* En anglais uniquement
Though he's hardly a cult persona,
Jerry Harrison has failed to be recognized as a crucial figure in the history of punk rock, a portion of the music which influenced it, and the styles which had grown out of punk more than 15 years later. Best known as the keyboard player and occasional guitarist of
Talking Heads during the 1980s,
Harrison had begun his career ten years before, playing with
Jonathan Richman's seminal
Modern Lovers during the early '70s. He recorded several solo albums while on occasional hiatus from
Talking Heads in the '80s, but when the band disintegrated in the late '80s,
Harrison resumed his busy production schedule, working with some hot alternative acts.
Born in 1949 in Milwaukee,
Jerry Harrison began playing with bands while in high school, and continued his work after graduation, while he studied at Harvard during the late '60s. By the beginning of the decade,
Harrison and bandmate
Ernie Brooks were encouraged to form a band by local Boston friend
Jonathan Richman. Named
the Modern Lovers, the group moved quickly and recorded demos in 1972 with
John Cale. Finally released in 1976, the songs proved to be a major influence on underground bands in New York;
the Modern Lovers had broken up by that time, though, with
Harrison going back to Harvard to teach. In April of 1976, however, he attended a
Talking Heads show in Boston and convinced them to let him join. The band signed to Sire just one year later, and became one of the most intelligent alternative bands of the '80s, recording an astounding variety of material and even earning several pop hits.
During an extended
Talking Heads vacation during 1981,
Harrison recorded his first solo album,
The Red and the Black. The album was recorded with
Bernie Worrell,
Nona Hendryx, and
Adrian Belew -- all of whom had appeared on
Talking Heads'
Remain in Light. Three years later, he released a hip-hop single on Sleeping Bag, recorded as
Bonzo Goes to Washington. His second full solo album, however, appeared three years later.
Casual Gods had a similar feel to his debut, with loose funk-rock grooves and an open-ended song structure (which suited
Harrison's vocals well) but boasted more tuneful songs.
Talking Heads was effectively disbanded by that time, and
Harrison had already begun producing in 1986, with
the Bodeans and
Violent Femmes. During the '90s and early 2000s,
Harrison became an important and respected producer, working on popular albums by
Live,
Crash Test Dummies,
the Verve Pipe,
No Doubt, and
the Von Bondies. He also helped launch garageband.com, an Internet resource for independent musicians. His playing was limited during these years, though he and fellow
Talking Heads alumni
Tina Weymouth and
Chris Frantz recorded as the Heads (
No Talking Just Head, 1996). In 2002,
Talking Heads played together again, if only for one night, to celebrate the band's induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. ~ John Bush