Carlos Alomar

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Carlos Alomar (born in Puerto Rico) is a guitarist, composer and arranger best known for his work with David Bowie.

Alomar was raised in New York, his father was Pentecostal Minister. From the age of ten he taught himself to play the guitar, and started playing professionally at age sixteen. In the 1960s her performed during "Amateur Hour" at the Apollo Theater, eventually joining the House Band, and backing many leading soul music artists. Circa 1968-9 he toured for eight months in James Brown's live band, eventually quitting after being docked wages for missing a musical cue. In 1969 Alomar formed a group called Listen My Brother with vocalists Luther Vandross, Fonzi Thornton (later in CHIC), and Robin Clark (Clark and Alomar later wed and had a daughter).

Alomar subsequently played as a session musician for RCA Recording Studios, and others including Ben E. King ("Supernatural Thing" 1975) and Joe Simon ("Drowning in the Sea of Love"). He also met drummer Dennis Davis while they were both playing with jazz artist Roy Ayers. Alomar then toured with the band Main Ingredient.

Alomar was one of the musicians recommended to David Bowie for his first American-recorded album Young Americans. Other players on these sessions included Alomar's friends Vandross, Clark, Davis, and bassist Emir Kassan. Alomar co-wrote Bowie's American #1 single "Fame" supplying the funky guitar riffs which were later copied for James Brown's 1975 recording "Hot (I Need to be Loved)". This began a long period of collaboration with Bowie, with Alomar leading the rhythm section of Alomar/Davis/George Murray that would underpin Bowies next recording phase, behind a variety of "lead guitarists" (Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew, Earl Slick etc.) Alomar also acted as musical director for two Bowie concert tours in the 1970s, as well as the record-breaking Serious Moonlight tour and the Glass Spider tour in the 1980s.

He has performed with a number of other famous musicians including Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, and Argentine Rock en Español Legends Soda Stereo. In all, Alomar has played on a total of 32 gold and platinum albums. He is currently the director of Boombacker Records. He is also the president of the New York chapter of The Recording Academy [1], the organization responsible for the Grammy Awards.

Alomar collaborated with Scissor Sisters for their sophomore album Ta-Dah, and one track from these recording sessions, "Transistor", featured his wife Robin and daughter Lea on backing vocals.