Nick Gravenites

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Nick Gravenites
Gravenites playing to the crowd, 2006 Photo: Louis Ramirez
Background information
Also known as	Nick "The Greek"
Born	(1938-10-02) October 2, 1938 Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres	Rock, blues, rock and roll, folk rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer
Labels	Columbia, Warner Bros., Taxim Records, Line Records, Music Box, 2Burn1 Records
Associated acts	Big Brother And The Holding Company, John Cipollina, Paul Butterfield Blues Band,
Website	Nick Gravenites.com
Notable instruments
guitar

Nicholas George Gravenites (/ɡrævɨˈnaɪtɨs/; born October 2, 1938, Chicago, Illinois), with stage names like Nick "The Greek" Gravenites and Gravy, is a blues, rock and folk singer–songwriter, and is best known for his work with Janis Joplin, Mike Bloomfield and several influential bands and names of the generation springing from the 1960s and '70s.^[1] He currently resides in Occidental, California.

Career

According to author and pop music critic Joel Selvin, Gravenites is "the original San Francisco connection for the Chicago crowd." Gravenites is credited as a "musical handyman" helping such San Francisco bands as Quicksilver Messenger Service and Janis Joplin's first solo group, the Kosmic Blues Band. Nick wrote various songs for Joplin, including her Woodstock hit Work Me, Lord and the unfinished instrumental track "Buried Alive In The Blues". Gravenites also worked extensively with John Cipollina after producing the first Quicksilver Messenger Service album. He and Cipollina formed the Nick Gravenites–John Cipollina Band which toured a lot in Europe.

When the band Big Brother and the Holding Company reformed from 1969 to 1972 (without Janis Joplin), Nick was the lead singer.

Gravenites was also a songwriter for the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, which consisted of Elvin Bishop, Paul Butterfield, Sam Lay and Michael Bloomfield, then formed The Electric Flag with Butterfield guitarist Mike Bloomfield. Gravenites is also responsible for writing the score for The Trip, produced the music for the movie Steelyard Blues. He produced the pop hit "One Toke Over the Line" for Brewer & Shipley and the album Right Place, Wrong Time for Otis Rush, for which he was nominated for a Grammy Award. Together with John Kahn, Gravenites produced the album 'Not mellowed with Age' by Southern Comfort (CBS S 64125 - 1970). Over the years, Gravenites would often use pianist Pete Sears in his band "Animal Mind", including on his 1980 Blue Star album on which Sears played keyboards and bass.

In the early '80s, Gravenites performed and recorded with a revolving group of SF Bay Area rock, blues, and soul musicians called The Usual Suspects. Their first album, "The Usual Suspects," released in 1981, included Gravenites on vocals along with Mike Bloomfield, Pete Sears, Taj Mahal, Darol Anger, Peter Rowan, Mark Naftalin, Anna Rizzo, Ron Thompson, and others.

Gravenites and Sears played together in front of 100,000 people on Earth Day 1990 at Crissy Field, San Francisco. Sears also joined him for a tour of Greece.

He still performs live in northern California. Gravenites was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame in 2003 for his song "Born In Chicago". He recently toured with the Chicago Blues Reunion and a new Electric Flag Band.

Nick is featured in a documentary film entitled "Born In Chicago" where he and several other Chicago natives tell their story of growing up with blues music in Chicago. The film was shown at the SXSW festival in Austin, TX in 2013 and is appearing in various movie theaters around the west coast.

Discography

Albums

1968 Long Time Comin' The Electric Flag
1969 My Labors
1970 Be A Brother Big Brother and the Holding Company
1972 Joplin In Concert
1973 Steelyard Blues OST
1980 Blue Star (Line Records)
1981 The Usual Suspects
1982 Monkey Medicine The Nick Gravenites John Cipollina Band
1991 Live At The Rodon Nick Gravenites and John Cipollina (Music Box)
1996 Don't Feed The Animals
1999 Kill My Brain
2005 Buried Alive In The Blues (live)

References

↑ Skelly, Richard. "Biography: Nick Gravenites". Allmusic. Retrieved 7 June 2010.

External links

v t e Big Brother and the Holding Company

Sam Andrew Peter Albin David Getz Ben Nieves Cathy Richardson James Gurley Chuck Jones Janis Joplin Nick Gravenites Kathi McDonald Dave Schallock Mike Finnegan Tom Finch

Studio albums	Big Brother and the Holding Company Cheap Thrills Be a Brother How Hard It Is Can't Go Home Again

Live/compilation albums	In Concert Cheaper Thrills Live at Winterland '68 The Lost Tapes Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968

Singles	"Piece of My Heart"

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 46944817 LCCN: n93032799 ISNI: 0000 0000 5514 3253 GND: 134389840 BNF: cb137973067 MusicBrainz: a379ae75-2b88-46b0-bec3-7b3020acbb98

Persondata
Name	Gravenites, Nick
Alternative names
Short description	American musician
Date of birth	1938-10-02
Place of birth	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Date of death
Place of death

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