Jerry Harrison

Jeremiah Griffin Harrison was born on 21 February 1949 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has a long history of playing in bands, beginning at High School in Milwaukee with a group called The Walkers. Jerry graduated and moved east to attend Harvard University. There he formed a band called Albatross, in September 1967. They were all students and did some original numbers, through mostly they relied on Steve Miller and Jimi Herdrix songs. The band, with Ernie Brooks playing bass, lasted two years, playing at parties and college dances in the Boston/Cambridge area. It folded in May 1969, when college broke up for the summer, but singer Jim Mahoney and Ernie Brooks went on to form Catfish Black with a number of other musicians. This band lasted from July '69 to July '70.

The next move was for Ernie Brooks and Jerry Harrison to re-unite, which they did in September 1970, to form a band called The Eagles. They lasted two months, finally splitting in November 1970. Still in the Boston area, Jerry and Ernie ran into a guy named Jonathan Richman at a party and Richman began a lengthy campaign for them to join a band with him. It was to be called The Modern Lovers.

In the spring of 1972, they found themselves out in Los Angeles recording a demo for Warner Brothers with John Cale producing it. After a number of legal complexities, this set of demos was released in 1976 on Beserkley records, long after Jerry had left the Modern Lovers. Towards the end of Jerry's stint with the band, he decided to pick up the guitar "because I got frustrated with Johnathan's playing". In the end, Jonathan was getting too crazy for the band and the original line-up of The Modern Lovers broke up in March 1974, having survived for exactly 3 years. Jerry returned to Boston from LA and got a job teaching at Harvard.

It wasn't till April 1976 that Jerry first saw Talking Heads play at a concert in Boston. He was impressed: "I saw something in them and I knew straight away. I saw what the group needed: me !". The first time Jerry played with the band was in September 1976, at the lower Manhattan Ocean Club.

• Timeline

Solo albums:

• The Red And The Black (LP & CD)
• Jerry Harrison : Casual Gods (LP & MC & CD)
• Walk On Water (LP & MC & CD)

Listen to audio samples

Collaborations:

• With The Modern Lovers 'The Original Modern Lovers' (LP) (on Mohawk records)
• With The Modern Lovers 'The Modern Lovers' (LP & CD) (on Bersekley records)
• With The Modern Lovers 4-track bootleg 7" on blue vinyl with early demo's
• With The Modern Lovers on compilation 'The Best Of Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers'.
• With Bernie Worrell & others as The Escalators. Made a 4-track EP called 'The Escalators'.
• With Bernie Worrell & Bootsy Collins as Bonzo Goes To Washington. Made the anti-Reagan-rap 'Five Minutes' on 12" vinyl
• Guest musician on Elliot Murphy's 12" 'Texas'
• With the New York All Stars on the benifit album and single 'Downtown'
• Guest musician and background singer on Bernie Worrell's album 'Funk Of Ages'
• Producer of the BoDeans album 'Outside Looking In'
• Producer of the Fine Young Cannibals track 'Ever Fallen In Love'
• Producer of It's Immaterial's single 'Driving Away From Home' (uncreditted)
• Producer of Psychefunkapuss' album 'Skin'
• Producer of Semi Twang's album 'Salty Tears'
• Producer of Violent Femmes' album 'The Blind Leading The Naked'.
• Producer of the Crash Test Dummies album 'And God Shuffled His Feet'
• Producer of Live's EP 'Four Songs'
• Producer of Live's album 'Mental Jewelry'
• Producer of Live's album 'Throwing Copper'
• Producer of Live's album 'The Distance to Here'
• Producer of General Public's album 'Rub It Better'
• Producer of Neurotic Outsiders' album 'Neurotic Outsiders'
• Producer of Rusted Roots' album 'Remember'
• Producer of Fatima Mansions' album 'Lost in the Former West'
• Producer of The Verve Pipe's album 'Villains'
• Producer of Black 47's 'Home of the Brave'
• Producer of Paraphenalia's 'Pure'
• Producer of Billygoat's 'Bush Roaming Mammals'
• Producer of Noëlla Hotton's self-titled album
• Keyboard player with The Heads
• Produced one third of Poi Dog Pondering's album "Vole, Vole,"
• Produced Pure's "Purefenalia".
• Produced The Bogmen's "Life Begins at 40 Million"
• Produced Please's "Here It Comes It Again."
• Produced Big Head Todd and the Monsters' "Beautiful World"
• Produced Mayfield 4's "Fallout"
• Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band's "The Trouble Is.
• Produced most of Stroke 9's "Nasty Little Thoughts"
• Produced Foo Fighters' album "Walking After You"
• Produced Bijou Phillip's: "I'd rather Eat Glass"
• Produced No Doubts' "New"