Leo Lyons

For the National Football League co-founder and former owner of the Rochester Jeffersons from 1920 to 1925, see Leo Lyons (American football).
Leo Lyons

Lyons with Ten Years After at Suwałki Blues Festival, 2009
Background information
Birth name David William Lyons
Born 30 November 1943
Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England
Genres Blues rock, blues, rock
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter, record producer
Instruments Bass guitar
Years active 1965–present
Labels Decca, Deram, Columbia, Chrysalis, EMI
Associated acts The Jaybirds, Ten Years After
Website www.leolyons.org

Leo Lyons (born David William Lyons; 30 November 1943) is an English musician, who was also the bassist of the blues rock band Ten Years After.[1]

Biography

Lyons was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. He first played with lead guitarist Alvin Lee in The Jaybirds. In 1967, there was a name change to Ten Years After. With this group, Lyons played at major rock festivals including Woodstock in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival on 29 August 1970. Ten Years After disbanded in 1976, although they later reformed several times in the 1980s and 1990s with all original members.

In 1975, he was hired as a studio manager by Chrysalis Records to re-equip and run Wessex Studios in London. He then produced UFO from 1974 to 1976. Later, he started two commercial recording studios himself.

Lyons moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in the mid-1990s, and was a staff songwriter for Hayes Street Music. He played in a reformed Ten Years After, with new frontman Joe Gooch and also with Gooch in the new blues rock power trio "Hundred Seventy Split". In Lyons' own words, he loves "playing the old songs that people still want to hear. However, that leaves no room for new material - hence the new project."[2] The band are currently mixing their second studio album, called HSS, with the help of Cyclone Music, whom they have used for all their previous projects.

In January 2014, it was announced that both Gooch and Lyons had left Ten Years After.[3]

References

  1. Strong, Martin Charles; Peel, John (25 October 2004). The great rock discography. Canongate U.S. pp. 1526–. ISBN 978-1-84195-615-2. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  2. Music, Cyclone. "Hundred Seventy Split Set For New Album Release". Retrieved 2013-12-17.
  3. "Ten Years After lose frontman and bassist". Classic Rock Magazine. 13 January 2014.

External links