Garland Jeffreys

Garland Jeffreys (born July 3, 1943, Brooklyn, New York) is a part African-American, and Puerto Rican American, singerand songwriter, traversing the musical genres of rock and roll, reggae, blues and soul.



Contents
[hide]  *1 Career  ==Career[ edit] == Jeffreys is from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. He majored in art history at Syracuse University where he met Lou Reed, before The Velvet Underground became active.[1]  In 1966, Jeffreys began to play in Manhattan nightclubs includingGerde's Folk City, The Bitter End, Gaslight, Kenny's Castaways, and later Reno Sweeney, where he began to explore racially conscious themes in his work, sometimes utilizing blackface masks and a rag doll named Ramon in performance. Jeffreys played guitar on John Cale's 1969 debut solo album Vintage Violence and contributed the song "Fairweather Friend". In 1969 he founded Grinder's Switch with Woodstock-area musicians including pianist Stan Szelest, guitarist Ernie Corallo, and percussionist Sandy Konikoff. Lew Merenstein produced this one album before the band dissolved in 1970.
 * 2 Discography
 * 2.1 Solo
 * 2.2 Singles
 * 2.3 Contribution to others
 * 3 References
 * 4 External links

In 1973, he released his first solo album, Garland Jeffreys, on Atlantic Records. Around the same time Atlantic also released a single, "Wild in the Streets", that was not included on the album. Jeffreys wrote the song after hearing about a pre-teen rape and murder in the Bronx. Dr. John played clavinet and helped arrange the song, with backing from guitarist David Spinozza, drummer Rick Marotta, the Brecker Brothers on horns and David Peel on background vocals. The track received airplay on the progressive FM album-oriented rock stations, and has become one of his best-known songs.

"Wild in the Streets" has become something of an unofficial anthem for the skate community and been covered by several musicians, including:

In 1977 Garland recorded his Ghost Writer album for A&M Records, with "Wild in the Streets" included on side two. All the tracks are autobiographical, encompassing bittersweet tales about coming of age as an artist in the big city ("Ghost Writer"), of racial separatism ("Why-O"), of interracial romance ("I May Not Be Your Kind"), and of overcoming conflict at home ("Cool Down Boy").[citation needed]
 * The Circle Jerks, on their album Wild in the Streets
 * Chris Spedding, on the album Hurt
 * British Lions, on their album British Lions
 * Hot Water Music, on the album Til the Wheels Fall Off
 * Hurriganes, on Fortissimo

The next years saw a string of albums, five within five years, and the release of "Matador" (1979) which charted in the top five of a number of countries.[2]  This burst of productivity culminated with Guts for Love, a meditation on the challenges of monogamy and fidelity. After a long hiatus, much of it spend woodshedding, reading and researching, Jeffreys released Don't Call Me Buckwheat, devoted to the complexities of race in America. The title was triggered by an incident at Shea Stadium where Jeffreys was enjoying the game and feeling carefree. He stood to go get a hotdog when a voice shouted "Hey buckwheat, sit down!" The casual epithet was a jolt and it spurred a number of memorable songs including "Don't Call Me Buckwheat, " "I Was Afraid of Malcolm," "Racial Repertoire." In February 1992, Jeffreys' recording of "Hail Hail Rock 'n' Roll" (RCA PB49171), spent one week at #72 in the UK Singles Chart.[3]

Jeffreys was featured in the 2003 documentary The Soul of a Man, directed by Wim Wenders as the fourth installment of the documentary film series The Bluesproduced by Martin Scorsese. The film explored the musical careers of blues musicians Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J. B. Lenoir. Jeffreys was also featured on the cover of Beyond Race Magazine in February 2007. "Wild in the Streets" can be heard in the 2012 video game Max Payne 3.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">On May 28, 2012, at the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, Holland, Jeffreys joined Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band onstage for a performance of ? and the Mysterians' 1966 hit "96 Tears", which Jeffreys had covered on his 1980 album "Escape Artist".

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In September 2013, Jeffreys released the single "Any Rain" from his album Truth Serum on the LunaPark/Thirty Tigers label.[9] ==Discography<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Solo<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Singles<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Contribution to others<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ===
 * 1970: Grinder's Switch featuring Garland Jeffreys
 * 1973: Garland Jeffreys
 * 1977: Ghost Writer
 * 1978: One-Eyed Jack
 * 1979: American Boy & Girl
 * 1980: Escape Artist
 * 1982: Rock 'n' Roll Adult
 * 1983: Guts For Love
 * 1992: Don't Call Me Buckwheat
 * 1992: Matador & More...
 * 1997: Wildlife Dictionary (only released in Europe)
 * 2007: I'm Alive (only released in Europe)
 * 2011: The King of In Between
 * 2013: Truth Serum
 * 1998 Diamond Cuts: Turning Two (Vol. II) (Hungry For Music)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[7]
 * 2003 Johnny's Blues: A Tribute To Johnny Cash (Northern Blues)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[8]
 * 2003 Light of Day Tribute To Bruce Springsteen (Schoolhouse Records)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]
 * 2003 Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: The Soul Of A Man (Sony)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[10]
 * 2005 Elliott Murphy: Live Hot Point (Last Call Records)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[11]
 * 2011 "Occupy This Album: 99 Songs for the 99 Percent" (Music for Occupy)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[12]