Bobby Sheehan (1968-1990)

-

Bobby Sheehan (1968-1990)

Robert Vaughan Sheehan was born on June 12th, 1968 in Summit, New Jersey. Bobby was a musician and songwriter best known as a founding member and bassist of the band Blues Traveler; which he co-founded in 1987. He attended the Berklee College of Music. 

Accomplishments:
Blues Traveler released their self-titled debut album in 1990, with the song "But Anyway" getting airplay on college radio stations. The album included Joan Osborne on backing vocals on two tracks.
A second album, Travelers and Thieves, followed in 1991. Upon Bill Graham's death that year, they released a live EP, On Tour Forever, as a tribute to Graham, which featured guitarist Carlos Santana. The group was becoming well known in the new wave of jam bands that was developing in the early 1990s.

Around this time, the mainstream national audience was exposed to Blues Traveler by television host David Letterman, who has introduced them as "[his] favorite band". The band has since made more appearances on The Late Show than any musical artist. Letterman's band leader Paul Shaffer has played on a number of Blues Traveler recordings.

In 1992, the group founded the H.O.R.D.E. festival as an alternative to others such as Lollapalooza, along with other bands such as Phish and Spin Doctors. Blues Traveler began recording their third album, Save His Soul. Recording was temporarily interrupted by John Popper's motorcycle accident, although the band resumed touring shortly thereafter with Popper in a wheelchair. Two singles were released from the album, "Defense & Desire" and "Conquer Me", which reached No. 34 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

The band's fourth album, titled four, was produced by the team of Michael Barbiero and Steve Thompson and released in late 1994. The upbeat pop single "Run-Around" became the group's first chart hit followed by the catchy "Hook". "Run-Around" won a Grammy Award and broke a record for most weeks on the chart.

Blues Traveler appeared at Woodstock '94 and later became an opening act for The Rolling Stones. The band played on the 1995 season premiere of Saturday Night Live as a last-minute replacement for Prince. They were featured in an episode of the sitcom Roseanne, and later recorded the show's theme song for its final season. The 1996 comedy film Kingpin featured the group playing their song "But Anyway" during the closing credits.

The group recorded the Johnny Rivers song "Secret Agent Man" for the film Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls at Icon Recording Studios in St. Louis, Missouri and the Bob Seger song "Get Out of Denver" for the film Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, as well as Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'" for Rebel Highway: Cool and the Crazy. Several previously recorded Blues Traveler songs were included on film soundtracks, including The Last Seduction, Speed, Very Bad Things, White Man's Burden, and The Truth About Cats & Dogs. The band also appeared in the film Blues Brothers 2000 and on its soundtrack, playing "Maybe I'm Wrong", an original composition with a classic blues-rock sound. Blues Traveler recorded the Sly & the Family Stone song "I Want to Take You Higher" for the NORML compilation album Hempilation and the John Lennon song "Imagine" for the Lennon tribute album Working Class Hero. The original song "Christmas" was included on the benefit album A Very Special Christmas 3.

The double live album, Live from the Fall, was released in 1996. It featured recordings from the band's autumn 1995 concerts and showcased the strength of the band's live performances.
The next studio album, Straight On till Morning, also produced by Barbiero/Thompson, was released in 1997. It achieved platinum status, reaching number 11 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, but did not perform as well as four. The single "Carolina Blues" peaked at number four on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.

By the end of 1998, the band had prepared a concept album called The Sun, The Storm and The Traveler, based on Aesop's fable of The North Wind and the Sun, and they planned to record it after a recess in the fall of 1999. That summer, John Popper had emergency heart surgery due to artery blockage, forcing the band to cancel their annual July 4th Red Rocks shows at the last minute.

Charities and Causes: 
Abuse, At-Risk/Disadvantaged Youths, Disaster Relief, Family/Parent Support, Grief Support, Homelessness, Senior Citizen Support

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Joel Rundell (1965-1990)

-
Image
Joel Rundell (1965-1990) Joel Fronk Rundell was born on September 26th, 1965 and is best known as one of the 4 original members of the band Better Than Ezra. He and the other members formed the band while attending Louisiana State University. Nearly a year after the formation of the band they released their first album Surprise.  Achievements: Better Than Ezra circulated a demo cassette tape later in 1988, the Chimes Street Demo. While not an official release, this demo is sought-after by the band's fans, and traded by collectors. In 1990 the band released a cassette-only album, Surprise. Charity: Better Than Ezra Foundation
Read more

John Holohan (1973-2005)

-
Image
John Holohan (1973-2005) John Holohan, better known as John Beatz, was drummer in Long Island, New York based punk band Bayside. Born March 15, 1973. Achievements: Bayside was formed by Anthony Raneri and Mike Kozak in October 2000[2] in Queens, New York City. The band got its name when on their way to a New Found Glory show on Long Island, with the intention of giving New Found Glory a demo CD, and they were trying to think of a name to write on the CD. They passed the Bayside train station, and decided to write "Bayside" on the CD simply as a name for New Found Glory, but the name became permanent.[3] The group self-released a 5-song demo and signed to Dying Wish Records to issue their first release, Long Stories Short EP in 2001. In 2003 the band released a split EP with Name Taken, entitled Bayside/Name Taken, with Dying Wish Records. Later in 2003, Bayside signed to Victory Records, where the band resided for the next six years. Bayside's debut full
Read more

Rust Epique (1968-2004)

-
Image
Rust Epique (1968-2004) Charles Lopez better known by his stage name Rust Epique, was an American guitarist and painter, who performed with the bands Crazy Town and pre)Thing. In 1999, Rust Epique joined Crazy Town, a rap metal band from Los Angeles. Despite his success with Crazy Town, Epique quit the band as a result of various disagreements with his bandmates. In 2003, V2 Records signed Epique to work with a band called Pre)Thing. They released their debut album, 22nd Century Lifestyle, in 2004. Accomplishments:  After cutting some demos Rust signed with V2 Records in 2002. He then reassembled and re-formed an ensemble called Rustandthesuperheroes. Soon after, they began playing clubs in the Los Angeles area. Due to a trademark conflict with Hanna-Barbara, the band couldn't use a moniker with the phrase "Superheroes" in it, so they used a name that Rust had created years earlier in Modesto. "pre)Thing". At the Dragonfly in January 2003, they
Read more