Sean Bonniwell

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Thomas Harvey "Sean" Bonniwell (born August 16, 1940, San Jose, CA), guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, is most famous as the main creative force behind the late-1960s garage rock band, The Music Machine.

During his teens, Bonniwell was inspired to form a high school vocal group after hearing the song "Only You" by The Platters. After high school, Bonniwell's first serious musical incarnation was that of clean-cut pop-folk guitarist for the quartet The Wayfarers. The Wayfarers released three LPs under the RCA label.

As the folk music craze died out, Bonniwell sought to create music with "fuzz and fangs." In 1965, he formed a trio called The Ragamuffins, which quickly grew into The Music Machine. Adopting Beatles-style moptop hair and all-black outfits (and Bonniwell's signature single black leather glove), Music Machine churned out a diversified style of garage rock. After the band debut LP spawned the successful single "Talk Talk" (1966), the original line-up broke apart. Bonniwell continued on with Music Machine, now signed to Warner Bros. and re-named The Bonniwell Music Machine (1967). Unhappy with the way thing were going, Bonniwell sold the rights to the band name to his label in order to be released from their contract.

In 1969, Bonniwell released a solo album ("Close") on the Capitol Records label. This recording marked a change in identity for Bonniwell, who not only chose to make gentle, sensitive music (contrasting that for which he was known), but also chose to record under the name of T.S. Bonniwell. The recording received minor label support and displeased Bonniwell enough that he left the music business altogether. He entered a period of spiritual quest and internal soul-searching, grew a beard, sold everything he owned, and drove around the U.S.

In 1996, Bonniwell self-published a memoir called "Talk Talk," which was later revised and re-titled "Beyond The Garage," published by the small press Christian Vision [1]. A few years later, Sundazed Records put out previously un-released Music Machine material from the 1960's, along with demo recordings from The Ragamuffins. Bonniwell claims to have written over 300 songs since 1970. (ref. Interview with Bonniwell PT 2)

Recently in 2006, Bonniwell has written and recorded his first new material in several years as a guest musician appearing on a self-titled debut album by The Larksmen, a garage rock group from Los Angeles, California. He appears on two songs entitled "Burn Like A Boy" (actually written back in 1967 for The Music Machine but never released) and "Out Of Darwin's Mind". [2] He is still active in the music industry as of March 2007.


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Persondata
NAME Bonniwell, Thomas Sean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American singer-songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH San Jose, California
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
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