Stanley Whitaker

Stanley Whitaker
Born	(1954-06-27) 27 June 1954 Monett, Missouri, USA
Genres	Rock, progressive rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1972-present
Labels	Arista, Tower of Harmony
Associated acts	Happy The Man, Oblivion Sun, Six Elements
Website	stanleywhitaker.com

Stanley Whitaker is the American progressive rock musician, vocalist and virtuoso guitarist best known for his work with the progressive rock band Happy The Man.

Childhood

Stanley Whitaker was born on June 27, 1954 in Monett, Missouri. He was the second child of Howard Kenneth and Josephine Merle Whitaker (née Beckett). He has one older brother, Howard Kenneth II, who was born two years earlier, on July 13, 1952. Both of Stanley's parents came from farm families in Missouri. They got married in 1940 but didn't start a family until they were in their thirties. Stanley's father was a career military veteran who started as a private, went through officer's training, fought in World War 2, Korean and Vietnam wars, received numerous awards (including two Purple Hearts) and eventually reached the rank of full colonel. Stanley's mother essentially raised them on her own, taking care of the kids when Stan's father was away on duty and keeping things together through the frequent moves that most every military family experiences.

His interest in music came to four-year-old Stanley via his grand-aunt Fanny Mae Henbest, who was the staff pianist for dinner parties at the White House (JFK was the last president she played for). Both she and her husband were well-known among Washington's elite. She gave frequent concerts around Virginia, and her husband, Lloyd George Henbest (grand uncle, brother of Stan's maternal grandmother), was a renowned geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey^[1] and curator of the Smithsonian Museum during the 50's. Stanley's father was stationed in Virginia at the time, so Fanny Mae often played for her grand-nephews, and Lloyd would frequently take them on private tours of the Smithsonian museum.^[2]

In 1961 Stanley's family moved to Spain for two years. Even before the trip, seven-year-old Stan dreamed of becoming a puppeteer, pulling strings and making puppets dance. This passion for pulling strings was crucial for his musical development; one day his father brought home an old Stella acoustic guitar with the steel strings half an inch above the neck, and nine-year-old Stanley discovered that strings may be used not only for pulling puppets, but also for making sounds. He was totally captivated. Stan's mother recognized this passion in him and several months later, when they returned to the US, he started taking guitar lessons. In two years he went through all seven books of the Mel Bay Modern Guitar Method. About the same time, his father bought him an electric Goya Rangemaster guitar, and he started playing with his older brother Ken in their first band, the Imposters. Ken played bass, Stanley played electric guitar, and they won a local talent contest. The announcer almost choked with surprise when he told the crowd "the lead guitarist is 12 years old." Interestingly, Stanley still has his first electric guitar–he sold it once; the friend, who bought it, knowing that he had Stan's first electric guitar, returned it to him at one of his concerts.

Stanley had to quit the Imposters because his family moved again. At the same time, he heard the Beatles' Rubber Soul album, and it had a deep effect upon him; he considers that album as the starting point of progressive rock. He wanted to make music like that! He quit guitar lessons and started listening to rock music. In 1967, he heard the guitar of Jimi Hendrix, and that inspired him to work hard on his own technique. He spent the next four years (until he was 16) practicing 4–6 hours a day—scales, regimented exercise, alternate picking and building up his skills.

Germany

In 1969 Stan's father was assigned to Post Commander at Camp King, an American military base in Oberursel, Germany (near Frankfurt). Within two days of arrival, fifteen-year-old Stanley entered hippie culture; he was walking past the army barracks, where he was promptly introduced to Led Zeppelin and hashish.^[2] Although this experience was on the extreme end of the spectrum, it is quite indicative of how different things were. Stan's high school years in Germany have done much to shape up his persona–both in music and in life. His school, FAHS, had many amazing teachers, some of them former college professors, who would rather teach high school in Europe than deal with the academic culture in American colleges, which was pretty stiff at the time. Stan was introduced to Plato, Kierkegaard, Camus, Sartre, Ken Kesey and much more. He was particularly affected by two professors, Mr. Minette and Mr. Brunner,^[2][3] who, in his words, would "shake people by their roots" and expanded their horizons greatly.

At that time, Germany had a thriving progressive rock culture, and Stanley embraced it both as a listener and as a musician. Throughout high school he played in different bands. His first band was Ulysses. They played covers of Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin, as well as some original music. His second band, Shady Grove, focused more on progressive rock; in addition to original material, they played Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant and other progressive rock staples. David Bach played keyboards (later he became the first keyboard player for Happy The Man, and he also worked with Stanley in the 80s). In May 1972, when Stanley graduated, Shady Grove was signed for a three-month tour of 48 US army bases in Germany.^[4] The tour was sponsored by Davis Travel Agency, which did most of its business with army personnel. Stan's brother Ken joined the band for the tour; by that time his father was reassigned to the US, and his parents felt better with Ken keeping an eye on Stanley. Ken proved to be quite an addition to the band: not only did he sing, he also painted (usually water colors) while singing, with his easel standing right there on the stage, in front of the public!

This tour laid the ground for what would become Happy The Man. During one of the events (June 2, 1972), Stanley met Army MP Rick Kennell, future bassist for Happy The Man. As Rick told it,^[5] he just arrived to Germany from his Advanced Individual Training (AIT) and saw some "long-haired guys" unloading the truck. He approached them, struck up a conversation, and then he heard Stanley playing some "Yes" tune. They started talking (while Shady Grove was setting up) and discovered that they had the same music taste. Ken (Stan's brother) and Rick hit it off right away. Ken checked out Rick's record collection, came back and told everyone that "Rick is for real." Just at that time, Larry Strack, Shady Grove's bassist had wandered off to grab a bite to eat, and Stan suggested that Rick jam with the band for the sound check, playing Genesis' "Knife" After the show Stan and Rick talked again and agreed to reconnect in the US when Rick came home to the states (in a year and a half) and put together a band. It was understood that it would take a bit of a time to compose some material and set things up. Rick couldn't believe that it was for real until September, 1972, when he received the tape with some of the material and a nine-page letter from Stan telling him, among other things, "to start practicing his part."

College helped to further shape Stan's taste in music–he was deeply affected by composers like Debussy and Stravinsky; he also acquired some formal music-theory training which, coupled with his guitar-playing skill, allowed him to compose and play the complex rhythmic and melodic patterns that became the signature Happy The Man sound.

Happy the Man

Vision

Several months before Happy the Man split, Stanley had met Rocky Ruckman, whose band Skywalker had opened for Happy the Man at a show in Cumberland, Maryland. He was impressed by Rocky's vocal talents and stage presence.^[2] As Happy The Man disbanded, Stan, Rick Kennell and Rocky formed a new band called Vision.^[5] The other members of the band were David Hayden (Rocky's friend and band mate from a couple of past projects), on keyboards - along with drummer Shannon Ford - who they had met through Cellar Door when Shannon was the drummer for a popular Washington DC based band "Tim Eyermann and the East Coast Offering." Stanley hoped that, behind Rocky's vocal talents (he was also a great lyricist), this new band could be his golden chance to make a real artistic impact. Around the same time, Peter Gabriel invited Stan to make a tape of exotic guitar "noises" as he was considering Stan to be the guitarist for this third album; Stan felt so strongly about Rocky and this project that he chose to pursue the Vision project at this time.^[2]

Vision moved to New York, and wrote some original material and recorded a demo which attracted the attention of Michael Klenfner at Front Line Management. Michael showcased the band for a number of his contacts in the industry. One of the audience members was noted producer Eddie Kramer (Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix). The management situation with Klenfner did not pan out - but Kramer introduced the band to Dee Anthony, who signed the band to management. - and Kramer signed the band to a production deal. It was around this time that David Hayden left and David Bach joined the band - Bach being an original member of Stanley's band in Germany "Shady Grove". Eddie took the band into Mike Scott's studio in Briarcliff Manor, New York and in one day they recorded eight tunes, in one or two passes with a few punch ins. The tracks were mixed the same day and circulated to Eddie and Dee's contacts in the industry. A short time later - they were doing a showcase at a club in Poughkeepsie for actress Lindsay Wagner (they were pitched to do the music for the film "Nighthawks"), and after several songs, Rocky suddenly blew his voice. According to Rick,^[5] he lost several 1/2 steps at the top of his range. The next event was a showcase at NYC's popular venue "The Ritz", with representatives from all the major labels present. Unfortunately, for whatever reason - the group wasn't signed.

Rocky, frustrated by not getting the deal and the loss of his vocal range, left the band and went to Florida. He was replaced by another vocalist — Brad Busby. The loss of the vocalist changed the dynamics of the group. Shannon decided to call it quits and he was replaced by Vinnie Santoro on drums. They started playing covers, which was not something Rick wanted to do, so by 1981 he left the band, replaced by Larry Strack (a former friend of Stan's from Shady Grove). Later, after Rick left, he band moved to Baltimore.

There were a couple of tragedies that hit the band later. Brad Busby succumbed to brain cancer. Larry Strack left the band and later committed suicide. He had been replaced by John Micelli. The band continued but changed the original spelling of the name to Vission with a Baltimore vocalist named John West who replaced Brad Busby. They had some regional success when the band won a talent contest for Rock Radio station DC 101. The John West lineup released the indie single, "Julia," in the winter of 1986.

When John West left, Stan shared vocal duties with Vinnie Santoro (drummer) and John Micelli (bass). They played consistently and even played in Bermuda numerous times. The band eventually broke up, so Stan and David Bach formed an all-original-music band called One by One.^[2] They performed in the Baltimore area.

Baltimore in the 80s and 90s

In 1987 Paul Reed Smith invited Stanley to take his place in his Band of a 1000 Names^[2] (according to Paul the band actually replaced him with Stan^[6]). By then, the PRS line of high-end electric guitars had taken off, and Paul no longer could devote his time to the band. Stan played in that band for 3–4 years, according to him "a very fun band—mostly courtesy of bass player Carey Ziegler and guitarist Russell Stone!" Friend and sound engineer Bill Plummer mixed Band of 1000 Names many times as he had done with the band Vission AKA Vision.

Band of 1000 Names played straight rock, and Stanley missed playing progressive rock music. To play the music he liked, Stanley formed Avalon in 1993. Stanley's long-time friend and engineer Bill Plummer played keyboards. Bill had taken a couple of informal lessons from Kit Watkins in the late 70s and had become a remarkable player in his own right. The band played progressive rock covers, from Jeff Beck and King Crimson to Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd, and gained prominence in and around Baltimore. The band had plans to work on original music but that never came to fruition.

Moving to L.A.

Throughout the early 90's, Stanley wondered if he would have better luck in Los Angeles,^[2] so he took off for L.A. in the summer of 1994. He moved himself, driving a truck with all his possessions and his yellow-headed Amazon parrot named Merlin for company. He first stayed with Fred Brown, his high school friend from Germany (his older brother Anthony played with Stan in Ulysses), who was now working as a lawyer for Warner Brothers.

While in L.A., Stan often worked solo, playing restaurants like Genghis Cohen; he also had to take all kinds of jobs to support himself, finally becoming a filing clerk for the Entertainment Coalition, an insurance bonding company for the film industry. He had a small apartment not far from his job and rode his bike two miles to and from work. He developed his vocal skills, and wrote lots of songs which were later recorded with the second incarnation of Happy The Man and Oblivion Sun.

In 1997 he saw an ad in local magazine — a band named Ten Jinn was looking for a guitarist. John Strauss, the leader of the band, hadn't heard of Happy The Man, but some members of the band had. Stan joined the band and helped them record their first album As On a Darkling Plain. In 1998 Ten Jinn was the "entertainment for the entertainers and promoters" at the opening party of the Baja Prog Festival in Mexicali, Mexico, when something remarkable happened. When it was announced that Stanley Whitaker of Happy The Man was playing with the band, the audience (all of them progressive rock musicians!) exploded in applause and adoration.^[2] Even today, Stanley cannot hold back tears when talking about this moment, calling it "the most humbling experience of my life." Stan believed Happy The Man had been forgotten! As the result of this performance, Ten Jinn was invited to play at the main festival event in May, 1999.

Oblivion Sun

In 2005 Stanley and Frank Wyatt decided to include some material that didn't make it into The Muse Awakens in a separate album. Frank was at the recording controls of the album, Bill Plummer did the mixing, and the album (Pedal Giant Animals) was released in 2006.

In order to play live, Frank and Stan formed a new group called Oblivion Sun. They were joined by drummer Chris Mack, keyboardist Bill Plummer (from the band Avalon), and bassist Angelo Cammarata (also from the band Avalon). Angelo was soon replaced by Dave DeMarco prior to recording their debut CD. The group plays at progressive rock festivals and occasional shows, and they recorded a self-titled album in 2007 on Prophase Records (released September 9, 2007). Both DeMarco and Mack departed the group in 2008. The next rhythm section of Keith Macksoud (bass) and Eric Slick (drums) performed only once appearing at NEARfest on June 20, 2009. The current rhythm section of Dave Hughes (bass) and William Brasso (drums) joined the band prior to the May 2010 performance at RoSfest. Bill Plummer departed the band after making decisions that his health and financial obligations were suffering from his commitment to the band.

Stanley was on hiatus from Oblivion Sun in late 2008 through early 2009 to treat his cancer — Adenoid cystic carcinoma — which is now in remission.

Oblivion Sun released The High Places in 2013 and overcame the obstacles of further health issues, this time a cancer operation and then an unfortunate accident for Frank Wyatt that caused some damage to Frank's hands. The spirit of the band remains strong as the band triumphantly performed at ProgDay 2013.

Six Elements

In November 2010, former Oblivion Sun bassist Dave DeMarco told Stanley that he was doing session work for an Atlanta band named Six Elements which was looking for a vocalist. After talking to the Six Elements' founder and producer Michael (Misha) Shengaout, Stanley agreed to join the band. He finished recording vocals for the album by April, 2011. Six Elements' album Primary Elements was released on March 5, 2012 through the Tower of Harmony label.

Personal life

In September 17, 2005, Stan married LeeAnne Whitaker (née Sacco). They first met in 2001 when Stanley was invited to help out a local band. LeeAnne was the band's female vocalist. They began working together as a duo. In 2008 they recorded a live CD during one of their duo performances titled Under The Covers.

In summer 2008, Stanley spoke to his dear friend Fred Brown from LA, who told him that he had esophageal cancer.^[7] LeeAnne had wanted Stan to visit a doctor for at least two years to have a lump in his throat checked. Stanley had shrugged it off as a swollen tonsil from simply singing 4-5 nights a week, but Fred's call motivated Stanley to see a doctor. The biopsy identified it as Adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC), a rare, malignant cancer of the salivary glands (head/neck). He had several surgeries and began a course of 36 radiation treatments ending on November 4, 2008. LeeAnne and friends of Stanley organized a charitable concert which took place November 9, 2008. Paul Reed Smith donated one of his guitars for the auction, and various musicians and groups played, including Crack The Sky, the Ravens, Hectic Red, Baltimore School of Rock (who surprised him by playing Stumpy from the first HTM album!), Stan and LeeAnne played a few songs, and then he played a short set with Oblivion Sun.

In addition to his musical projects, Stanley is also pursuing his childhood dream of being a puppeteer.^[2][7] He and LeeAnne formed Mother Nurture Fairy Tales two years ago and are working on making 3-5 minute fairy tales with puppets (they currently have 75 hand puppets). Stanley is composing the music for the project. This will be an ongoing project with episodes featured online.

Discography

With Happy the Man

With Ten Jinn

• 1999 As On a Darkling Plain

With Frank Wyatt

• 2006 Pedal Giant Animals

With Oblivion Sun

• 2007 Oblivion Sun
• 2013 The High Places

With Six Elements

• 2012 Primary Elements

External links

• Official Stanley Whitaker site
• Official Happy the Man band site
• Official Oblivion Sun band site
• Official Six Elements band site

References