George Borowski
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George Borowski is a British guitarist and singer-songwriter, who has gained an indirect claim to immortality as Guitar George, a guitar player in the Dire Straits hit Sultans of Swing, who may have been a reference to Borowski.[1]
He was born in 1950, in Wrexham in North Wales to Russian and Polish parents. He is a great-nephew of the Russian composer, Sergei Rachmaninov. His family later moved to the north-west of England, where, as a teenager, he taught himself to play guitar, and played in a number of short-lived bands. After some years of this, while playing for a group known as The Out in Manchester, he was complimented by Mark Knopfler, who later wrote:
- Check out Guitar George, he knows all the chords
- Mind, he's strictly rhythm, he doesn't want to make it cry or sing
- Yes, and an old guitar is all he can afford
- When he gets up under the lights to play his thing.
Over the years that followed, George played with several other well-known musicians, including Sad Café, Meat Loaf and Teenage Fanclub. George has toured as a guitar tech and additional musician with bands such as Pixies and Teenage Fanclub, all of whom speak very highly of him.
He has released an album of his own compositions, "12 Cecil Road", in 2003.
[edit] Trivia
- On stage, he still plays the "old guitar" that was all he could afford in 1976.
- Like Mark Knopfler, his preferred tipple before going on stage is non-alcoholic; in his case, a large mug of coffee.
- His half-brother Tim is a highly rated footballer for German side Werder Bremen
[edit] References
- ^ "Guitar George", Q Magazine, 1996
