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Monday, November 5, 2007

Roky Erikson of 13th Floor Elevators


Roky Erickson (born Roger Kynard Erickson on July 15, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, harmonica player and guitarist from Texas. He was a founding member of the 13th Floor Elevators and pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.
Erickson is one of rock and roll's most famous cult figures, perhaps as well-known for his mental illness — caused in no small part by ill-advised shock therapy and incarceration in a Texas mental hospital — as for his musical talents. source: Wikipedia

Keith West of Tomorrow


Keith West (born 6 December 1943 in Dagenham, Essex, England as Keith Alan Hopkins) was the lead singer of Tomorrow, a 1960s psychedelic rock band. West composed most of the band's songs (duly credited to Keith Hopkins). Despite critical acclaim and support from DJ John Peel, who featured them on his "Perfumed Garden" BBC Radio 1 show, the band was not a great financial success.
In 1964 West became lead singer of "In Crowd" a rock band from London, which renamed in "Tomorrow" later. Member of the Band was the guitarist Steve Howe (later "Yes"). 1967 he became acquainted with Mark Wirtz, a producer who already created the instrumental title "A Touch of Velvet, a Sting of Brass" (1965). Later on the melody became theme song for the German music TV show "Beat-Club" and "Musikladen".
West himself is perhaps better known as a participant of Mark Wirtz's A Teenage Opera, completed in 2002. He was the singer of "Excerpt from "A Teenage Opera"," also known as "Grocer Jack," which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1967. He also performed "Sam," which reached the bottom end of the Top 40 the same year.
In 1968 he released the single "On A Saturday" on Parlophone. Other musicians who appeared on the single were guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Ron Wood, and drummer Aynsley Dunbar. An excellent piece of pop-psychedelia, the record was a modest UK hit. It has since been re-issued on the 1999 remastered CD of the self titled debut by Tomorrow.
In 1971 he released a solo L.P. "Wherever My Love Goes" on the German progressive rock-label Kuckuck. It features his songwriting-partner Ken Burgess and steel guitarist Glenn Campbell (ex-The Misunderstood). Two tracks of it were produced by Andrew Loog Oldham.
In the mid-1970s he was singer for Moonrider.
West continues to produce and record music, which is used primarily within the advertising industry. Source: Wikipedia