Joe Perry (musician)

Joe Perry

Perry performing with Aerosmith on July 1, 2012 at the Nassau Colliseum.
Background information
Birth name Anthony Joseph Perry
Born September 10, 1950
Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States
Genres Hard rock, blues rock, heavy metal
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active 1970–present
Associated acts
Website www.joeperry.com
Notable instruments
Joe Perry Signature Model Les Paul
Joe Perry Signature Model ES-335
Fender Stratocaster
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Gibson Les Paul Custom

Anthony Joseph "Joe" Perry (born September 10, 1950) is the lead guitarist, backing and occasional lead vocalist, and contributing songwriter for the rock band Aerosmith. He was ranked 84th in Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.[1] In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Aerosmith, and in 2013, Perry and his songwriting partner Steven Tyler were recipients of the ASCAP Founders Award and were also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.[2][3] In October 2014, Simon & Shuster released Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith, written by Joe Perry with David Ritz[4]

Biography

Early life (1950–1970)

The paternal side of Perry's family are Portuguese, originally from Madeira. His grandfather changed the family's name from Pereira to Perry upon arriving in the United States. His maternal side is Italian, more specifically Neapolitan.[5]

Perry was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and grew up in the small town of Hopedale, Massachusetts. There, his father was an accountant and his mother a high school gym teacher and later an aerobics instructor. She later retired to Arizona when Perry's father died in 1975. Perry also attended the prep school Vermont Academy, a boarding school of about 232 students in Saxtons River, Vermont.

A substantial early influence on Perry's music was The Beatles. "The night The Beatles first played The Ed Sullivan Show, boy, that was something. Seeing them on TV was akin to a national holiday. Talk about an event. I never saw guys looking so cool. I had already heard some of their songs on the radio, but I wasn't prepared by how powerful and totally mesmerizing they were to watch. It changed me completely. I knew something was different in the world that night."[6]

Formation and initial success of Aerosmith (1970-1979)

Main article: Aerosmith

During Perry's early years he formed a band with Tom Hamilton called The Jam Band. Steven Tyler, Joe, Tom, Brad Whitford and Joey Kramer eventually joined and the band became Aerosmith. While initially dismissed as Rolling Stones knock-offs, the band came into its own during the mid-1970s with a string of hit records. Chief among these successes were Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976), thanks largely to the prevalence of free-form, album-oriented FM radio. The group also managed hit singles on the radio with songs like "Dream On", "Same Old Song and Dance", "Sweet Emotion", "Walk This Way", "Back in the Saddle", and "Last Child".

During this time, Perry and vocalist Steven Tyler became known as the "Toxic Twins" for their notorious hard-partying and drug use. Aerosmith's crowd earned the nickname "The Blue Army", so called by the band after the seemingly endless number of teenagers in the audience wearing blue denim jackets and blue jeans. The audience was abundantly male with long hair.

Following Rocks, the group began to stumble - drug use escalated and the creative process became hampered by strained relationships within the band. This was highlighted during the recording process for their next album, which was recorded at an abandoned convent in upstate New York. During their time there, Tyler and Perry would spend much of the time in their rooms, getting high, away from the rest of the band, and would often record their parts separately. The band, hampered by heavy drug use and distracted by hobbies such as driving fast cars on the nearby parkways and shooting high-powered firearms in the building's attic, struggled to come up with material. Draw the Line, released in 1977, became a hit nonetheless, going double platinum. However, it was not as successful as their prior efforts, with the singles "Draw the Line" and "Kings and Queens" both charting in the Hot 100, but failing to crack the Top 40. On the album, Perry sang lead vocals on the track "Bright Light Fright". The band toured throughout 1977 and 1978 in support of the album, but increasing violence at concerts (such as bottles, cherry bombs, M-80s, and firecrackers being thrown on-stage, including several notorious incidents at The Spectrum in Philadelphia) as well as the band's heavy drug use began to mar the performances. In 1978, Aerosmith released the live collection Live! Bootleg, released the stand-alone single "Chip Away the Stone", and starred as "The Future Villain Band" in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. For the film, the band released a cover of The Beatles' "Come Together", which would become the band's last Top 40 hit for nearly a decade.

Decline of Aerosmith and formation of Joe Perry Project (1979-1984)

In 1979, Aerosmith headlined over Van Halen, Ted Nugent, AC/DC and Foreigner during the world music festival concerts. An argument backstage in Cleveland resulted in Perry's wife throwing a glass of milk at Tom Hamilton's wife. After a heated argument between Tyler and Perry, Perry quit Aerosmith part-way through the recording of the album Night in the Ruts, with the remainder of his parts played by temporary guitarists. Perry took a collection of unrecorded material with him, which would later become the basis of his album Let the Music Do the Talking, released in 1980. The album went on to sell 250,000 copies. Equipped with a new record label (MCA Records) and three new band members in singer Mach Bell, bassist Danny Hargrove and drummer Joe Pet, The Joe Perry Project released the follow-up I've Got the Rock'n'Rolls Again (1981) and Once a Rocker, Always a Rocker (1983). These albums didn't fare as well as The Project's debut, selling only 40,000 copies apiece. Despite the poor sales, The Project went out on a final tour in support of the album, adding then ex-Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford to the line-up. During this tour, The Project performed in a series of co-bills with Huey Lewis and the News.[7][8][9]

Reunion of Aerosmith and return to the spotlight (1984-1999)

In February 1984, both Perry and Whitford met up with their old bandmates in Aerosmith, which led to them re-joining the band two months later. Aerosmith signed a new record deal with Geffen Records (which coincidentally was sold to MCA in 1990, absorbing the MCA label 13 years later). When Perry re-joined Aerosmith, he brought on his manager Tim Collins to manage the band. Collins would help orchestrate much of Aerosmith's success over the next decade.

In 1984, Aerosmith embarked on the successful comeback tour, the "Back in the Saddle Tour".[8] The following year, the band released their first album since re-uniting, Done with Mirrors, which was received favorably by critics but did not fare as well commercially, only going gold and failing to generate a hit single, aside from the rock radio cut, "Let the Music Do the Talking", a remake of Perry's 1980 solo song.[10] In 1986, Perry and Tyler collaborated with Run-D.M.C. in a remake of Aerosmith's 1975 hit "Walk This Way", which helped break rap into mainstream popularity and brought Aerosmith renewed mainstream attention as well.[11] After completing drug rehabilitation, Aerosmith went on to collaborate with various big-name songwriters (such as Desmond Child and Jim Vallance), producers (Bruce Fairbairn), A&R men (John Kalodner), and music video directors (Marty Callner and David Fincher) to launch their true comeback, with the successful multi-platinum albums Permanent Vacation (1987), Pump (1989), and Get a Grip (1993),[12] which were backed by many hit singles ("Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", "Angel", "Rag Doll", "Love in an Elevator", "Janie's Got a Gun", "What it Takes", "The Other Side", "Livin' on the Edge", "Cryin'", "Amazing", and "Crazy"),[13] popular music videos, and worldwide concert tours.[14][15] The band won several awards throughout the 1990s, including four Grammy Awards[16] and ten MTV Video Music Awards.[17] Perry and Tyler resumed their friendship, again co-writing songs and performing very close together on stage, as well as vacationing together with their families after the conclusion of the Get a Grip Tour. However, tensions in the band boiled in 1996, while the band was in the midst of recording their next album. While songwriting and recording sessions in Miami had begun well, the band's manager began pressuring the band members, spreading false information to the band members, and keeping the band members separate from one another, almost causing Aerosmith to breakup.[18] While grateful for all he had done to help resurrect their careers, Aerosmith fired Collins in 1996 and carried on with new management.[8] The double platinum Nine Lives was finally released in 1997. Nine Lives was fueled by the hit singles "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)" and "Pink" and supported by the three-year-long Nine Lives Tour. During this time, Perry also starred in a commercial for The Gap with Steven Tyler. The band also released their bestselling tell-all book Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith. In 1998, Perry helped conceive the group's first number one single, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", with pop songwriter Diane Warren. It appeared on the soundtrack to the hit film Armageddon, in which Tyler's daughter Liv starred.[19] In 1999, the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith opened at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.[20] On September 9, 1999, Perry and Tyler reunited with Run–D.M.C. and were also joined by Kid Rock for a collaborative live performance of "Walk This Way" at the MTV Video Music Awards.[21]

Continued success of Aerosmith and solo albums (2000-present)

In 2001, Aerosmith performed at the Super Bowl XXXV half-time show and released the platinum-certified Just Push Play, which included the Top 10 single "Jaded". Shortly after the album's release, Perry was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Aerosmith. The band subsequently went on the eight-month-long Just Push Play Tour and went on to tour every following year, with the exception of 2008. The Aerosmith blues cover album Honkin' on Bobo was released in 2004. Perry released his first solo record, the self-titled Joe Perry, in May 2005. It was recorded at his home studio (The Boneyard) in suburban Boston, with every instrument but the drums played by Perry himself. Critics also responded favorably; Rolling Stone magazine crowned it with three-and-a-half (out of five) stars, declaring "A Joe Perry solo joint? about time!" He was also nominated for "Best Rock Instrumental" at the 2006 Grammys for the track "Mercy" but lost to Les Paul. In 2006, Perry performed alongside Steven Tyler for a three-song medley ("Dream On", "Walk This Way", "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing") with the Boston Pops Orchestra as part of a nationally-televised event to celebrate the Fourth of July in Boston, Massachusetts.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, a video game featuring the band's songs, was released in 2008. In 2009, while on tour with Aerosmith, Perry announced that he would be releasing a new Joe Perry Project album entitled Have Guitar, Will Travel, which was released on October 6, 2009. The first single from the album was "We've Got a Long Way to Go."[22] This marks the first Joe Perry Project album since 1983's Once a Rocker, Always a Rocker, and the fifth Joe Perry solo album in total, counting the 2005 self-titled album. He toured Europe and the States in late 2009 and early 2010 in support of the album.[23] After Tyler fell off a stage during an Aerosmith show in August 2009 in Sturgis, South Dakota during the band's Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Tour (causing the rest of the ill-fated tour to be canceled), tensions flared between Tyler and his bandmates, especially Perry, and it got to the point where the band members weren't speaking to each other. Media reports began to circulate that Tyler had left the band and that Perry and the other members of Aerosmith were seeking out a new singer to replace Tyler. On November 10, 2009, at a Joe Perry Project concert in New York City, Tyler made a surprise appearance, assuring the crowd he was not quitting Aerosmith and performed "Walk This Way" with the band. After Tyler completed drug rehabilitation in early 2010, he got back together with his bandmates and they announced a world tour called the Cocked, Locked, Ready to Rock Tour which took place in the spring and summer of 2010. While on tour, several on-stage incidents (including Tyler accidentally hitting Perry in the head with his mic stand and Perry bumping Tyler off the stage) as well as Tyler signing on to be a judge on American Idol without telling his bandmates caused tensions to again flare between Tyler and Perry, but cooled once again by the time the tour ended.

Perry performing with Aerosmith in April 2013.

Aerosmith then proceeded to spend much of the summer of 2011 recording their next album, their first of predominantly original material in a decade. Like Honkin' on Bobo, their next album was produced by a team that included Perry, Tyler, Jack Douglas, and Marti Frederiksen. The band toured Japan and South America in late 2011 and continued recording in early 2012. In May 2012, their new single "Legendary Child" was released and performed live on the season finale of American Idol. It was also announced that the band's new album would be titled Music from Another Dimension! and would be released in August 2012; the album's release date would later be pushed back to November 2012. Two more singles ("What Could Have Been Love and "Lover Alot") were released in advance of the album. The band supported the album with the Global Warming Tour, which lasted for much of summer and fall of 2012 and appearances on national television programs. The band is expected to continue to tour in 2013. In January 2013, the single "Can't Stop Lovin' You" (a duet with country star Carrie Underwood) was released, and in February, it was announced that Perry and his songwriting partner Steven Tyler would be recipients of the ASCAP Founders Award at the society's 30th Annual Pop Music Awards on April 17[2] and that the duo would be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at a ceremony to be held on June 13.[3]

In 2015, Perry will be one of the narrators for the documentary film Unity.[24]

Family life

Perry was married to Elyssa Jerret from 1975 to 1982 and together they had a son, Adrian. Perry is now married to Billie Paulette Montgomery. They married in 1985 after meeting on the set of his "Black Velvet Pants" video in 1983. Billie appears on one of Perry's guitars, which is dubbed "The Billie Perry Guitar". They have two sons, Tony and Roman, while Billie has another son from a previous relationship named Aaron. Adrian and Tony Perry are founding members of the rock group TAB the Band.[25]

Currently Perry lives on Sleepy Hollow Farm in South Pomfret, Vermont where he raises Friesian horses. He also has a home he resides in occasionally in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Equipment

Perry currently has a collection of about 600 guitars.[26]

Discography

With Aerosmith

Perry has performed on all Aerosmith albums with the exception of Rock in a Hard Place (1982).

With The Joe Perry Project

Solo

Chef Perry

Perry has spearheaded the creation of an entire line of hot sauces entitled Joe Perry's Rock Your World Hot Sauces, which are featured widely in the marketplace. A quesadilla featuring a flavor of the namesake hot sauce is available as an appetizer at Hard Rock Cafe. Additionally, Perry was featured in a television episode of Inside Dish with Rachael Ray on a recent stop on Aerosmith's tour, in which he prepared a meal, displayed his passion for knives, discussed his hot sauce brand and cooking, and gave insight into what goes into meal preparation on Aerosmith tours.

Until recently, Perry, along with Aerosmith band member Steven Tyler and other partners, co-owned Mount Blue, a restaurant in Norwell, Massachusetts.

Influences

Guest appearances

See also

References

  1. ↑ "100 Greatest Guitarists - Joe Perry". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Steven Tyler and Joe Perry to Receive ASCAP Founders Award at 30th annual Pop Music Awards". Hollywood Reporter. 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Steven Tyler and Joe Perry Picked for Songwriters Hall of Fame". Rolling Stone. 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
  4. ↑ http://books.simonandschuster.com/Rocks/Joe-Perry/9781476714547
  5. ↑ "Joe Perry (I)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  6. ↑ Crandall, Bill. 10 musicians who saw the Beatles standing there. CBS News, February 6, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Joe Perry Project Biography". Greg Prato. Allmusic.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Aerosmith Biography". Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Allmusic.
  9. ↑ "Aerosmith: Biography: Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone.
  10. ↑ "Allmusic – Done with Mirrors – Review". Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Allmusic. Retrieved April 1, 2008.
  11. ↑ "Aerosmith Biography — Biography.com". Biography.com. Retrieved April 4, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Searchable Database". Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA.com).
  13. ↑ "Aerosmith Chart Positions — Singles". Allmusic. Retrieved April 1, 2008.
  14. ↑ Davis, pp. 460–461
  15. ↑ "Pump – Aerosmith". AllMusic. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Grammy Award winners – Aerosmith". NARAS (Grammy.com). Retrieved March 25, 2008.
  17. ↑ "Rock on the Net: Aerosmith". RockOntheNet.com. Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
  18. ↑ Davis, pp. 508–510
  19. ↑ "Armageddon On Top". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on 24 May 2006. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
  20. ↑ "Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Facts". RocknRollerCoaster.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
  21. ↑ "Kid Rock, Run-D.M.C. Back In The Saddle With Aerosmith". MTV. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
  22. ↑ "Aerosmith’s Joe Perry takes flight with new solo album". Blogs.reuters.com. 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  23. ↑ "Interview: Aerosmith Guitarist Joe Perry (2010)". Guitar World. September 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  24. ↑ "Cast - Unity". Unity the Movement. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
  25. ↑ "About Joe Perry". JoePerry.com. 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Joe Matera (2007-01-20). "Aerosmith's Joe Perry: 'I have 600 guitars!'". Ultimate-guitar.com. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  27. ↑ "Entertainment News Headlines - Yahoo News CA". Ca.entertainment.yahoo.com. 2011-04-20. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  28. ↑ Dave Wedge. "Aerosmith’s Joe Perry walks this way with John McCain". Boston Herald.
  29. ↑ "Joe Perry – Spider-Man: The Animated Series Theme – Listen and discover music at". Last.fm. 2013-11-26. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  30. ↑ "Independent Music Awards". Independent Music Awards. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  31. ↑ "Homicide: Life on the Street : Full credits/cast". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2011-01-17.
  32. ↑ "Jovi N' Joe Perry [Archive] - Jovitalk 3 by". Drycounty.com. Retrieved 2014-07-15.
  33. ↑ Erickson, Anne (July 11, 2013). "Joe Perry, Johnny Depp Appear on New Steve Huner Album". Gibson. Retrieved April 17, 2015.

External links