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BRIAN SETZER
Guitar Legendary Licks
Tab transcriptions complete with CD audio tracks for 12 Setzer standards, from the Stray Cats through his solo career: Built for Speed · The Dirty Boogie · Hoodoo Voodoo Doll · Jump, Jive An' Wail · Let's Live It Up · Rock This Town · Rumble in Brighton · Runaway Boys · Sleepwalk · Stray Cat Strut · Switchblade 327 · This Cat's on a Hot Tin Roof. Also includes a Brian Setzer Chord Dictionary and a Brian Setzer Scale Primer.
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Inventory # HL 2500397. Book/CD $19.95 (US).
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BRIAN SETZER
Born in New York City and raised in Long Island, Brian Setzer started forming rockabilly acts such as his Bloodless Pharaohs in the late '70s, finally putting together the Stray Cats (then known as the Tom Cats) in 1978. Finding the Long Island rock scene not very receptive to their neo-rockabilly stylings, the group tested their fortune in the UK in 1979, where they were found by artist-producer Dave Edmunds. After returning to the US in 1980 and again finding no success, they went back to England later that year and with Edmunds behind them, got signed to Arista Records in the UK.
The Stray Cats - Setzer, Slim Jim Phantom (drums), and Lee Rocker (upright bass) - burst onto the European music scene in 1981 with "Runaway Boys," "Stray Cat Strut" and "Rock This Town" topping the charts. However, they still were unknown and unsigned in the US until they played the TV show "Fridays" in 1982 and were quickly signed to EMI Records. Their debut US release of their previously-recorded work was titled Built For Speed and it shot to #2 on the Billboard charts.
Stars of the new cable channel MTV, the Stray Cats scored big with "Rock This Town" and "Stray Cat Strut," which reached #9 and #3 on Billboard's charts, and then followed up with their next album, Rant 'n' Rave with The Stray Cats, which produced the #5 hit "(She's) Sexy & 17" in the summer of 1983.
Internal strife led to the breakup of the band in 1984, but they regrouped in '86 for Rock Therapy, which failed to generate the excitement of their previous work. By this time, Setzer, who had been doing sideman work for artists including Bob Weir, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, and Robert Plant, was ready for his first solo album, The Knife Feels Like Justice.
The Stray Cats continued to break up and regroup every few years, recording their final EMI album, Blast Off, in 1989. On smaller labels, they've released Choo Choo Hot Fish in 1994, and most recently, Lonesome Tears for their 2003 reunion.
Solo-wise, Setzer released Live Nude Guitars in 1988, but it was several years later that he put together a 17-piece orchestra in the style of the old big bands and began to play classic swing with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, releasing their self-titled first album in 1994. When the swing revival of the late '90s hit, Setzer was at the forefront, particularly with his 1998 disc The Dirty Boogie (winner of two Grammy awards) and its hit single "Jump, Jive an' Wail". Whether performing with the Orchestra or the more stripped-down Brian Setzer Trio, he has developed a reputation as the hard-rocking king of swing with jazzy rockabilly, country and blues chops that just keep getting better with age.
Besides his band projects, Setzer also keeps busy with TV and movie soundtrack contributions such as Disney's The Country Bears and House of Mouse. His one and only movie acting part dates back to 1987's La Bamba, the Ritchie Valens story in which he portrayed his hero, rockabilly icon Eddie Cochrane, performing "Summertime Blues."
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