Blair Thornton

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Blair Thornton is a rock guitarist and songwriter most widely known for his work with the Canadian band Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO). He was born July 23, 1950 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Thornton was recruited by BTO to replace Tim Bachman in January, 1974. This occurred during the supporting tour for the Bachman-Turner Overdrive II album, and, in fact, Blair made his live debut with the band at a televised event for Dick Clark's In Concert program.^[1]

With the arrival of Blair Thornton, BTO began incorporating "dual-lead" guitar solos in many new songs (Blair soloing with primary lead guitarist Randy Bachman). Such solos were not a major feature on the band's first two albums. This is immediately apparent on the opening title track of the 1974 album Not Fragile, Blair's first with the group. As a songwriter, Thornton contributed two compositions to the Not Fragile album: "Givin' It All Away" and an instrumental called "Freewheelin'." He also co-wrote three songs for the follow-up 1975 album, Four Wheel Drive, including the title track (with Randy Bachman).

After Randy Bachman left BTO in 1977, Blair took over primary lead guitar chores for BTO on their next two albums: Street Action (1978) and Rock n' Roll Nights (1979). He also contributed several compositions to these albums. Blair rejoined the Not Fragile line-up (Randy Bachman, Rob Bachman, and Fred Turner) in 1988. In 1991, Randy Bachman exited the group again and this time was replaced by Vancouver guitarist/singer Randy Murray. This version of BTO proved out to be the most enduring, as they toured together until the latter part of 2004.

He currently enjoys a quiet semi-retirement with his wife, Shane.