| Ian Thornley | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Associated acts | Big Wreck, Thornley |
| Website | thornleymusic.com |
Ian Thornley is a Canadian rock guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is best known for his band Big Wreck as well as his solo project during the 2000s.
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Born and raised in Toronto, Thornley studied jazz music at Boston's Berklee College of Music in the 1990s, and formed the band Big Wreck in 1993 with classmates David Henning, Brian Doherty, and Forrest Williams. They soon relocated from Boston to Toronto and eventually signed a US record deal with Atlantic Records. Their 1997 debut album, In Loving Memory Of..., was a significant hit that year on rock radio in both Canada and the United States. Big Wreck released a follow-up in 2001 called The Pleasure and the Greed, but went on to break up in 2002.
Thornley subsequently returned to Toronto, where he played as a session musician on albums by Nickelback, Sarah Harmer and Stephen Fearing before launching a new band, Thornley, who released one album, Come Again, in 2004.
His follow-up record to Come Again, titled Tiny Pictures, was released in Canada on February 10, 2009 via 604 Records. The album was produced and mixed by Nick Raskulinecz.
In the fall of 2010, Ian Thornley started touring with ex-band mate Brian Doherty from Big Wreck. Ian has seemingly stopped calling his band "Thornley" and is officially touring under his full name.[1] On November 26, 2010, they were billed as "Ian Thornley and Big Wreck" at the Edmonton Grey Cup Festival.
Ian Thornley left 604 records in 2011 and signed with Anthem/SRO. During this time, he reunited with his former Big Wreck band mate, Brian Doherty, to resurrect the group. They then began work on a new album entitled Albatross, which will be released in early 2012.
His early influences were "folk blues like country blues and acoustic styles", and later the electric blues of Buddy Guy. At the age of 15, he got into rock and roll, but it was mellower, melodic rock like Supertramp. He also cites Bruce Cockburn as an influence to his guitar playing. Ian's first concert was Bruce Springsteen. It was after that show that he knew that was exactly what he wanted to do.[2]