Greg Hawkes
Encyclopedia
Greg Hawkes is a musician
best known as the keyboardist
for the Rock
band The Cars
.
Hawkes, a native of Fulton, Maryland
, attended Atholton High School
where he played in a band called Teeth. He then attended Berklee College of Music
for two years, majoring in composition and flute. He left to play in various bands, including Martin Mull and his Fabulous Furniture, where he played flute, saxophones and clarinet. He also played in a band called Richard and The Rabbits, which included future Cars bandmates Ric Ocasek
and Benjamin Orr
.
. Hawkes pushed the limits of available technology and sequencing helping to forge the sound of the 1980s. While The Cars were known commercially as a Rock and New wave band, he had the biggest impact on the Synthpop
and New wave
sound of The Cars hits such as Drive
. His signature sounds include the Prophet-5 "touch sync" sound heard on "Let's Go
" and "Hello Again
" as well as arpeggiated
and syncopated synth lines such as on "Shake it Up" and "Heartbeat City".
In 2010, Hawkes reunited with the surviving original members of The Cars to record their first album in 24 years, titled Move Like This
, which was released May 10, 2011.
as a solo artist, often playing both keyboards and bass guitar. He released a solo album, Niagara Falls
, in 1983. He also plays guitar, percussion instruments, saxophone, clarinet and ukulele. He recently came out with a solo album on the ukulele, The Beatles Uke.
Hawkes received a writing credit for "Service with a Smile" on Virginia-based progressive rock band Happy the Man
's second LP Crafty Hands in 1978.
, where he works as a session musician
. He was a member of The New Cars
http://thenewcars.com, a quasi-reformation of The Cars
that also featured original guitarist Elliot Easton
. Filling in for other original Cars members were singer/guitarist Todd Rundgren
, Utopia bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton
and former Tubes
drummer Prairie Prince
. Atom Ellis
filled in at bass when Kasim was touring with Meat Loaf
. The band toured through the 2006–2007 season. A live album with three new studio tracks, It's Alive!
, was released in June 2006.
Before The Cars reunited in 2010, Hawkes played with The Turtles
(starring Flo and Eddie) and Todd Rundgren
.
.
Hawkes' ukulele renditions of The Cars
songs can be heard here:
In 2008, Greg Hawkes http://greghawkesmusic.com released The Beatles Uke CD (Solid Air Records), with instrumental versions of 15 Beatles classics (over 45 minutes of music) in what he calls a “UKEsymphonic” style, using multi-tracked recordings to create a ukulele orchestra. The CD is testimony to the influence that Paul McCartney
and the Beatles have had on Hawkes’ music and career.
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
best known as the keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
for the Rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band The Cars
The Cars
The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...
.
Hawkes, a native of Fulton, Maryland
Fulton, Maryland
Fulton is an unincorporated community located at the southern tip of Howard County, Maryland.-History:Prior to 1805 Fulton was known as Queen Caroline Parish, then later as Hammond Directions. In 1878, it was referred to as "Water's Store," a name taken from postmaster Richard Waters.Henry Iager...
, attended Atholton High School
Atholton High School
Atholton High School is a high school in Columbia, Maryland and is a part of the Howard County public school system. The school opened in 1966, is scheduled for a major systemic renovation in FY12 and hosts a JROTC program. The mascot is the Raider and colors are green and white. It features...
where he played in a band called Teeth. He then attended Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
for two years, majoring in composition and flute. He left to play in various bands, including Martin Mull and his Fabulous Furniture, where he played flute, saxophones and clarinet. He also played in a band called Richard and The Rabbits, which included future Cars bandmates Ric Ocasek
Ric Ocasek
Ric Ocasek is an American musician and music producer. He is best known as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band, The Cars....
and Benjamin Orr
Benjamin Orr
Benjamin Orr was an American rock musician best known as the bassist and vocalist for the Boston based rock band, The Cars....
.
The Cars
Greg Hawkes' most notable involvement is with The CarsThe Cars
The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...
. Hawkes pushed the limits of available technology and sequencing helping to forge the sound of the 1980s. While The Cars were known commercially as a Rock and New wave band, he had the biggest impact on the Synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
and New wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
sound of The Cars hits such as Drive
Drive (The Cars song)
"Drive" is a 1984 song by The Cars, the third single from the band's Heartbeat City album and their biggest international hit. It was written by Ric Ocasek and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange with the band. Lead vocals were by Cars bassist Benjamin Orr....
. His signature sounds include the Prophet-5 "touch sync" sound heard on "Let's Go
Let's Go (The Cars song)
"Let's Go" was the first single from The Cars' album Candy-O released in 1979. It was written by Ric Ocasek and features lead vocals by Cars bassist Ben Orr. The single peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the U.S., but the song was an even bigger success elsewhere...
" and "Hello Again
Hello Again (The Cars song)
"Hello Again" is a song performed by the rock band The Cars, released in 1984 as the fourth single from the album Heartbeat City. It was the fourth Top 20 hit from the album, reaching number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; it also reached number 8 on the Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart and...
" as well as arpeggiated
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
and syncopated synth lines such as on "Shake it Up" and "Heartbeat City".
In 2010, Hawkes reunited with the surviving original members of The Cars to record their first album in 24 years, titled Move Like This
Move Like This
-Best Buy edition:This enhanced CD also has videos for "Sad Song" and "Blue Tip.""Rocket USA" is a cover of a 1977 song by the American band Suicide, from their self-titled debut.-Personnel:The Cars*Ric Ocasek – lead and background vocals, guitars, keyboards...
, which was released May 10, 2011.
Other
Hawkes also played with Ric OcasekRic Ocasek
Ric Ocasek is an American musician and music producer. He is best known as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band, The Cars....
as a solo artist, often playing both keyboards and bass guitar. He released a solo album, Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls (album)
Niagara Falls is the first solo album released by Greg Hawkes, best known as an original member of The Cars. It was released in 1983 by Passport Records. Hawkes plays all instruments , with programmed drums and multiple layers of keyboard parts, as well as rhythm guitar. It was recorded at...
, in 1983. He also plays guitar, percussion instruments, saxophone, clarinet and ukulele. He recently came out with a solo album on the ukulele, The Beatles Uke.
Hawkes received a writing credit for "Service with a Smile" on Virginia-based progressive rock band Happy the Man
Happy The Man
Happy the Man is an American progressive rock band from the 1970s specializing in virtuoso instrumental tracks within complex time signatures.-Early days:...
's second LP Crafty Hands in 1978.
Current
Hawkes lives in Lincoln, MassachusettsLincoln, Massachusetts
Lincoln is a town in the historic area of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,362 at the 2010 census, including residents of Hanscom Air Force Base that live within town limits...
, where he works as a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
. He was a member of The New Cars
The New Cars
The New Cars was a band formed in 2005 with two of the original members of the 1970s/1980s new wave band The Cars. The band was composed of Todd Rundgren, drummer Prairie Prince, Kasim Sulton, and original Cars members Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton...
http://thenewcars.com, a quasi-reformation of The Cars
The Cars
The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...
that also featured original guitarist Elliot Easton
Elliot Easton
Elliot Easton plays lead guitar and sings backing vocals for The Cars. His guitar solos are integral part of the band's hit singles. He studied music at the Berklee College of Music...
. Filling in for other original Cars members were singer/guitarist Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
, Utopia bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton
Kasim Sulton
Kasim Sulton is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States...
and former Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
drummer Prairie Prince
Prairie Prince
Prairie Prince is a rock drummer. He was a member of The Tubes and a founding member of Journey...
. Atom Ellis
Atom Ellis
Atom Ellis, , is a bass guitarist from San Francisco, California. Atom was a founding member of the Thrash Funk band Psychefunkapus from 1986-1992 and a member of the San Francisco band Dieselhed from 1993-2000...
filled in at bass when Kasim was touring with Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
. The band toured through the 2006–2007 season. A live album with three new studio tracks, It's Alive!
It's Alive! (album)
It's Alive! is the album released by The New Cars. The album features fifteen live tracks, thirteen of which are songs known as being performed by the original Cars. The remaining two, "I Saw the Light" and "Open My Eyes", were popularized by New Cars member Todd Rundgren...
, was released in June 2006.
Before The Cars reunited in 2010, Hawkes played with The Turtles
The Turtles
The Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
(starring Flo and Eddie) and Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
.
Ukulele
Since 2001 Hawkes has been playing and experimenting with the ukuleleUkulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
.
Hawkes' ukulele renditions of The Cars
The Cars
The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...
songs can be heard here:
- "My Best Friend's GirlMy Best Friend's Girl (song)"My Best Friend's Girl" is a song by American rock band The Cars from their 1978 self-titled debut album on Elektra Records. Written by Ric Ocasek and produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the song was released as the album's second single. It peaked at number 35 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart, and reached...
" ukuleledisco.com/bestgirl - "DriveDrive (The Cars song)"Drive" is a 1984 song by The Cars, the third single from the band's Heartbeat City album and their biggest international hit. It was written by Ric Ocasek and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange with the band. Lead vocals were by Cars bassist Benjamin Orr....
" ukuleledisco.com/drive - "Tonight She ComesTonight She Comes"Tonight She Comes" is a 1985 song by The Cars, from their Greatest Hits album. It was released as a single in October 1985, reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in January, 1986...
" ukuleledisco.com/shecomes - "You Might ThinkYou Might Think"You Might Think" is a single by The Cars from their fifth studio album, Heartbeat City, which came out in 1984. The track was written by Ric Ocasek, and produced by Mutt Lange and The Cars. Ocasek sang lead vocals....
" ukuleledisco.com/youmightthink
In 2008, Greg Hawkes http://greghawkesmusic.com released The Beatles Uke CD (Solid Air Records), with instrumental versions of 15 Beatles classics (over 45 minutes of music) in what he calls a “UKEsymphonic” style, using multi-tracked recordings to create a ukulele orchestra. The CD is testimony to the influence that Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and the Beatles have had on Hawkes’ music and career.
Solo Album/Singles
- Niagara FallsNiagara Falls (album)Niagara Falls is the first solo album released by Greg Hawkes, best known as an original member of The Cars. It was released in 1983 by Passport Records. Hawkes plays all instruments , with programmed drums and multiple layers of keyboard parts, as well as rhythm guitar. It was recorded at...
(1982 Passport Records) - "Jet Lag" (1983)
- "Backseat Waltz" (1983)
- The Beatles Uke (2008 Solid Air Records)