myriad of musical styles, both at my studio at home in Pennsylvania and in my provisional basement studio in Stockholm, Sweden.
I am so happy to be able to continue to tour with The Hooters, as well as performing selected solo shows and special event tours such as Rock Meets Classic in Germany (2013 & 2018) as wells as Night Of The Proms in 2019. I also get great joy in sharing my experience and perspective at workshops globally.
I am currently riding out the pandemic storm in Stockholm, while working with new and developing artists such as Alexxis And The Medicine in Philadelphia, and Manu in Slovenia. I am very much looking forward to releasing an as-yet-untitled solo album in the Spring of 2021.
Eric Bazilian, Autumn 2020
