Jim Cregan

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Jim Cregan
Birth name James Cregan
Born (1946-03-09) 9 March 1946
Origin Yeovil, Somerset, England
Occupations Musician. song writer
Instruments Bass Guitar, Guitar, Vocals
Years active 1960s–present
Associated acts Blossom Toes, Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, Rod Stewart, Streetwalkers,Farm Dogs, Linda Lewis, Janis Ian,Kathleen Keane, Peabo Bryson, Etta James, W.G Snuffy Walden, Joe Cocker, Willie Nelson, Katie Melua, London Quireboys, Glass Tiger, Grand Drive, Gaelic Storm, Roger Chapman
Website www.jimcregan.com

James "Jim" Cregan (born 9 March 1946), is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a record producer.[1] He has also worked with London Quireboys, Glass Tiger, Katie Melua and formed Farm Dogs with Bernie Taupin.[2]

Career

Born in Yeovil, Somerset, aged fourteen Cregan joined The Falcons, which was formed whilst he attended Poole Grammar School. After developing his next band The Disastisfied Blues Band, Cregan briefly joined with future Traffic frontman Dave Mason, in Julian Covay and the Machine in 1967 and moved on to join the rock and soul band The Ingoes as a vocalist and guitarist. This band soon morphed into the psychedelic Blossom Toes the same year, who later turned to guitar-led rock.[3]

After recording Julie Driscoll's eponymous album (1969),[4] Cregan joined the soft rock band Stud.[3] The group began as a trio featuring Cregan and dissolved when he moved to Family in September 1972, after recording two albums which were released in Germany, where they had their largest audience. He joined Charlie Whitney and Roger Chapman, replacing bassist John Wetton, adapting from rhythm guitar to bass guitar. He toured North America with the band, as the support act for Elton John, in the autumn of 1972.[4] Family recorded two singles and a final album It's Only a Movie (1973). A tour of the UK in the autumn of the same year preceded the demise of the band. Cregan was then briefly reunited with Chapman and Whitney on Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers (1974).[2]

He went on to work with British soul singer Linda Lewis, whom he would later marry.[3] Cregan appears on four of her albums, also assuming a production role on Fathoms deep (1973) and Not A Little Girl Anymore (1975), which gave him the opportunity to work with the Tower of Power horn section.[2]

In October 1974 Cregan was recruited as a guitarist by Steve Harley, as a member of a re-formed Cockney Rebel.[5] Harley and his new Cockney Rebel line-up recorded "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" (1975) at Abbey Road Studios. The song rose to #1 in the UK Singles Chart during 1975.[6] It eventually rose to #1 in Europe and Australia as well and featured a guitar break by Cregan,[7] widely believed to have been recorded during a sound check. However Cregan's acoustic guitar break was recorded late at night in Abbey Road Studios in several takes. In 1976 he joined Rod Stewart's band and became Stewart's musical director, co-producer and co-writer.

Cregan co-wrote many hits with Stewart, including "Passion" and "Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me)", winning the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) award for outstanding songwriting, with each. Cregan was awarded a third ASCAP "outstanding songwriting" award for his co-writing of the song "Forever Young" (1988) and Stewart was awarded a Grammy for his performance of this song. He stayed with Stewart until 1995 after twelve years working together. Cregan has received thirteen multi-platinum awards for his work with Stewart and together they have thirty recorded songs to their joint credit.[7]

In 1990 he spent time writing and producing heavy rock band London Quireboys's[3] Little Bit of What You Fancy (1990) which gave him singles chart success[8] and Canadian rockers Glass Tiger, who achieved international success and platinum selling albums.[7] They were also awarded three Juno Awards, received in Canada. In 1993 Cregan was reunited with Stewart to record "Unplugged...and Seated" which was also filmed by MTV and featured a guest appearance by Ronnie Wood. This recording became Platinum three times in both USA and Canada.[7] In the same year Cregan recorded Van Morrison's song "Have I Told You Lately"[2] (1993) with Stewart, which became a number 1 hit in UK and had top twenty success elsewhere.[9] Cregan's biggest concert appearance with Stewart was on December 31, 1994 at Copacabanain Rio de Janeiro,[3] where they appeared in front of a total estimated audience of over 3.5 million.[10] The Guinness Book of World Records states that this was "the staging of the largest outdoor concert in history".[11]

In 1995 he moved on to form Farm Dogs with Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin and they released two albums. During 1997 Cregan started to work with Windham Hill Records as both a producer and musician.[7] Over the next four years he worked as producer and musician with artists such as Janis Ian, Kathleen Keane, Peabo Bryson, Cat Stevens, W.G Snuffy Walden, Grand Drive, Gaelic Storm and Joe Cocker. His work achieved top five hits in different charts and several more platinum selling records.[2] He recorded two platinum selling albums with Katie Melua,[3] Call off the Search (2003)[12] and Piece By Piece (2005),[13] he has also toured extensively with her. Cregan was re-united with Roger Chapman in 2005, at first for live performances and then to produce Chapman's solo album One More Time For Peace (2007).

In 2008 Cregan formed Creative Music Management with renowned music business lawyer Robert W. Allan. Together they manage young singer songwriter, Charlie Hole. His first album "The Joy of a Caged Bird" produced and recorded by Cregan, was released in Dec 2012 on Cocomack records. Charlie has signed an International publishing deal with Rondor/Universal Music in Los Angeles and Fujipacific in Japan.

In 2011 Jim decided, for the first time, to form his own band, Cregan & Co. This gave him the opportunity to play live the songs he had written, recorded and co-produced with Rod Stewart. Jim is joined by Ben Mills (vocals) Sam Tanner (keys) Pat Davey (bass) and Harry James (Drums)

In Jan 2013 Roger Chapman agreed to reform Family for 2 sold out concerts in London at the Empire Shepherd's Bush. This coincided with Family winning Classic Rock Magazine's "Spirit of Progressive Rock" Award. Unusual, as the band hadn't played a note for 40 years.

2013 saw Rod Stewart's return to songwriting with his first efforts in nearly 20 years. The album was "Time" and it entered the UK album chart at Number 1.

Rod credited Jim with being the catalyst that started him writing again. The track "Brighton Beach", co produced by Jim, saw the return of their old writing partnership.

Discography

Blossom Toes

Julie Driscoll

Cat Stevens

Shawn Phillips

  • Second Contribution (1971)

Stud

  • September (1972)
  • Goodbye Live at Command (1973)

Family

Linda Lewis

  • Lark (1972)
  • Fathoms Deep (1973)
  • Not a Little Girl Anymore (1975)
  • Woman Overboard (1977)

Streetwalkers

Murray Head

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel

Rod Stewart

Bruce Roberts

  • Bruce Roberts (1978)

Mike Batt

  • Tarot Suite (1979)
  • Waves (1980)

Rita Coolidge

  • Love Lessons (1992)

Glass Tiger

  • Air Time: The Best of Glass Tiger as producer. (1993)

Farm Dogs

Katie Melua

  • Call off the Search Dramatico (2003)
  • "Closest Thing to Crazy" (2003)
  • Piece by Piece Dramatico (2005)

London Quireboys

  • "Little Bit of What You Fancy" as producer. Capitol Records (1990)

Roger Chapman

  • One More Time For Peace as producer. (2007)

Various artists

  • Tribute to Curtis Mayfield with Rod Stewart. (1994)

Personal life

Cregan married Hollywood, California model Jane Booke and they lived in Los Angeles. Recently Cregan has spent more time in London. On Steve Harley's BBC Radio 2 show aired in January 2004, he explained that he had grown tired of Los Angeles culture and has moved to UK.

References

  1. ↑ "Linda Lewis, singer songwriter". www.lindalewis.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-06-02. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Jim Cregan". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-06-02. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Epstein, Dmitry. "Jim Cregan, Let It Rock interview". dmme.net. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Joynson, Vernon. The Tapestry of Delights — The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B, Psychedelic and Progressive Eras. Borderline. p. 96,184,235,275,821. 
  5. ↑ Rees and Crampton. Rock Movers & Shakers. p. 229. 
  6. ↑ Hardy, Phil. Laing, David. Barnard, Stephen and Perrettta, Don. Encyclopedia of Rock. Schirmer Books (1988). p. 207. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 "Jim Cregan, biography". www.jimcregan.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
  8. ↑ "The London Quire boys". www.sleazeroxx.com. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
  9. ↑ The Billboard Book of Top Forty Hits. Billboard Books. 2004. p. 605. 
  10. ↑ Simpson, Matthew. "Rod Stewart concert at Copacabana, Rio. 1994". askmen.com. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
  11. ↑ The Guinness Book of World Records 1998. Guinness Publications. 1998. p. 182. 
  12. ↑ "Katie Melua Call Off The Search CD". CD Universe. Retrieved 21 November 2010. 
  13. ↑ "Piece by Piece". Katie Melua.com. Retrieved 2010-11-21. 

Further reading

  • The Guinness Book of World Records 1998. Guinness publications (1998). ISBN 978-0-9652383-5-9
  • Hardy, Phil. Laing, David. Barnard, Stephen and Perrettta, Don. Encyclopedia of rock. Schirmer Books (1988). Edition 2 revised. ISBN 978-0-02-919562-8
  • Joynson, Vernon. The Tapestry of Delights — The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B, Psychedelic and Progressive Eras 1963-1976. Borderline (2006). Reprinted (2008). ISBN 1-899855-15-7
  • Rees, Dafydd and Rampton, Luke. Rock Movers & Shakers. ABC-CLIO (1991) revised. Original from the University of Michigan. Digitized (Dec 29, 2006). ISBN 978-0-87436-661-7
  • Strong, M.C. The Great Rock Discography. Guinti (1998). ISBN 978-88-09-21522-1
  • Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 hits. Edition 8. Billboard Books (2004). ISBN 978-0-8230-7499-0

External links

Family
Studio albums
Compilations
Authority control
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