Eddie St. James
Encyclopedia
Eddie St. James is a guitarist
, singer and composer–arranger born in Hollywood, California
and raised in and around the L.A. area (currently residing in the Mannheim
– Baden-Württemberg
area of Germany
). He is most noted for his work with many well known musicians. Some of the guitar, vocal and songwriting work he has contributed can be heard on his first solo release Out of Nowhere (Capitol records
-1989).
performances on The Ed Sullivan Show
. Soon afterwards at the age of 8 years, Eddie had the guitar in his hands and at age 15 began to perform at friends' birthday and garage parties as he gathered his first experiences and honorary. In the mid 1980s, he joined a local glam metal act called "Northstar", a band that during the height of the Hollywood Sunset Strip
era opened for such groups as: Great White
, Warrant
, Poison, Guns N' Roses
, etc. The group also achieved status as a headliner at all the well known clubs such as Gazzarri's
(where the Doors and Van Halen
got their start), The Roxy
, The Country Club, and The Troubador, etc., but failed to generate a lucrative record deal. In 1989, he began a solo career with the "Eddie St. James Project" as well as doing some studio work for other artists; this same year saw the release of the Capitol supported album Out of nowhere.
By 1991, St. James reformed the band with Steff Fontaine, Marc Droubay and Wayne Hutsell. The band played a few dates with changes occurring in the line-up and even opened for Lynch Mob (George Lynch
, guitar ex-Dokken
) on part of the wicked sensation tour and shortly thereafter the "ESJ project" dissolved. St. James is also an ex-member of the Jon Dunmore Band and performed on two Jon Dunmore CDs – Hypnotica (ClearAudiorecords-1994) which also features performances by Kelly Keagy (drums: Night Ranger
), Phil Soussan
(bass: ex-Ozzy Osbourne
, Vince Neil, Billy Idol
, etc.), Mayron Grombacher (drums: Pat Benatar
), Bobby Gianetti (bass: ex-Edgar Winter
, Dave Mason
) and Kris Gustofson (drums). In 1995 Eddie worked concurrently on the second Jon Dunmore CD entitled Baptized by fire (Seagul/Semaphore records-1995), while also at the same time contributing guitar and backing vocals for the actor Richard Grieco
(actor: 21 Jump Street
, A Night at the Roxbury
etc.) CD- Waiting for the sky to fall (Edel
records-1995). Some previous members of the Eddie St. James Band include: Steff Fontaine (vocals, ex-Uriah Heep
), Marc Droubay (drums: Survivor
), Bobby Gianetti (bass) and Wayne Hutsell (bass: ex-Swift kick, Tracy G
.(Dio
)). In 1998, Eddie was also shortly involved as guitarist with American singer/ songwriter Mark Pont(currently the lead vocalist of Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods whose hits include "Billy Don’t Be A Hero" and "Who Do You Think You Are") on the independently released CD Flying. In an interview, St. James stated that he moved to Germany with just $250 in his pocket, 1 suitcase full of clothes and 3 guitars and nothing else. Since 1996 the area of Mannheim, Germany has become his home base and to date, Eddie continues with his solo career and is currently fronting his own group "The Eddie St. James Band" as lead vocalist and guitarist. The ESJ Band has released 2 CDs, the newest in 2007- Living with the bomb an 18-song double CD and makes regular live, TV and radio appearances in Europe. The group was even featured at the FIFA Soccer WM2006 in Kaiserlautern, Germany- in the main stage programm along with Reamonn
, Xavier Naidoo
and Revolverheld
, etc. Eddie also does a one man acoustic rock show called "Eddie St. James' Akustik-Underground".
As of June 2006 Eddie also became the new guitarist–songwriter for the newly reformed infamous L.A. hard rock band London (heavy metal band)
alongside Nadir D'Priest (vocals). The "New" London is currently working on song demos for a new CD as well as some live dates in Europe in 2007. St.James was involved as a songwriter in conjunction with the singer Nadir D'Priest during 2006-2007 and due to scheduling conflicts unable to work in person with the group. Some of the duo's compositions are now being showcased by the group as stipulated in a U.S. on air radio interview by the singer Nadir D'Priest. Currently 2009 (newspaper: Rhein Pfalz, Germany)reported Eddie is working on a new ESJ band CD in L.A., Ca., entitled "Streets cry freedom" with drummer John "JR" Robinson, (Michael Jackson
-etc.) amongst other notable guest musicians. There was also mention of a new project with the ex-Uriah Heep singer Steff Fontaine.
Jon Diven: Bass / b.v.
Willy Diven: Drums
Michael Leukel: Keyboarder/ b.v.
Michael Quast: Keyboards
Steff Fontaine(ex-Uriah Heep): Vocals
Marc Droubay(Survivor): Drums
Wayne Hutsell(Tracy G.): Bass
Jon Dunmore Band
Richard Grieco (actor: 21 Jump street, Booker, Marker-etc.)
Mark Pont
written by Eddie St. James and performed by Eddie St. James and the Dunmore Band.
written by Eddie St. James.
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, singer and composer–arranger born in Hollywood, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and raised in and around the L.A. area (currently residing in the Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
– Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
area of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
). He is most noted for his work with many well known musicians. Some of the guitar, vocal and songwriting work he has contributed can be heard on his first solo release Out of Nowhere (Capitol records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
-1989).
Biography
It all began in the early 1960s, as a young child after hearing and seeing one of the first legendary live The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
performances on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
. Soon afterwards at the age of 8 years, Eddie had the guitar in his hands and at age 15 began to perform at friends' birthday and garage parties as he gathered his first experiences and honorary. In the mid 1980s, he joined a local glam metal act called "Northstar", a band that during the height of the Hollywood Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood at Harper Avenue, to its western border with Beverly Hills at Sierra Drive...
era opened for such groups as: Great White
Great White
Great White is an American hard rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1978. The band gained popularity during the 1980s and early 1990s. The band released several albums in the late 1980s and gained airplay on MTV with music videos for songs like "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"...
, Warrant
Warrant (American band)
Warrant is an American heavy metal band from Hollywood, California, that experienced success from 1989-1996 with five albums reaching international sales of over 10 million. The band first came into the national spotlight with their debut album Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, and one of its...
, Poison, Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
, etc. The group also achieved status as a headliner at all the well known clubs such as Gazzarri's
Gazzarri's
Gazzarri's was a nightclub on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is most notable as the location where The Doors, and Van Halen were featured house bands for long stretches before being discovered...
(where the Doors and Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
got their start), The Roxy
The Roxy
The Roxy was a fashionable nightclub on Neal Street in London's Covent Garden, known for hosting the flowering British punk music scene in its infancy.-Brief history:...
, The Country Club, and The Troubador, etc., but failed to generate a lucrative record deal. In 1989, he began a solo career with the "Eddie St. James Project" as well as doing some studio work for other artists; this same year saw the release of the Capitol supported album Out of nowhere.
By 1991, St. James reformed the band with Steff Fontaine, Marc Droubay and Wayne Hutsell. The band played a few dates with changes occurring in the line-up and even opened for Lynch Mob (George Lynch
George Lynch (musician)
George Lynch is a hard rock/heavy metal guitarist best known as a member of the band Dokken, his own bands Lynch Mob and Souls of We.-Pre Dokken:...
, guitar ex-Dokken
Dokken
Dokken is an American heavy metal and hard rock band formed in 1978. They split up in 1989 but reformed four years later. The group accumulated numerous charting singles and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide...
) on part of the wicked sensation tour and shortly thereafter the "ESJ project" dissolved. St. James is also an ex-member of the Jon Dunmore Band and performed on two Jon Dunmore CDs – Hypnotica (ClearAudiorecords-1994) which also features performances by Kelly Keagy (drums: Night Ranger
Night Ranger
Night Ranger is an American rock band from San Francisco that gained popularity during the 1980s with a series of albums and singles. The band's first five albums sold more than 10 million copies worldwide...
), Phil Soussan
Phil Soussan
Phil Soussan is a bass guitarist, songwriter and producer who has gained notoriety as a member of a host of famed rock and roll bands, including some who have been fronted by such vocalists as Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, Vince Neil, Johnny Hallyday and John Waite, as well as a membership in Beggars...
(bass: ex-Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
, Vince Neil, Billy Idol
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...
, etc.), Mayron Grombacher (drums: Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States...
), Bobby Gianetti (bass: ex-Edgar Winter
Edgar Winter
Edgar Holland Winter is an American musician. He is famous for being a multi-instrumentalist. He is a highly skilled keyboardist, saxophonist and percussionist. He often plays an instrument while singing. He was most successful in the 1970s with his band, The Edgar Winter Group, notably with their...
, Dave Mason
Dave Mason
David Thomas "Dave" Mason is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic...
) and Kris Gustofson (drums). In 1995 Eddie worked concurrently on the second Jon Dunmore CD entitled Baptized by fire (Seagul/Semaphore records-1995), while also at the same time contributing guitar and backing vocals for the actor Richard Grieco
Richard Grieco
Richard John Grieco, Jr. is an American actor and former fashion model.-Early life:Richard Grieco was born in Watertown, New York, the son of Carolyn and Richard Grieco. He is of Italian and Irish descent. Grieco played football for Central Connecticut State University.-Career:Grieco worked as a...
(actor: 21 Jump Street
21 Jump Street
21 Jump Street is an American police procedural crime drama television series that aired on the Fox Network from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focused on a squad of youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools,...
, A Night at the Roxbury
A Night at the Roxbury
A Night at the Roxbury is a 1998 comedy film based on a recurring skit on television's long-running Saturday Night Live called "The Roxbury Guys." Saturday Night Live regulars Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, Molly Shannon, and Colin Quinn star....
etc.) CD- Waiting for the sky to fall (Edel
Edel
- People :* Abraham Edel , North American philosopher and ethicist* Alfred William Edel , American television news presenter* Apoula Edel , Cameroonian-Armenian footballer...
records-1995). Some previous members of the Eddie St. James Band include: Steff Fontaine (vocals, ex-Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep (band)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...
), Marc Droubay (drums: Survivor
Survivor (band)
Survivor is an American rock band formed in Chicago in 1978. The band achieved its greatest success in the 1980s with its AOR sound, which garnered many charting singles, especially in the United States. The band is best known for its double platinum-certified 1982 hit "Eye of the Tiger", the theme...
), Bobby Gianetti (bass) and Wayne Hutsell (bass: ex-Swift kick, Tracy G
Tracy G
Tracy G is an American heavy metal guitarist best known for his time with Dio from 1993 to 1999.His first band was with his father. It was called the Grijalva Brothers....
.(Dio
Dio (band)
Dio was an American heavy metal band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, after he left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath member, drummer Vinny Appice. Naming the band Dio made sense from a commercial...
)). In 1998, Eddie was also shortly involved as guitarist with American singer/ songwriter Mark Pont(currently the lead vocalist of Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods whose hits include "Billy Don’t Be A Hero" and "Who Do You Think You Are") on the independently released CD Flying. In an interview, St. James stated that he moved to Germany with just $250 in his pocket, 1 suitcase full of clothes and 3 guitars and nothing else. Since 1996 the area of Mannheim, Germany has become his home base and to date, Eddie continues with his solo career and is currently fronting his own group "The Eddie St. James Band" as lead vocalist and guitarist. The ESJ Band has released 2 CDs, the newest in 2007- Living with the bomb an 18-song double CD and makes regular live, TV and radio appearances in Europe. The group was even featured at the FIFA Soccer WM2006 in Kaiserlautern, Germany- in the main stage programm along with Reamonn
Reamonn
Reamonn is a German rock and pop band. They have recorded six albums.-History:In 1997, Rea Garvey left his band The Reckless Pedestrians and home town of Tralee, Ireland to go to Germany with not a lot of money and a demo CD in his pocket...
, Xavier Naidoo
Xavier Naidoo
Xavier Kurt Naidoo is a German singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actor. Born and raised in Mannheim, Naidoo worked in several jobs in the gastronomy and the musical industry before relocating to the United States in the early 1990s, where he released his first full-length English...
and Revolverheld
Revolverheld
Revolverheld is a German rock band from Hamburg, Germany, formed in 2003. Originally named "Manga" and was founded in summer 2003 in Hamburg. In 2004 they renamed the band to "Tsunamikiller" and then afterwards decided upon the name "Revolverheld" after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.-Band...
, etc. Eddie also does a one man acoustic rock show called "Eddie St. James' Akustik-Underground".
As of June 2006 Eddie also became the new guitarist–songwriter for the newly reformed infamous L.A. hard rock band London (heavy metal band)
London (heavy metal band)
London is an American heavy metal band, based in Hollywood, California. The band is perhaps most notable for featuring members that would go on to play in more famous bands such as Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, W.A.S.P...
alongside Nadir D'Priest (vocals). The "New" London is currently working on song demos for a new CD as well as some live dates in Europe in 2007. St.James was involved as a songwriter in conjunction with the singer Nadir D'Priest during 2006-2007 and due to scheduling conflicts unable to work in person with the group. Some of the duo's compositions are now being showcased by the group as stipulated in a U.S. on air radio interview by the singer Nadir D'Priest. Currently 2009 (newspaper: Rhein Pfalz, Germany)reported Eddie is working on a new ESJ band CD in L.A., Ca., entitled "Streets cry freedom" with drummer John "JR" Robinson, (Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
-etc.) amongst other notable guest musicians. There was also mention of a new project with the ex-Uriah Heep singer Steff Fontaine.
Current ESJ Band lineup
Eddie St. James: Vocals / guitarJon Diven: Bass / b.v.
Willy Diven: Drums
Michael Leukel: Keyboarder/ b.v.
Notable Ex-ESJ Band members
Bastian Fricke: DrumsMichael Quast: Keyboards
Steff Fontaine(ex-Uriah Heep): Vocals
Marc Droubay(Survivor): Drums
Wayne Hutsell(Tracy G.): Bass
Discography
Solo/Eddie St. James Band- Out of nowhere (Capitol/Amie) 1989
- Under something blue (Mega Media) 2003
- Living with the bomb (Mega Media) 2007
Jon Dunmore Band
- Hypnotica (ClearAudiorecords) 1994
- Baptized by fire (Seagul/Semiphore) 1995
Richard Grieco (actor: 21 Jump street, Booker, Marker-etc.)
- Waiting for the Sky to Fall (Edel Records) 1995
Mark Pont
- Flying (Grand Scale Records) 1998
TV and film music
- 1995 to 1996
- sub theme song "The elephant man" for the ABC-Ch.7 program The Extremist with Gabby Reece,
written by Eddie St. James and performed by Eddie St. James and the Dunmore Band.
- 2005
- sub theme song "Suicide machine" for A&E's reality TV-show, Knievel's Wild Ride,
written by Eddie St. James.
External links
- http://eddie-st-james.com (Official Eddie St.James Web-site)
- http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=114721419 (My space site for Eddie St. James)
- http://www.travellersintime.com/UniversalWheels/November08reviews.html (Living with the bomb CD Review,Universal Wheels)
- http://www.fullinbloommusic.com/nadir_dpriest.html (Interview D'Priest's New London)
- http://www.travellersintime.com/uw/uwest.html (Interview Eddie St. James, Canadian rock magazine Universal Wheels)
- http://www.melodic.net/newsOne.asp?newsId=6769 (News-Artikle, D'Priest / St. James)