Leslie West first gained recognition as the lead guitarist for
the Vagrants, a locally popular 1960s Long Island group. One of that band's singles was produced by
Felix Pappalardi, a bass player who also produced
Cream. After
the Vagrants and
Cream split up,
Pappalardi played bass on and produced
West's debut solo album,
Mountain (July 1969). Following its release, the two teamed up with drummer Norman Smart (soon replaced by
Corky Laing) and keyboard player
Steve Knight to form the band
Mountain. They cut the albums Climbing! (February 1970, a gold-selling LP featuring the Top 40 single "Mississippi Queen"), Nantucket Sleighride (January 1971, which also went gold), and Flowers of Evil (November 1971). In 1972,
Pappalardi left
Mountain to return to producing. (Posthumous record releases included
Mountain Live (The Road Goes on Forever) in April 1972 and
The Best of Mountain in February 1973.)
West and
Laing joined with former
Cream bassist
Jack Bruce to form
West, Bruce & Laing. The trio recorded two studio albums,
Why Dontcha (October 1972) and Whatever Turns You On (July 1973). A live album, Live 'N' Kickin', was released in April 1974.
Bruce quit in the summer of 1973, and
West and
Laing briefly formed Leslie West's Wild West Show.
West,
Pappalardi, Alan Schwartherg (drums), and
Bob Mann (keyboards) then re-formed
Mountain, recording a double-live album,
Twin Peaks (February 1974), in Osaka, Japan, in August 1973. This was followed by a
Mountain studio album, Avalanche (July 1974), made by
West,
Pappalardi,
Laing, and
Knight. Then
Mountain split again, and
West formed
the Leslie West Band, releasing
The Great Fatsby (April 1975), which featured
Mick Jagger, and
The Leslie West Band (1976), which featured
Mick Jones, later of
Foreigner.
Bedeviled by substance abuse problems,
West retired from music for a time, then cleaned up and again re-formed
Mountain with
Laing and bassist
Mark Clarke (
Pappalardi had died in 1983) for Go for Your Life (March 1985). The group broke up again, and
West made
Theme (1988), again teaming with
Jack Bruce.
West participated in the Guitar Speaks (1988) and Night of the Guitar (1989) recordings of legendary rock guitarists for IRS Records' Illegal subsidiary. His next solo album was
Alligator (August 1989), followed by
Dodgin' the Dirt (1994).
In 1994,
West and
Laing teamed with ex-Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist
Noel Redding in another edition of
Mountain, recording two tracks for the compilation
Over the Top (1995). The solo
As Phat as It Gets followed in 1999. After an album for Voiceprint,
Guitarded, in 2004,
West released two blues-inflected albums for Blues Bureau International, 2005's
Got Blooze and 2006's
Blue Me. He lost a leg due to complications from type 2 diabetes in June 2011, but it didn't slow him down much. He released
Unusual Suspects, which featured guest spots from guitarists
Billy Gibbons,
Slash,
Zakk Wylde,
Joe Bonamassa, and
Steve Lukather three months later in September. 2013's Still Climbing was another star-studded set that included contributions from bluesmen
Johnny Winter and
Jonny Lang,
Twisted Sister vocalist
Dee Snider, and
Creed and
Alter Bridge guitarist
Mark Tremonti.
West spent less time in the studio after releasing
Soundcheck in 2015, but he continued to tour regularly until 2019, when he was sidelined by ongoing health problems.
Leslie West died on December 22, 2020; he was 75 years old. ~ William Ruhlmann